Named frameworks, taught and published.
Chris does not hand a room a story and hope something sticks. Each program is built on a named framework with a defined structure, and outside associations have published them under their own mastheads, with continuing education credit attached.
Pay opens the door. Culture decides whether anyone walks through it twice. SPARK breaks retention into the five things a leader actually controls, so a director can diagnose where engagement is breaking down on a specific team rather than guessing at morale.
Support
Whether people believe someone has their back when the shift goes wrong.Purpose
Whether the work connects to something a person actually cares about.Appreciation
Whether anyone notices. Do not let reliability become invisibility.Relationships
Whether there are people here worth showing up for.Knowledge & Growth
Whether someone can see a version of themselves a year from now.- Nebraska Health Care Association published the full framework and four learning objectives as an on-demand convention session carrying 1 CE credit. View
- NAHCR ran a conference write-up by Theresa Mazzaro devoting a full section to SPARK, spelling out all five drivers. Read it
- Greater Omaha Chamber programmed The SPARK Advantage on the Retention track at its POWER Conference. View
Most people answer an objection before they have understood it. LAARC slows the exchange down by one beat and gives it a structure that holds whether the objection comes from a candidate weighing an offer, a client stalling on a decision, or a team member pushing back on a change. It is not a hiring script. It works anywhere someone says no and means something more specific than no.
Listen
All the way to the end, without building the rebuttal while they talk.Acknowledge
Say back what you heard so they know it landed.Ask
Objections are an onion. The first answer is rarely the real one.Respond
To the actual concern underneath, not the sentence on the surface.Confirm
Check that it is resolved before moving on. Most people skip this.- LeadingAge Illinois printed the method and its learning objectives in the official program of its annual conference. Program PDF
- Cisive published a conference write-up walking through all five steps, by Bryan Barajas, who also serves as Communications Director for NAHCR. Read it
- NAHCR programmed it at the 50th anniversary annual conference, co-presented with the association’s Education Director. View the event
A closed deal works like a combination lock. Five tumblers, all of which have to line up before it opens. Four out of five is not eighty percent of a sale, it is a locked lock. LOCKS names all five so a rep can hear an objection and know which condition is missing instead of guessing, and it pairs with LAARC. Diagnose with one, respond with the other.
Love the Product
Do they actually want what you are selling? Value gets built here.Own Belief
Do they believe someone like them could get the result?Confidence in You
Know, like and trust. Lose this and they buy from a competitor.Kickoff Plan
What happens the moment they say yes. The most overlooked one.Stakes
Both twelve-month paths, including the cost of doing nothing.Don’t let reliability become invisibility.Chris Sund · quoted by NAHCR
Built for a room, not a slide deck.
Each framework runs as a keynote, a breakout or a working session, and is shaped around what your members are carrying this year rather than delivered off the shelf.
Bring a framework to your members.
Tell Chris what your members are wrestling with this year and he will tell you which framework fits, or whether one does.