Day: October 30, 2018

Play The “No” Game

Post author By MIchael and Bonnie Harvey
Post date October 30, 2018
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There are few things worse than being told “No.” We’ve heard it a million times. It might be the least fun part of any business! How do you fight the “no”s while keeping spirits up until you find a “yes”?

We wound up making a game out of it—It’s easy! The object of this game, the “no” game, is to count how many times you were told “no” before you finally heard a “yes”. Keeping track is part of the fun!

Using this game, you can find the average number of “no”s your team gets before they find a “yes”. Then, you can aim to come in under that number, using different strategies, skills, and tactics that you learn along the way.

Everyone on your team can play this game. After all, you all have the same goals, and you’re likely met with more than one “no” on a daily basis.

Here are the rules:

Find the Average Number of “No”s. Encourage everyone to compare their results and notes. Over the next month, keep track of how many times they heard “no” before they heard “yes”. Take the average for both each teammate and the whole team. In Barefoot’s case, the average number was seven!

Then, when anyone complained about a “no”, we asked them how many times they’ve tried so far. If that number was four or five, we’d say, “You’ve just begun! You haven’t even hit the average yet!” And if that number was 10 or 15, we’d say, “Great! You must be very close—keep trying; you’re overdue for a yes!” We’d all have a laugh. Just thinking about this adversity as a game was enough to raise our spirits and keep us determined in our quest for a “yes”.

Ask on Another Day. This seems ridiculous, but sometimes our team asked the same person the same exact question on another day—and got a yes! Maybe their mood changed. Maybe they forgot they even said no in the first place. Or maybe they had time to mull it over and finally realized “yes” is the better option.

Ask Another Person. Maybe there’s suddenly a new decision-maker who wants to hear more about your proposition! Or maybe you’ll get another person who sees it differently. It happened often where we were stopped (or, rather, “delayed”) by assistants who wanted us to think they had the power to say “yes” when they really didn’t. Eventually, we understood their restricted decision-making abilities. We’d get the opportunity to speak to a higher-up (since the assistant was sick that day) who would say, “Yes! We definitely need this!”

Ask in Another Way. Have you been asking the wrong question? Or putting it the wrong way? Consider your request. Think about how the decision-maker would benefit from your proposition. Then ask how you can help solve their problem. Think about what will get you a “yes” and move on from there. Who knows—they might just need to hear something different.

Share What Works. When you finally hear the “yes” you’ve been waiting for, share with your team how you got there, so they can apply the same strategy. Make sure to include how many “no”s you heard before you heard one “yes”. How does it compare to the average? You can make this fun and educational. And most importantly, it can encourage the entire team.

Keep in mind—there isn’t really a “yes” or “no” in the business world. People can say no and later say yes. People can say yes and then avoid signing a physical contract! The real answers are “now” and “later”. You say no when you stop asking, so play the “no” game until they say “yes”—now or later!

For more, read on: http://c-suitenetworkadvisors.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/

Growth Management Personal Development

What Executive Leaders Should Do During TOUGH Times

Post author By Jennifer Ledet
Post date October 30, 2018
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Many people are dealing with what can seem like insurmountable challenges right now – maybe you’re dealing with the aftermath of floods/wildfires/hurricanes/tornadoes/(insert your natural disaster here), economic woes, layoffs, or extreme budget cuts. Your team may just flat out not be getting along or working together productively.

While I wouldn’t say that being an effective executive leader is ever easy, I think we’d agree that serving as the top dog during prosperous times is a whole lot more fun than leading during tough times. Being a true senior leader is all about being able to rise to the occasion during those challenging times.

Don’t forget that in uncertain times, you are not the only one who’s stressed. Your team members likely have a tremendous amount of anxiety and as those negative emotions run high, they may vent their frustrations at a co-worker or colleague. As the stress continues, often fatigue and hopelessness set in.

Sorry to be such a “Betty Buzzkill,” but I do offer some remedies. If you’re on the struggle bus, here are a few tips for dealing with the aforementioned adversity – and/or for anytime you want to be a better leader or just a decent human being.

1. Lighten up. Go see a funny movie or watch a sitcom, serve pizza or po’boys at lunch. Make sure that you take time for yourself to have fun, relax, and recharge your batteries. See my last blog on this one.

2. Be kind and compassionate. Obviously. Everyone is fighting battles that we know nothing about. Use empathy and put yourself in her shoes.

3. Communicate early and often. Now is not the time to hunker down in your office/bunker. Share information, be accessible to your people, and listen to the concerns of your team members.

4. Show interest and concern for each team member. Ask how his family is doing, what challenges he’s facing, and what specific help he needs. Everyone wants to feel empowered and in control. Focus on what action he can take and help him to identify appropriate ways of dealing with the challenges.

5. Be as transparent as possible. If you don’t know the answer to a question, admit that you don’t know. When you have less than positive news/developments to share, do so directly and with respect for how it will impact members of your team.

6. Get scrappy. This is the time to search for more innovative solutions. Get your team involved and tap into their creativity. Get them talking and brainstorming. This is a great way to get and keep them engaged, too. See my previous blog post, Make Your Meetings Meaningful.

