Dan Ellis Email & Phone Number

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

GrowthSource has over 20 years of performance development, training, consulting and coaching experience. We offer customer-centric performance development, training, consulting and coaching services utilizing “Integrated Systems” to optimize employee talent, foster engagement, and achieve business results.We draw on our in-depth knowledge of complex markets and the organizational DNA of the best performers in them. This enables us to apply only the most relevant concepts and practices to help our clients optimize talent and develop truly competitive, high-performing and engaged organizations.Since 1993, we have partnered with over 100 different organizations in 21 different countries. During that time, we have assisted over 20,000 senior executives, sales managers, sales representatives and service teams in developing their professional skills, engage talent, and drive business strategy execution.

Performance Consultant-Coach to corporate executives, emerging leaders, teams and individuals leveraging Everything DiSC and other profiles to customize opportunities to improve workplace relationships and resulting performance. Integrating the recently released Work of Leaders and The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team into GrowthSource leadership and team development processes.

Award winning distributor of DiSC, Everything DiSC and all Assessment Tools and Products for the John Wiley & Sons company. GrowthSource has assessed over 20,000 individuals worldwide using DiSC-based assessment instruments. GrowthSource provides performance needs assessments, customized performance development solutions, delivery and evaluation of programming along with follow up coaching as part of an integrated process to ensure that improved performance drives business results.

As an organizational leader, I embraced the responsibility of leading a cross-functional human ecosystem focused on executing the business strategy and achieving results. My leadership work defined my role. This leadership work was guided by a singular purpose; to stimulate employees’ growth and commitment to their work and direct it toward individual and organization success. And, I had a leadership plan.1. First, I established a human framework by building authentic individual work relationships with employees based on intent, integrity, and trust. They needed to develop fully their capabilities for emotional intelligence, or the ability, capacity or skill to identify, assess and manage the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups.2. Next, influence managers to foster a sense of individual significance by linking the local work of employees to the larger organizational purpose and strategy.3. The third step was to calibrate individual accountability focused on outcomes. This was a process of not just setting performance objectives, but setting them in the context of the employee’s participation and agreement—and as much as possible, establishing objectives that will stimulate the employee to grow. 4. I then turned to the fourth pillar; optimizing growth by uncovering the unique talents of individuals and putting them in play. 5. To sustain momentum, leaders and managers had to collaborate with employees in leveraging systems, processes, and resources to achieve outcomes. 6. The last, but not least, accelerant for growth in this human framework is how leaders and mangers recognized individual accomplishments and celebrated success. That’s when the energy was released and people accelerated toward their talents and their full potential.In the end, I was successful in building an organization that achieved success as both developers of people and their performance.

Sales enablement requires sales expertise. I passionately contributed training and leadership development expertise to ensure that the sales organization had the readiness required for confidence, commitment and sales execution success.Leveraging prior performance and experience in successful sales execution, I led a training staff of 14 professional trainers to design, develop and implement an integrated training curriculum focused on sales enablement. Through our innovative approaches, we created transformational development initiatives for sales and management and supported the business growth that was needed for a high-impact business. Our team was recognized for providing performance needs assessments, customized performance development solutions, delivery and evaluation of programming along with follow up coaching as part of an integrated process to ensure that improved performance drove business results.

I recognized that as a District Sales Manager, I was a vital stakeholder and prime mover of sales success. To fulfill the expectations of my role, I identified the key attributes and competencies that were critical to my success. Collectively with the sales team of 11, we focused on three essential elements for sales execution that defined my role:PLANNING - As a team, we collaboratively developed and owned the plan for the District's market analysis, business development, resources, and results.PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT - We established the resources needed to successfully execute the operating plan by hiring the right talent, coaching performance readiness, and developing the potential of each team member.PROACTIVE REVIEW - We managed revenue by collectively monitoring, directing, and reviewing sales activity. I knew instinctively that you can't manage the number but you can manage the activity that drives the number. We would proactively review that activity with the sales plans and consolidate these plans into an accurate forecast to the organization.This was the architecture for my success as a District Sales Manager and became the best practice template for all the sales managers in the company. It is still in place today at Abbott Diagnostics. It also is an integral part of the work we do today at GrowthSource to develop sales managers to be excellent at producing consistently superior results as developers of people and their performance.

Coming out of the Marine Corps as a seasoned Naval Aviator, I faced the complex, rapidly changing, and highly competitive selling environment of medical diagnostics. It was clear to me that my customers expected more than on-time and on-budget delivery of products and services—they expected strategic, comprehensive solutions, and that it would take an entire technical and customer support team to deliver results. I quickly found a way to help these customers succeed by developing a proven approach for understanding and influencing the decision process at multiple levels of even the most complex hospital organizations. With tenacity and persistence I developed a solid communication foundation for building strong relationships, ensuring optimal results, and achieving profitable revenue. I had created my own selling system and coached and mentored others on the team to success as well.

Active duty May 1975 - October 1981, Retired as Captain; Division Flight Leader, VMA-211 Wake Island Avengers, 3rd Marine Air Wing, Mag-13; Advanced Flight Instructor, VT-22 Golden Eagles Strike Training Squadron, Training Wing Two.

Ba, Political Science

Activities and Societies: Member 1975 Summeral GuardsAchieving excellence in the education and development of principled leaders..

Ma, Management And Leadership

The MA in Management and Leadership helped me to develop a ambidextrous thought process, where I learned to balance action.