Afterburner, Inc.
Afterburner Inc is a team of elite military professionals that are experts in helping your team pursue Flawless Execution. Using Afterburner’s Flawless Execution methodologies we can help take your team to the next level in performance. The combination of sound organizational development and combat-proven methodologies has made Afterburner Inc one of the fastest growing training and consulting organizations in the country. The Flawless Execution Model is a proven process used by elite military professionals around the world to execute missions when the stakes are high and failure is not an option. Corporate success, like success in combat, depends on execution.
Afterburner’s team of men and women elite former military professionals has a powerful mix of combat experience combined with extensive business skills. Many members are graduates of top business schools and academies. Afterburner uses the combat proven methodologies of elite military professionals working with your team to achieve victory in a rapidly changing business environment. Flawless Execution works! It is dynamic and powerful because it is simple to use, yet the effects are lasting. The results are disciplined, coordinated and predictable. Afterburner has an unwavering focus on improving your team’s ability to execute. Your team can improve execution and stay one step ahead of the competition in just four simple steps.
The Flawless Execution Model:
Plan — The plan starts with an objective that is clear, measurable and achievable and supports your company’s overall strategy.
Brief — You communicate the plan. It is essential that people on the front lines know exactly what is expected of them. Businesses ignore this — often at their peril.
Execute — Even with a solid plan and a good brief, a mission can still fail due to Task Saturation or task overload. Task Saturation is the reality or perception of having too much to do without the time or resources to accomplish it. Even with the resources people still have to manage conflicting priorities. We know that as Task Saturation increases, performance decreases; therefore, at Afterburner we help teams combat Task Saturation by identifying resources and managing priorities.
Debrief — The last step is the Debriefing. After each mission, Fighter Pilots hold a nameless, rankless Debrief. Each person, without fear of reprimand, rehashes what worked, what did not work and why both the good events and the bad events happened. We then take the key lessons learned from the Debrief and apply them to the next plan. Debriefing speeds up learning. It lets us fine tune the processes that ensure success.
Win! — Our goal is to win by aligning your team around a disciplined, scalable process in order to achieve business results.
With offices in the United States, Australia and China, Afterburner has performed training events in 38 countries and has had their materials translated into more than 20 languages. With over 300 events per year, the Afterburner team has trained more than 100 of the Fortune 500 companies on the Flawless Execution Model. At Afterburner, "Leading the World's Top Corporations to Flawless Execution" is more than just a slogan-it's the foundation of our company. Afterburner has been on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies twice. The success of our clients has translated to our success as well.
Program Descriptions -
Keynotes:
Flawless Execution Keynote
A Fighter Pilot's Secret to Business Success
In this session your group will learn how Fighter Pilots attack their missions in both training and combat. This keynote includes both a Main Speaker and a Wingman Fighter Pilot and is highly customized to meet the needs of your audience.
Plan - Learn how Fighter Pilots plan for a mission using the "Six Steps to Effective Combat Mission Planning".
Brief - Communicate the plan to maximize the quality of front-line execution.
Execute - Discover how Fighter Pilots ensure Flawless Execution in their missions by eliminating performance-draining Task Saturation.
Debrief - Implement nameless/rankless feedback sessions in your squadron to guarantee maximum learning.
Leading Flawless Execution from the Top with Jim Murphy
Afterburner's leadership keynote speaker Jim Murphy has helped top business leaders transform strategy into action. Historically fewer than 20% of all initiatives actually get accomplished. This keynote will help align your team around your strategy and understand exactly what to do and how to do it. This 60-90 minute keynote is based on Jim Murphy's ground breaking book 'Flawless Execution'.
Flawless Sales Execution
When the economy is great, you can tolerate sales teams that are less than flawless, but what happens when the tables are turned and the economy isn't doing so great? You can't afford to have your sales teams operate at only a fraction of their potential. Your sales teams should hit their numbers not 70%, not 80%, but 100% of the time. But how can sales teams really improve their performance overnight? The answer...Afterburner brings you Flawless Sales Execution. Your sales teams are capable of success in any environment hostile or calm. The power to lead your sales teams to victory can be found in this sales keynote presentation.
The Afterburner Day [Full or Half Day Event (5-6 hours) Group Sizes 12-1,000]. The Afterburner Day is an interactive, hands-on experience where your team will compare the similar situations faced in business and in air combat. During the Afterburner Day, your group will work side by side with some of America's top Fighter Pilots and learn how they excel in the business of combat.
