May 2015

Our Calendar

Get engaging and impactful instructor-led sessions, regardless of your location. Get the live instruction you need with the flexibility you want. Members choose from our instructor-led training delivered in-person near you or online.

We will work with you to pinpoint your unique development needs and quickly design a targeted, customized solution that meets your budget and schedule.

Some of our events are available to non members.  Please sign up to join us on Eventbrite.

Our leadership team partners and collaborates with the best companies to identify, share, and promote their (in)(ex)(re)turnship opportunities with our learning community.  In turn, these companies augment your learning journey with practical, direct, and relevant experiences.

Some of these opportunities are team-based and offer a select team of our own members to take on a challenge to practice and deliver results solving key issues for a business need.  Other opportunities offer our members an internal, temporary role to provide direct support to the company and its internal project teams.

Our learning labs align with our competency and learning objectives.  These projects are varied.  Both offer opportunities to try new experiences, (re)ignite skills, and spur passions.

A highlight of our program is our speaker series!  We identify and create panels and lectures to learn about special interests and key issues that our members value.  We curate conversations with business leaders and industry experts that ignite thoughts and passions in their areas of expertise.   Each panel session is structured as a panel of three to four presenters speaking briefly on an aspect of the session’s theme, engaging in dialogue as a panel, and then opening the floor for audience participation. Our guest speakers provide an intimate exchange and conversation about their field of expertise.  An informal gathering, offering more opportunities for the Auxin Group community to interact with the speakers, follows each session.

Collaborative and Experiential Learning Labs build adults’ skills accustomed to learning through action and experience. The process aims at establishing a friendly space where learners can digest manageable knowledge nuggets, follow their curiosity, and chart their learning paths.

• Coordinate and facilitate team meetings.
• Coordinate and lead team events and meetings.
• Conduct focus groups and listening sessions

• Current and Future State Process Design
• Facilitating work area 5S events
• Conduct brainstorming sessions
• Project coordination support

• Conduct market and business research deliver recommendations strategy reports
• Perform digital marketing analysis and provide strategies for transformation
• Conduct best practices research studies.

Our WELLNESS® model encourages self-discovery and accountability to be your best self. Our coaching and mentoring program helps you to discover your true calling and passion. 

Our mentors are active Auxin members and alumni who desire to guide our community more informally. With a passion for sharing knowledge, skills, and experiences, they shape our members’ thoughts without evaluation or measures. We construct group mentor meetings to provide well-rounded conversations and perspectives. 

Our coaching program helps you discover what makes you want to work on your goals and show up every day. At the same time, you’ll explore the relationships and support systems that are helpful, joyful, and necessary. You will find what empowers you and define your valued support system. We will focus on your life plan and transitions, which will include your career, marriage, children, and various aspects of your life. With your coach, you’ll explore your skills, interests, past success & obstacles to help you map out what you enjoy, what you do well, and what others value in you. By targeting activities that come naturally and eliminating sabotaging voices, you will start quickly identifying the life areas that give you pride and pleasure. You will begin to determine life and career opportunities that showcase what you are good at – providing you with the most fantastic opportunity for long term success. Having defined the type of work that evokes your passion and talent, living a life of adventure, and utilizing your real strengths, you will be ready to find the right direction.

Peer groups provide perspective outside of one individual’s viewpoint. Members inside our peer group discussions also learn to develop relationships with others in the social system. Our members become important social referents for teaching other members customs, social norms, and different ideologies.

Our peer learning facilitators help to keep the community connected.  They listen for, capture key ideas, and bring themes to the discussion and ensure all members align to a common purpose, and maximize time creating opportunities for participants to bond.  Starting with the current reality, our facilitators enable the group to grow the capacity of the discussion to move toward the group’s desired future.  They check in to find out what is top of mind to create a core of engaged, enthusiastic peer group members.  Our expert facilitators ensure everyone feels safe and has a chance to participate.  Members can then concentrate on sharing and learning, knowing that an expert is keeping the conversation on track and moving forward.

Alex Morgan

OPERATIONS MANAGER

Alex comes from a background of health and safety and is experienced in emergency management, staff development, and performance management. He is effective in county and local government settings, with exposure to corporate environments through HR consulting and known for increasing efficiency, collaboration, and preparedness in client groups. Alex’s talent is organization and time management. Multi-tasking, project management, scheduling, meeting deadlines, attention to detail, and critical thinking are standards that are basic foundations for him. His leadership, teamwork and group coordination, along with listening skills, training and instruction, downward and upward communication, and problem solving are what he is known for.

