Rita Markle has over 20 years of senior management experience in both large and small companies, including a Fortune 500 company. She is an experienced leadership and organizational development professional with an ability to develop and implement performance strategies to help organizations reach business and performance goals. Rita is an advocate of emotional intelligence as a manager, consultant, and coach. This allows her to connect with clients and understand their business and people needs on a deeper level. She is certified in programs from BlessingWhite, Ken Blanchard Companies, and Development Dimensions International (DDI). In addition, she is qualified to administer a wide variety of behavioral assessment tools.
Rita is the Chief Learning Officer at Performance Management Partners Inc., a talent management firm based in Upstate New York. The firm helps clients make better people decisions by aligning their people practices with their business strategies to improve bottom-line performance. Performance Management Partners is a business partner with BlessingWhite, a global research and consulting firm dedicated to creating sustainable high-performance organizations.
With only a few days to go before the inaugural DisruptHR Buffalo, Rita took some time to speak with us. Here’s what she has to say…
Editor: What does your company do?
Rita: The firm (PMP) helps clients make better people decisions by aligning their people practices with their business strategies to improve bottom-line performance. Performance Management Partners is a business partner with BlessingWhite, a global research and consulting firm dedicated to creating sustainable high-performance organizations. Our services include employee engagement surveys, talent assessments, executive coaching, succession planning, team building, leadership development, career transition and executive search. Clients represent all industry sectors on a national and global basis, with significant experience in Financial Services, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Not for Profit and Higher Education.
In a nutshell, we help companies drive business results by attracting, growing and engaging their most vital asset… people.
Editor: Any upcoming product launches or initiatives you’d like to highlight to our audience?
Rita: At PMP we believe in continuous learning and continue to hone our skills in human capital and business strategy issues that keep leaders up at night. We know what got you here yesterday, will not get you there today. We continually research and “polish” what we do and how we do it – this keeps us fresh, innovative and disruptive.
Editor: What does an average work week look like for you?
Rita: I spend 75% of my time working directly with clients to align their people practices with their business strategies to improve bottom-line performance, specifically executive coaching, team development, leadership development, and employee engagement. The other 25% is spent on business development and designing/developing programs.
Editor: What made you decide to be a speaker at DisruptHR Buffalo?
Rita: The DisruptHR series is very catchy and engaging, and it’s part of the new wave of development, technology and positive disruption happening in Buffalo, NY. As an organization we are very involved in Buffalo, the community and 43North – where this is being featured (DiG Innovation Center). We are proud to be part of the rebirth of Buffalo.
Editor: What will you be speaking about at DisruptHR Buffalo?
Rita: Our topic “TO COACH OR CAN” is definitely one of the issues on the most of most leaders and managers. How do you know when to coach someone vs getting rid of them? What are the implications for you, the employees and the business?
Editor: What are the major learnings that attendees will take from your session?
Rita: Participants will walk away with a much better understanding of:
- Derailers, those traits that get in the way of success
- What makes an individual able to receive and adapt to coaching and a lifelong commitment to self-improvement
- Trait styles that do not welcome or recognize a need for self-improvement
- A process for making better people decisions
Editor: You only have 5 minutes to present at DisruptHR Buffalo. What unique challenges and opportunities does this format offer?
Rita: I think the biggest challenge is boiling down a big topic into a little soundbite and making it fun, interesting, relevant and engaging.
An opportunity discovered was that you truly can boil down a large topic into very few words and slides. Typically, as an OD professional, I do talks, training and workshops and you are working with a topic that you have anywhere from one to 8 hours to present.
Editor: Why does Buffalo need an event like DisruptHR?
Rita: Buffalo needs these type of HR soundbites to help break through the traditional monotony of day-to-day HR. It’s a bit of a shake-up that we all need once in a while. Shake-ups lead to change and change is progress.
In addition, events like DisruptHR, bring people together to learn new ways of doing things and to stay in the forefront of new initiatives, technologies and solutions.
Editor: Are you attending/speaking at any other HR-related events in the next 6-12 months? If so which ones and why?
Rita:
- 10/19/16 – Speaker @ BNHRA Buffalo, NY. Topic: Future Workplace/Leader in 2025
- 3/10/17 – Speaker @ Amherst, NY Chamber of Commerce – Emerging Business Leaders Program Amherst, NY. Topic: Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace