The Blanchard® Authorized Partner Experience: Q&A with Moe Poirier

How transformative can the Blanchard Authorized Partner experience truly be? We sat down for a virtual chat with Moe Poirier, founding partner of Shift Facilitation Inc.© in Canada to hear all about his deeply personal experience with the program. Read all the way to the end to experience secondhand the personal and professional impact that was set in motion by this powerful partnership.

What initially drew you to being a Blanchard partner?

So, our team's based in Toronto, up in Canada, and what we saw was really the opportunity to connect because of the strong link on core values.

This is one of my favorite stories. I've got this little sticker from the Blanchard Summit last October: “Love is the answer. What's the question?” It’s my favorite Ken [Blanchard] quote because in the training room that's exactly what should happen. The training room is based in love. We're celebrating. It should be a joyful experience. As facilitators that's our primary work: how do you create more love in the training room is the question that we're asking. And that's so strongly aligned with the work that Blanchard does.

And I mean, who can beat SLII® and the legacy impact of that work in leadership over what, a 40-year span. So, of course, for us that's the obvious part, right? The strength of the program, the credibility, its impact, the legacy of that work matters to us of course as well.

What challenges were you facing in your business before becoming a Blanchard partner?

That's a great question! In the leadership world, one of the challenges that I see for a smaller company like Shift, is how do you compete with the big guys? So, being an authorized partner now allows us to affiliate with a globally recognized brand and gives us a ton of credibility in the marketplace in a very different way than what we could ever do on our own.

How easy was it to get started as a Blanchard partner?

Too easy! You know, my first experience of the Blanchard family was in Dana Point at the Summit last year and it just felt effortless. It felt like I was home in a way. The people that I met there, the atmosphere, the sense of connection, it just made it easy. I mean, that's on the relationship side of it. Becoming a partner and working through the steps, the legal steps, there's documents to sign and things like that, but all that for me was rather effortless.

In what ways has partnering with Blanchard exceeded your expectations?

For example, I was just at ATD, the international conference and expo in Washington DC, and I bumped into Scott in the hallway at the massive convention center. It was an easy opening that started with, "Hey, Scott, how are you doing?" and we spent a few minutes chatting. So, there's this closeness, connectedness, openness. For me, that whole interaction is very symbolic. It's like, “Hey, Scott, how are you?” And he's like, “Hey!” He doesn't have to remember my name, but he recognizes me and knows that I’m part of the extended Blanchard family, right? So, those kinds of connections for sure. 

Another example is meeting Dr. Vicky Halsey at the Summit, and then going through the certification and having that connection. It was that whole experience of being in Escondido, being at the office and having the chance to be in the Blanchard environment for the week. 

And then the welcoming feeling again. From Sarah Hempel to Valarie White to Randy Conley.  This is the embrace, being welcomed into the Blanchard Community and being open to having a place or space where the expertise that we have on my team can be shared in a really innovative way. Because we're experts in facilitation and offering that within the Blanchard community has by far exceeded my expectations. It’s exciting that we've delivered some webinar sessions and had the opportunity to focus on some of the work that we're doing and share that.

What’s one highlight from being a part of the Blanchard Community?

Well, the Leadership Unfiltered podcast with Sarah and being invited to have this really joyful conversation about the work that we do. And, you know, when you think about it, what a privilege it is to be able to do this work.

We're celebrating the opportunity for all of us to continue becoming our best selves on this journey of leadership together. Let's just take a moment and celebrate that: what a cool thing that we get to do this with other people. And, back to the work of facilitators and trainers — every time you're leading a session, you have the opportunity to make this group of people better. 

…Leadership is your whole life, right? It's not just something that shows up at work. It's at home. It's with your family. It's with your neighbors, your community. Wherever you go, it follows you around. And, how you show up in the world and the impact that you have on people that you care about. That's a huge deal.

Because we go through these transformative moments and they really do affect us deeply. So, we should be celebrating that, right? That's what can happen in the training room under the right conditions. 

Can you speak to the value of having a dedicated community and support team?

So, from initial conversations with folks who helped us follow the path to become a partner, from Britney Cole, and early conversations all the way through. And now, being welcomed into the community like I mentioned with Val and Sarah. And Randy, randomly showing up for my sessions and participating and contributing to the discussion. 

And then you know there's a superstar too that I’ve had the chance to get to know: Courtney [Harrison]. Super talented and also super open. So, Courtney participated in the very first community session that I ran and afterwards followed up with me and we had some follow-up conversations and supported some of the work that she was doing for her own work with Blanchard as a trainer, as a facilitator. I loved her spirit…

How does Blanchard’s content complement or enhance the services you already provide?

