20 Minutes to a Top Performer: Three Fast and Effective Conversations to Motivate, Develop, and Engage Your Employees

Transform Average Employees into Powerhouse Performers

“I cannot think of a more important message and timely book. 20 Minutes to a Top Performer offers quick, simple techniques for managers to improve their effectiveness in communicating with their teams.”
Steven Fine, vice president for administration, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, Florida

“Alan has provided some of the best thinking on the issue of leadership conversations. His book offers easy-to-implement suggestions for everything your team needs to know about effective conversations!”
Al Miller, VP HR, Lockheed Martin Simulation, Training and Support, Lockheed Martin

“This book is essential for leaders in today’s fast-paced and do-more-with-less environment.”
Dan Russi, VP, Customer Services, Ariba, Inc.

“Alan gives a how-to guide for managers of all experience levels. In twenty minutes and three conversations, he’s captured the essence of managing and leading.”
Ron Sacchi, director, Organizational Learning and Development, Gilead

“It is great news for the business and professional community to see a book emerge with practical tips for having intelligent interactions in traditionally sensitive areas of communication. Many books promise easily used guidelines for a successful result—this one delivers!”
Pat Cramer, learning director, Honeywell Aerospace

About the Book

The key to long-term organizational success is the ability to move employees to action. Easier said than done, right? Not really. All it takes is three simple 20-minute conversations.

Alan Vengel has spent 25 years helping Fortune 500 companies empower their employees to perform at peak efficiency, generating measurable results organization-wide. Now, in 20 Minutes to a Top Performer, Vengel shares the secret to his and his clients’ success: good old-fashioned communication. Inside, he explains how to engage your employees through specific, focused conversations, of which there are exactly three:

Coaching:
Focusing on performance and feedback

Motivating:
Focusing on engagement and interests

Mentoring:
Focusing on support and development

Vengel dissects these types of conversations to illuminate how, why, and when to initiate each one. The conversations are not meant to be technical. They won’t be uncomfortable or combative. They will simply be . . . conversations. And you’ll be surprised at how quickly you see results. Your people will become better team players, take greater enjoyment in their work, tackle problems with verve, and, in the end, contribute valuable talent to your organization for the long term.

Managers are facing unprecedented demands to do more with less—a trend that is clearly not going to reverse in the foreseeable future. You don’t need a Harvard Business School degree or expensive new technology to empower your workforce. All you need is the drive to make change happen.

20 Minutes to a Top Performer is a blueprint to helping your people succeed. And when they succeed, you and the entire organization succeed.