Robert began his career as an educator and trainer at the age of twenty (which is over 30 years ago!), as a teaching assistant at Concordia University. Since then he as trained teachers for the college and high school level, taught at several universities and trained thousands of employees and managers in customer service, conflict management and performance appraisal and performance management skills.
With a Master’s degree in psychology (University of Toronto), he applies his understanding of human communication and cognition to training and learning issues to help organizations solve business and performance problems.
As an Organization and Staff Development Consultant with the Manitoba Government, he developed and taught courses on a wide range of management issues including performance management and appraisal, conflict management, communication, and employee motivation. He has been involved in extensive and long term consulting projects on performance management and change management.
Since 1992, when he left government to form his own consulting firm, he has been active in providing help on performance management and customer service issues.
His expertise in these areas has resulted in the publication of a number of books that include:
- A Critique of Performance Appraisal — Why Doesn’t It Work (Bacal & Associates)
- Conflict Prevention In The Workplace – Using Cooperative Communication (Bacal & Associates)
- Defusing Hostile Customers Workbook (Bacal & Associates)
- Performance Management – A Briefcase Book (McGraw-Hill)
- Perfect Phrases For Performance Reviews (McGraw-Hill)
- Perfect Phrases For Setting Performance Goals (McGraw-Hill)
- The Manager’s Guide To Performance Reviews (McGraw-Hill)
- The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Dealing With Difficult Customers (Alpha)
- The Complete Idiots’ Guide To Consulting (Alpha)
- How To Manage Performance: 24 Lessons To Improve Performance (McGraw-Hill)
His books, particularly those on performance management and appraisal, have been translated into a number of languages, including Chinese, French and Spanish, and are in use around the world. They are also among the top sellers in the field. One of the best ways a client can determine if Robert’s training and consultinig services will “hit the mark” is to take a look at his books. If you like his books, you will like what he can offer in person.
Robert also has presented at, and offered training at a number of prestigious conferences, usually on performance management related topics. He has presented for human resource associations in New York and Manitoba, for the U.S. Department of Transport, and at several conferences on performance management held in Chicago and Dallas, organized by Linkages, Inc.
Robert has also created a number of useful tools to help managers and employees benefit from performance management and appraisal, improve management and customer service skills, and improve communication.
What Sets Bacal & Associates Apart?
Robert is firmly commited to custom designing each and every training program offered. Robert does not deliver “canned” pre-existing training or consulting services, but insists on assessing the needs of customers, and basing offered services on the results of those needs assessments. That’s because each organization is different from other organizations, and Robert believes that all efforts need to be made to ensure that consulting or training services hit the mark for those involved in them.
Currently he resides near Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He is now retired and no longer travels for seminar and training delivery..
