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Tim Arnold

Leadership Development and Teambuilding Expert

Tim Arnold
Speaker Reel
Lead with AND
Tim Arnold Thumb 3
Next-Level Teamwork: The 5 Tensions to Manage for High-Performance Teams
The Power of Healthy Tension
Tim
Tim Arnold Thumb 3
Tim Arnold
Speaker Reel
Lead with AND
Tim Arnold Thumb 3
Next-Level Teamwork: The 5 Tensions to Manage for High-Performance Teams
The Power of Healthy Tension

Leaders and teams are often in a tug-of-war, facing competing demands such as planning vs. action, structure vs. flexibility, change vs. stability, and work vs. home. In order to thrive, they must tackle these tensions head on. Tim Arnold provides his audiences with powerful tools that help them understand and breakthrough the chronic issues they face in both their professional and personal lives.

Arnold has spent over two decades helping leaders better manage complexity, increase resilience, and deliver results. Having run both a for-profit business and a homeless shelter, he leverages his real-world experience to help organizations pursue both profit and purpose. Past clients have included the United Nations, Compassion International, Royal Bank of Canada, Allstate Insurance, Toyota, and Siemens.

Arnold is the author of the bestselling books Lead with AND: The Secret to Resilience and Results in a Polarized World; The Power of Healthy Tension: Overcoming Chronic Issues and Conflicting Values; and Next-Level Teamwork: The Five Tensions to Manage for High Performance Teams. His work focuses on helping leaders unleash the superpower of “both/and” thinking in an “either/or” world.

Speaking topics

Presentations listed below include in-person and virtual keynotes, as well as workshops, fireside chats, and other presentation formats.

  • Lead with “AND”: The Secret to Leadership Resilience and Results

    We all want to make a difference, leave a mark, and improve the world around us. But, do you often feel like you’re fighting an uphill battle?

    How do you rise above impossible demands, broken systems, and unreasonable people?

    In Lead With “AND”, expert business strategist, Tim Arnold, offers an innovative approach that goes beyond the traditional either/or approach to solve problems and embrace the transformational power of both/and thinking. His insights have been applied at The United Nations, Royal Bank of Canada, Allstate Insurance, Toyota, and Siemens.

    Through this keynote, you will learn how to:

    • Set proper expectations AND extend grace
    • Increase confidence AND retain humility
    • Leverage optimism AND maintain realism
    • Embrace change AND preserve stability
    • Care for others AND care for yourself
    • Turn a profit AND foster a purpose

    Lead With “AND” is the paradigm-shifting approach for progressive leaders who want to transform their workplaces. Learn how to rise above polarity, division, and conflicting values and lead with resilience, results, and lasting impact.

  • The Power of Healthy Tension: Leverage “Both/And” Thinking for Effective Teams and Productive Relationships

    Most teams fail to reach their full potential because they get bogged down by unproductive conflict and polarizing points of view. Tim Arnold helps teams overcome the chronic issues that derail collaboration and teamwork, so your organization can tap into a new level of effectiveness!

    In a polarized world that loves to pick sides, we can mistakenly treat every challenge as a simple problem to be solved, with a right or wrong answer:

    • Planning or action?
    • Structure or flexibility?
    • Change or stability?

    This “either/or” thinking is a dangerous trap. For high performance and productive collaboration, we must learn to embrace what most people (and teams) avoid or ignore — tension!

    “The Power of Healthy Tension” provides a simple framework to manage complexity in a healthy way. It shows teams how to tap into the superpower of “both/and” thinking to gain a massive competitive advantage and see next-level results.

    Key learnings:

    • How to embrace diverse perspectives: Gain the ability to work effectively with people who have different opinions and perspectives than your own.
    • How to communicate more effectively: Learn the difference between a problem to solve and a tension to manage, and the skills required to communicate conflicting points of view.
    • How to make better decisions: Learn a thoughtful, deliberate decision-making approach when dealing with complex issues.

    This presentation can be adapted into a half-day, in-person workshop.

  • Next-Level Teamwork: The 5 Tensions to Manage for High-Performance Teams

    Let’s face it, most teams don’t work. Dysfunction, drama, and division run rampant, making your workweek feel like a never-ending battle. But there’s hope!