…So, we are known as exceptionally talented facilitators. That's what my team at Shift is known for. We know how to facilitate really rich, engaging learning experiences that fulfill the promise of 10% more love in the training room. That's our work. And then combine that with the Blanchard offering and you've got a turbocharged solution that we have to offer. 

So, we are facilitators, we are facilitation skills experts and then we combine the strength of the Blanchard programs and Blanchard offerings. You put those two things together and you've got a really cool opportunity. A way to level up. And I talked about it earlier, it's also that we're affiliated with Blanchard (and Blanchard is known for excellence). By association, we benefit from the partnership. It's symbiotic. It works in both directions.

How has this partnership affected your long-term vision for your business?

Well, the story's consistent…The headline is, imagine a world where trainers generate 10% more love in the training room. Imagine that world. And what are the ripple effects of that being true? 

It makes our work as trainers more fulfilling, for sure. And that's because I haven't met a facilitator or a trainer yet that doesn't describe the experience they have as an act of service. I win (as a facilitator) when I see the light bulbs going off in my training room. When other people respond and they say, "Oh my gosh, I get it. I get it. I see it. I can see how this can make my life and my work better." So in those moments, the trainer/facilitator feels deeply connected to the work. And this drives engagement. It drives satisfaction. It drives joy. It drives love. Right? And we're back to this virtuous cycle, right? It's emotional. I get emotional. It's easy, right, to see how powerful this is.

So, the question was, how does it connect to our long-term vision? Well, that's it. Our long-term vision is to do this work and create that ripple effect around the world and we believe it's possible.

What’s something unexpected you’ve gained from being a Blanchard partner?

The openness, the embrace that I talked about that began at the Summit when I arrived and has stayed true throughout my experience. The opportunity to contribute in the Community. All of those things were thoughtful but not expected. 

I think it's human nature to go in with a little caution. Like, let's just see how this goes. I'm not going to go in with too big of expectations because if I do that, then I'll be disappointed. So, I'll go in with lower expectations and then just check it out and see how this goes. And surprisingly, it goes really well. 

I think that's certainly been my experience. And then a willingness with my network in Canada and support from folks who were a part of the early story for me. You know, Britney for sure and then Susan and Patrick and some of the early parts of that journey. They supported that for me and that was really important.

Is there anything that you feel is left unsaid that you might wish we had asked or it's something that you're itching to talk about? 

It's more back to the personal experience of being in Escondido. We did two days of The SLII Experience™ and then two days of certification. And of course, we get this sort of lovely little envelope with the invitation to spend the evening with Ken and Margie [Blanchard]. 

Next thing I know, I'm at their house and we're sitting in a circle of chairs having a conversation and talking about the work and the importance of the work and what this all means. And people are asking questions and it's pretty cool, right? You can tell that they've done this and that they enjoy this and that it's a meaningful part of the work for them that they get to connect with people. It's really really cool… 

And chatting with Ken too — this is another personal story and connects back to why Blanchard. Once upon a time someone handed me a book, his name was Michael and he was building a leadership training program. He said, "I'm including this book and if you're going to facilitate the program, you need to read it." That book was Whale Done. 

And as it happens, I was a new dad at that time. My daughter Julia was a toddler. And that whole thinking process of stop saying no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, and start offering affirmation and positive feedback for, “Hey, great job! Way to go, you did that!” And being specific enough so that people can repeat those positive behaviors and make good choices. That was life-changing for me. I didn't grow up with that. So, embracing a language, finding a language that allowed me to be a better dad, that was huge. 

Of course, the ripple effects again, back to the story of: wherever you go, leadership follows you around and the impact that you have on the people around you. But that was a very personal version for me. And we need corrective action. We need to let people know that something didn't work and next time try something different. And you can have those conversations in a really positive, productive way. 

And then there's another truth that leads us to... What’s the famous quote? “It's not what you said, it's not what you did, it's how you made them feel.” And, so that's in fact, if you follow the lessons of Whale Done, and we could go broader in the lessons of Blanchard overall, then you're doing all three. It's what you say, it's what you do, and how you make people feel. And you've got all three of those things now working to your advantage as a leader and the impact that you have on the people around you.

Moe Poirier is founding partner of Shift Facilitation Inc., a Blanchard authorized partner offering exceptional facilitation and powerful experiences that drive change. Learn more about Moe Poirier and Shift’s work with Blanchard here.