Laura Morgan

FOUNDER/PRESIDENT

After 25 years working with companies (practitioner and consultant), it was time for me to form a company that I truly believe in.  I feel it shouldn’t be difficult to embrace balance and growth.  Many have their own recipe but mine is pretty simple – work, volunteer, and play.  When someone focuses on only one or two of these, growth stagnates.  With life’s constant roller coaster ride, yes, I see the balance of these three tenets shift (here and there), but one really needs to keep each of these in a good proportion. Why… Work is clear (at least to me) – get paid for something you are good at; you don’t have to be a maniac about it.  Get a reward for your contribution and effort.  A job well done feels important when one is paid for one’s talents.  Retirement rusts.  Keep working. Volunteer to give back and find an organization that makes your heart smile.  Recognition does come with this effort but it is really the self reflection that makes this important.  I’ve seen many people ‘volunteer’ and the output varies from one person to another.  It may have made the heart smile that they showed their support by just being present and some may have spent enormous hours/days/weeks to help – support does not have a solid measure when one volunteers their time or money but the internal reflection does – however much one can give and make their own heart smile, the world is a better place. Play to keep and/or improve family relations and maintain good health.  When one only has ‘play’ on their task list, they do not remain current and the difference in conversations start, leading to differences in personalities, and ultimately separation and distance.  Teach kids by example that life involves work, volunteering, and yes…it also includes play.  All in a rotating, shifting balance.  Health is key and should not be taken for granted.  Sedentary lifestyles will lead to that “ultimate horizontal position.”  Move, find the fun, energize the mind and body. Now to grow… If you keep these at the status quo level, do the same thing, the same way, ugh…life will get boring…rust happens. Therefore, the thought is to contribute to organizations that need help.  Get paid commensurately for the work we do – as a virtual team and very low overhead, costs should prove to be more than competitive.  Establish access and exposure to advanced developmental programs that ensure we stay ahead of the curve as much as we can.  Focus development and growth as a main element of compensation.  Collaborate within teams and with our clients to help us understand and feel our strengths that allow us to truly step back, see ourselves as others do – then seek to understand those areas within ourselves that need to be shined up a bit. That’s what I’m about…no secret magic here.  Just a recipe that feels like it will offer a pretty good change up to the services industry.  Call me…check us out…we are getting ready for the virtual world, giving flexible work opportunities to those whom want to work, and shining up our skills along the way.

Neil Morgan

MANAGING PARTNER

Neil’s passion is to create elegant business solutions that leverage cutting-edge technology to empower individuals and businesses to deliver their best work. Neil created our cloud-based HR Compensation management solution, SimplyMerit, after seeing a study from Loyola University Chicago that found that 40% of companies in the U.S., regardless of industry or size, use spreadsheets to manage their annual merit processes. Further research found that there was no good alternative available for mid-sized companies to move away from spreadsheets and into a modern, simple application. SimplyMerit not only engages managers, but empowers the leadership team to make informed, accurate, and data-driven merit and bonus recommendations. SimplyMerit is the result of his passion to tackle business problems head-on, leveraging modern technology to its fullest extent, in order to deliver an exceptional user experience in the area of HR Compensation Management.

Kelly Greffin

DIRECTOR OF ENGAGEMENT

Kelly Greffin brings a wide variety of veteran leadership experience and project management skills to the Auxin team. During her 12 years with American Express, Kelly sharpened her human resources experience by designing and implementing key strategic processes and procedures, improving efficiency, productivity, and profitability. Kelly brings her high energy, results-oriented leadership to Auxin to exceed our clients’ expectations delivering quality results. In her free time, she loves to travel, cook and frequent fine dining establishments to fill her foodie needs.

Nina Handeland

TALENT DIRECTOR

Nina was an HR professional for 13 years at a Fortune 500 company when she left to raise her family. Over the last several years, she has taken active leadership roles at Auxin, while also volunteering at her children’s school. Auxin Group provides her the opportunity to contribute her skills to a unique organization while working on a collaborative team of professionals. Not only is Nina thriving on the development and training that is offered, but it also allows her to reignite the learnings she gained from her MBA.

Tracy Meyer

MARKETING DIRECTOR

Tracy has been a leader for several creative initiatives throughout her career. She has managed projects for several businesses, including website build-out, brand identity, advertising, sales, process mapping, and logistics. Her attention to detail, high-energy, and diverse thought motivates her peers at Auxin to think outside of the box. Previously, Tracy leveraged her education in business and design by selling advertising to small and medium-sized businesses for Donnelly RHD, Ameritech, and SBC, where she handled more than $1 million in sales annually. Her management, sales, and marketing experience, and leadership skills that have proven invaluable to the Auxin team.

Rebecca Misius

WELLNESS DIRECTOR

Prior to raising children, Rebecca was the Classified Sales Manager for Hanley-Wood, LLC. She handled the business to business advertising sales for three trade publications in the commercial construction market. She hopes to gain new exposure and experience with Auxin Group by working virtually with other professionals to develop her skills.

Delivering valued work requires more than a strategy, project plans, and resources. Exceptional work is created only when together, with our clients, we follow these three principles.

Collaborate
It only works well when our clients share goals, provide opinions, and guide effort along the journey

Do Work that Matters
It feels better when clients are happy, stakeholders approve, and team associates are impassioned to work.

Focus
It’s simple – deliver on commitments and earn the client’s recognition of a job well done.