    While other teams run away from tension, Tim Arnold will show you how to embrace it. When you learn to harness the power of healthy tension in these five key areas, your team will shift from unproductive to unstoppable:

    1. Build trust by focusing on tasks AND relationships.
    2. Increase engagement by leveraging structure AND flexibility.
    3. Have courageous conversations through truthful AND tactful communication.
    4. Align your team to win by promoting collaboration AND independence.
    5. Unleash ownership by increasing empowerment AND accountability.

    While this keynote won’t provide you with miracle cures or magical formulas. What it does offer is something even more valuable: an actionable plan. By implementing the ideas outlined in this talk, you will set your team on the path to success.

    Life is simply too short to settle for working in a dysfunctional team!

    This presentation can be adapted into a half-day, in-person workshop.

  • Additional Offerings

    In addition to virtual keynotes and workshops, Tim Arnold offers customizable team Lunch and Learns, as well as more in-depth, six-month virtual Online Leadership Development Programs.

    Contact us for more information on these additional offerings.

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Related Content

More great information and resources.

Books

  • The 5 Tensions to Manage for High-Performance Teams
    Next-Level Teamwork: The 5 Tensions to Manage for High-Performance Teams

    Are you tired of dreading Monday morning? Does working in a dysfunctional team drain your energy...

    → Read More
  • Lead With AND by Tim Arnold
    Lead With AND: The Secret to Resilience and Results in a Polarized World

    As a leader, you’re committed to making a difference, leaving a mark, and making the world a...

    → Read More
  • The Power of Healthy Tension by Tim Arnold
    The Power of Healthy Tension

    Often leaders and teams have a clear vision but fail to live it out. They get stuck because of...

    → Read More

Articles

Client reviews

  • Executive VP, Miami Heat

    Healthy Tension is a simple yet profound concept that our senior executives are now raving about. Tim’s presentation style kept the crowd engaged because we were able to learn and have fun at the same time!

  • CIBC World Markets

    It is always challenging to come up with a program that is the right fit for a senior management team who has experienced a variety of activities during the course of their careers. This turned out to be a truly innovative experience with the right combination of challenge, creativity, teamwork and fun. The dynamic and professional approach made the event a terrific success.

  • Ministry of Transportation (Ontario)

    Despite a challenging venue and very diverse group, Tim was able to capture everyone’s attention and provided a wonderful opportunity for staff to interact, reflect, and learn. People still stop me in the hallway to tell me how much they loved the event.

  • President, San Francisco Giants

    I found great value in Tim Arnold’s presentation, realizing that some of our organizational issues are not problems to be solved, but tensions to be managed. More importantly I learned that if viewed from the proper perspective, tension between individuals on the team can be the catalyst for creative energy, innovation, and positive change. People walked away with a more positive outlook towards their working relationships and their personal relationships.

  • Niagara College Canada

    Tim Arnold’s down to earth approach empowers the head, enables the hand, engages the heart, and enriches the spirit. Participants raved about the relevance and usefulness of the content as well as the fun and effective facilitation style.

  • Manager Citizenship and Immigration Canada

    Thank you for providing a very engaging experience. We appreciated the energy and found the learning component of the keynote applicable to work and personal life. The feedback from the team has been incredible!

  • The Ian Martin Group

    The concept of Healthy Tension has become one of the most useful tools in our company’s toolkit. It has transformed our understanding of how to approach issues like team building, leadership, change management and developing healthy dialogue on tough topics.

  • The Responsive Group

    Through business cases that everyone could relate to, real life examples, and humour, Tim was able to equip us with the tools needed to overcome some of the toughest team and leadership challenges that we face in the workplace.

  • YMCA Canada

    Thanks for the great job! You helped us achieve our goals we had for the day, the engagement was high, there was substance to the content, and the participants all learned a little more about each other. I heard only positive comments from the directors about their experience.

  • Ronald McDonald House Charities

    In this new world of work, leaders are dealing with unprecedented challenges like remote work, labour shortages, and ever-evolving technology, making teamwork more difficult yet more important than ever. “Next Level Teamwork” faces these challenges head on and provides a plan that can be implemented immediately in any workplace.

  • Jobber

    Thank you so much! We finished our leadership team offsite, and I have to say, Tim’s keynote was the highlight. I’ve never received such positive feedback on a speaker in my career.

  • City of London

    Tim took the time to really understand our objectives, and the outcome was phenomenal. He captivated our entire audience. You could see people nodding their heads at the points being made and laughing at his stories and examples. In the end, we walked away with practical tools that I am confident we will put into action. I could not be more thrilled!

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