The day begins in the main briefing room where you will learn how Fighter Pilots adapt to change, assess risk, and prepare for their mission using the Six Steps to Combat Mission Planning. Suddenly, an urgent telegram will interrupt the briefing and alert your team that they have been attacked by a coalition of hostile competitors. Your Fighter Pilots will split into squadrons (breakout groups of 15) where, with the help of their Afterburner facilitator, they will have one hour to formulate a plan to regain your market share. Leadership, teamwork, and communication will allow each group to overcome the challenges of this dynamic Mission Planning exercise. The Afterburners use SCUD missile attacks, intruders, and information overload to closely parallel today's task saturated work environment in a fun, new format that ensures a lasting impression. After utilizing these tools for planning and execution, your team will discover how Fighter Pilots learn from their mistakes through an effective debrief. The Afterburners nameless/rankless debriefs shed new light on how your associates can identify and learn from costly mistakes.
Leaning Forward [Half Day Event (3-4 hours) Group sizes 12-1,000]. If you don't have time for a full Afterburner Day, yet still want to lead your group through an awesome team-building event, then our high-energy, fast-paced Leaning Forward program is for you. This event captures the essentials of the Afterburner Day in a compact format, focusing on planning and debriefing.
Leaning Forward is an interactive, corporate event program where your team will learn, via lecture and experiential learning, how fighter pilots strive for flawless execution in every single mission. Your group will work side-by-side with some of America's top fighter pilots and learn how they excel in the business of combat. Our Afterburner team brings these lessons to your own business environment, in living color, using a multimedia presentation, a role playing breakout session with experienced military fighter pilots as facilitators, and punctuated by an intensely climatic and motivational closing. The energy and skill training of this event will improve your group's performance at every level.
Black Ops
Black Ops is comprised of unique men that have served in the Joint Special Operations Command or JSOC. JSOC is the joint command that coordinates each branch's elite military forces such as the U.S. Navy SEAL's; the U.S. Army's Delta Force, Green Beret's, Rangers and Task Force 160; and the U.S. Air Force's Para-rescue. Each Black OpsSM team member has unique real world business experience enabling them to facilitate Flawless Execution, not just as soldiers, but as businessmen as well. Each member of the Black OpsSM team has a background in not just leading troops, but leading companies.
Elite military commando units have an impressive record of near 100% mission success in high-risk and unpredictable operational environments. Our 2 to 8 man team will lead your company through an exciting, cutting edge Black Ops event and instruct participants on how to incorporate the same "Flawless Execution" cycle in their business missions - the same cycle that America's elite military forces use every day.
The Afterburner Black Ops group excels not just in Special Operations within the military, but also in some of America's most notable corporations. This experience provides them the valuable insight into what it takes to assist your teams in accomplishing their missions on the modern business battlefield.
Program description:
Every Black Ops event is centered around the Flawless Execution Model- Plan, Brief, Execute, Debrief, Win! This innovative team building event is under 3 hours in length and uses the latest in technologies including i-Touch communication devices and custom digital mapping software. After the opening lecture, we will split your group into teams of 18-25 participants. These teams are then put through an energizing team building exercise. This exercise stresses the Plan, Brief, Execute, Debrief process that has made units like Delta Force and the U.S. Navy SEAL's so successful.
Real business take-aways are obtained during two complete cycles of planning a hostage rescue mission that highlights the benefits of debriefing and the value of lessons learned. On average, groups have yielded an improvement of over 70% when properly debriefed between the first and second missions. These debriefing techniques and lessons learned are reinforced during the wrap up and connected to your team's real world business execution rhythm.
FLAWLESS SAFETY (60 Minute Multi-Media Keynote)
The atmosphere in a fighter jet is a "0-errors, 0-losses" environment. The men and women of Afterburner specialize in accelerating our clients' safety performance through Flawless Execution. They have been trained and tested their entire career in the safe, zero-loss execution of their mission, with an unmatched level of importance on the safety of their equipment, their crew and everyone involved with operations. Afterburner uses their battle proven process of Flawless Execution to improve our clients' safety records. By leading groups through a core process of Plan, Brief, Execute, and Debrief, the Afterburner trainers begin to induce a cultural change in the organization, evolving how teams plan for and execute safely on each and every mission.
FLAWLESS HEALTHCARE (60 Minute Multi-Media Keynote)
A high-energy, multimedia keynote will explore the Flawless Execution Model and how the model relates to the demanding and changing healthcare business. For the last 20 years, the World Healthcare Organization and other medical organizations have recognized that the improvements in teamwork, communication and collaboration that dramatically improved aviation safety since the 1980's directly relate to many of the challenges facing the healthcare industry. Today, many medical units are using techniques from the aviation community and specifically the Flawless Execution Model to dramatically improve the way their teams perform.