7. Exercise. To burn off stress – and all those beignets you ate because you were stressed out. The endorphins will do you a world of good. Encourage your team members to do the same. Why not have a walking meeting?

8. Get enough sleep. Easier said than done, I know. But hopefully, all that exercise will make you tired so you’ll sleep like a baby. Nobody wants to deal with a cranky, sleep-deprived leader during tough times.

9. Spend time with family and friends – but not if they’re the ones causing you stress! Make it a point to be around people who lift you up and make you feel good about yourself. Rather than join the “ain’t it awful club,” surround yourself with positive people who are prone to taking action rather than sitting around whining about the situation.

10. Appreciate and thank others for their efforts. Make a commitment to thank or recognize someone (or three or five someones) each day before your head hits the pillow. I know you’ve heard about the research that indicates that gratitude is a powerful antidote to feeling “meh.” So do it.

Of course there are mornings that you wish you were Don Draper from Madmen so you could pour yourself a drink at 9:00 AM, but sadly, my friend, that would likely only make matters worse. Hopefully, these tips will help you to see these tough times as an opportunity to become a stronger, more effective leader.

Remember that as a leader, you are being watched! You are the role model, the example that others will follow. If you are determined and focused on the positive, likely your team will follow your lead.

CHIME IN:

How do you keep your team engaged during tough times?
What actions would you add to this list?
Post a comment below and share your experiences with our community.

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Shift Your Focus to the Positive

Post author By Evan Hackel
Post date October 30, 2018
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“The negativity around here is wearing me down.”

If you have ever said those words to a colleague, I have some tough-but-loving advise to offer you today . . .

If the negativity is getting to you, it is up to you to do something about it. You… and no one else.

You don’t have the time, you say? You are not negative other people are, you say? Well that could be true. But unless you do something to turn the problem around, you are part of the roadblock.

Here are two simple, time-efficient steps you can do today to transform your organization into a much more positive place to work.

Use the Power of Five-to-One

I recommend telling people five positive things for every comment that could possibly be interpreted as negative – so in effect, you are operating on a ratio of 5 to 1 in positive versus ambiguous or less-than-positive communications. This practice will transform your leadership on the job, and it will produce surprising transformations in the way you interact with your family members, friends – in fact, everyone around you.

Why? Because too many of us don’t spend enough time giving positive feedback. Some of us say nothing at all until they need to comment or correct something that we think someone is doing wrong. Over time, this negative pattern causes others to feel unappreciated and so defensive that when you approach them, they know that you are unhappy with them. Is that good leadership? Is it a good way to interact with the people you love?

In contrast, be on the lookout for good things and call attention to them in positive ways. Concentrate not on perfection, but on the progress and hard work that you see in other people. If you apply this philosophy consistently, everyone around you will be happier, more motivated and less distracted by worry. Please try it and again, let me know how it has helped you.

Express Appreciation Every Day

Expressing appreciation seems like a small thing to do. But just like using the Three Things philosophy, it exerts a surprisingly profound force on everyone around you. You can express appreciation to members of your family, to people who work for the same charities and organizations that you do – and to people you meet everywhere and anywhere as you go about your life.

If the babysitter you hired to watch your kids one night did an especially caring and capable job of it, mention how much you appreciate that. And then go on to do the same, by expressing appreciation for the gas station attendant who washes your windshield, to the waitperson who did an exceptional job attending to your family at a restaurant, to the woman who holds the door of the ATM to make life a little more pleasant for you instead of letting it close in your face.

Every time you express appreciation, you are creating a more positive world, both for you and for everyone around you.

Embrace the Fact that Other People Often Have Ideas that Are As Good As Yours . . . and Possibly Better

Learn to suspend judgment in interactions with other people, by letting go and allowing them to surprise you by doing things the way they want to. We have already explored this leadership book in this book. I am here to tell you, it can produce transformational results in your family and personal life.

Here is a small experiment for you to try. If you have a child, for example, try to see everything you say and do through his or her eyes. You son just came to you with a suggestion for a summer program he would like to participate in, for example, or your daughter wants to go on vacation with her best friend’s family. If you were your son or daughter and expressed desires like those, how would you feel if your idea gets summarily shot down by Mom or Dad?

Accept the idea that the people around you are just as smart as you are, and sometimes smarter. You are not the person who gives final permission for everything. Do bear in mind, of course, that part of being an effective parent sometimes means failing to give permission. Does you daughter want to go swimming with sharks, for example, or travel to a dangerous part of the world. Or does you son suddenly announce that he wants to drop out of college a few months before he is due to graduate? Remember that you don’t have to approve everything. As you do in your professional life, it is a matter of exercising positive leadership. But before you deny permission, take a little time to ask “why?” so you can determine what the real issues are. Then facilitate decision making in a positive and Ingaged way.

About Evan Hackel

Evan Hackel is a 35-year franchising veteran as both a franchisor and franchisee. He is CEO of Tortal Training, a leading training development company, and principal of Ingage Consulting. He is a speaker, hosts “Training Unleashed,” a podcast covering training for business, and author of Ingaging Leadership. To hire Evan as a speaker, visit evanspeaksfranchising.com. Follow @ehackel or call 704-452-7368. Why not have Evan Hackel address your group about franchising success?

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