Bring Your "A" Game
New Employee Success & Retention Program
The first 30–90 days can determine whether a new employee becomes a long-term contributor or another costly turnover statistic. Bring Your "A" Game is a
fully customizable onboarding and workplace success program
that helps employers take a proactive approach to early retention by building the foundational workplace behaviors that strengthen company culture, improve productivity and accountability, and equip employees to thrive from day one.
Employers use Bring Your "A" Game to help employees:
Understand workplace expectations from Day One • Build confidence before problems arise
Integrate into company culture more quickly • Develop accountability and professionalism
Improve communication and teamwork • Reduce preventable early turnover
Increase employee engagement • Build long-term workplace success
From a focused 4-hour introduction to an in-depth 40-hour experience—and anywhere in between—the program is built around what your employees need most.
Bring Your "A" Game is designed to be flexible. Employers can select the modules that best align with their workplace needs, culture, and expectations—and determine how deeply each topic should be explored.
Each module can be delivered as a high-level introduction to the essential concepts or explored in greater depth through discussion, activities, workplace scenarios, reflection, and application. Program length is based not simply on the number of modules selected, but on the employer's goals, desired level of depth, and needs of the employees participating.
Company-specific policies, expectations, values, and real workplace situations can also be incorporated throughout the training, making the program directly relevant to the organization and the employee's day-to-day experience.
Attendance | Reliability
Being reliable is about more than simply showing up. This module explores what it means to
be on time, prepared and fully present, while helping employees understand how their reliability affects coworkers, supervisors, customers and the organization as a whole.
Attitude | Mindset & Emotional Intelligence
Attitude is about
how you respond to challenges, manage your emotions and choose the mindset you bring to work each day. This module helps employees build greater self-awareness, develop strategies for maintaining a productive outlook, and understand how their attitude and emotions can influence coworkers and workplace relationships.
Appearance | Professionalism
Professional appearance is about much more than clothing. This module helps employees understand how
the way they present themselves — in person, in writing and online — shapes how others perceive both them and their employer.
Ambition | Initiative
Ambition in the workplace isn't just about moving up the ladder. It's about
taking initiative, continuing to grow and looking for ways to contribute beyond the minimum required. This module helps employees take greater ownership of their development, set meaningful goals and recognize how their own growth can add value to the organization.
Acceptance | Respect
Successful workplaces bring together people with different personalities, backgrounds, experiences, perspectives and ways of working. Acceptance is about
respecting those differences, being coachable, working effectively with others and handling disagreements in a productive way. This module helps employees understand their role on a team and build stronger, more respectful workplace relationships.
Appreciation | Gratitude
The way employees treat customers, coworkers and others can have a lasting impact on how an organization is perceived. Appreciation is about
showing genuine gratitude, providing thoughtful service and recognizing that small actions can make a big difference. This module helps employees develop a service mindset and understand how their everyday interactions contribute to stronger relationships and positive customer experiences.
Accountability | Integrity & Ownership
Accountability is about
doing what is right, taking responsibility for your choices and following through on what is expected—even when no one is watching. This module helps employees understand how honesty, integrity, sound decision-making and personal ownership build trust and contribute to a stronger workplace.
How Bring Your "A" Game Works
Bring Your "A" Game is designed to become part of an employer's onboarding process—not simply a one-time training event.
Together, WCEDA and the employer will identify the workplace behaviors most important to their organization, determine the appropriate level of depth, and incorporate company-specific expectations, policies, values, and examples. This creates a customized program that can then be delivered consistently to new employees as they join the organization—even one employee at a time.
For employers implementing Bring Your "A" Game for the first time, training can also be offered to current employees to establish a common foundation and ensure existing team members have the same opportunity to develop these skills. Once that initial group has been reached, the program can transition into an ongoing onboarding resource for future hires.
STEP 1 — Build Your Program
Select the modules, depth, company policies, expectations, and examples that matter most.
STEP 2 — Launch With Your Current Team (Optional)
Offer the program to existing employees who may benefit, creating a shared foundation across the organization
STEP 3 — Make It Part of Onboarding
Provide the customized program to each new employee as they join the organization—individually or in small groups.
STEP 4 — Adjust as Your Needs Change
Revisit the program as workplace expectations, policies, or workforce needs evolve.
Elizabeth Oplatka, Like Minds Business Psychology
Liz is an experienced consultant, coach, manager, educator, and business/government journalist with a unique combination of proven competencies in organizational psychology, organizational development, communication, strategic leadership, and change management. Liz coaches and teaches current and future leaders; supports and influences businesses; uses proven tools to assess current behaviors, need and program effectiveness; builds lasting teams and coalitions; improves employee engagement; revitalizes struggling enterprises and helps developing organizations through growing pains.
She has been coaching, consulting, and training in organizations and teaching at the undergraduate and graduate programs for more than 15 years. Prior to that, she practiced what she preaches as a business and government journalist known for turning around floundering enterprises and offering leadership expertise to the industries she covered. She also worked as an employee assistance professional, coaching and counseling in the Loyola University Health System Employee Assistance Program.
Liz earned a dual master’s degree in organizational psychology and counseling from the Adler School of Professional Psychology; a master’s degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism of Northwestern University; and a liberal arts BA from Illinois Wesleyan University.
