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Month: December 2018

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Best Practices Growth Leadership Personal Development

8 Necessary Steps to Make Your Mistakes WRITE!

One of our favorite topics is making mistakes write. Yes, WRITE, like W-R-I-T-E, not just RIGHT. When we started Barefoot Wine, we made so many mistakes that we became experts at it. It then felt natural to create a process for making mistakes.

Our company was a success, but it was built on a foundation of mistakes. Our contracts were just three pages long when we started our business, but 20 years later, when we sold it, they were 37 pages long! We made 34 pages of mistakes along the way.

And that isn’t even the half of it! Our mistakes actually made all of our company’s documentation even better, beyond contract clauses. How? Well, we never put a good mistake to waste!

Here’s our guide to making mistakes write:

  1. Permission

Make sure you and your people have permission to make mistakes, as long as they do so in a way that betters your company. Many new hires come from environments that frown upon mistakes, whether that be their school, family, or a previous employer. They could’ve been embarrassed, punished, or even worse—fired—for making a mistake. You can’t blame them for not wanting to admit to their mistakes! And you can’t blame them for quick fixes, throwing a patch on the problem, saying, “Yeah, there was an issue, but it’s fine now.” That attitude must be changed with a culture of permission. Of course, if they are simply incompetent, they have to go. But sometimes, even the most competent person is afraid to admit to a mistake.

  1. Admission

Yes, you must admit when a mistake is made. Avoid exacerbation and cover yourself. It’s always better when you own up, apologize, and develop a plan to prevent the mistake from happening again. We refer to this as, “Aim, don’t blame!” Blame makes you a victim and it’s disempowering. Take ownership and aim your energy on preventing the mistake in the future. To put it simply, be responsible and clean up your own mess.

  1. Cause

All mistakes are caused by a misconception, misrepresentation, or miscommunication. Identifying these factors is your first step in making a mistake write. We’re all guilty of assuming something about the other person’s actions, and when we’re wrong, things don’t go well. As someone once said, “A-s-s-u-m-e: It makes an ASS out of U and ME!” When you can nail down the cause, you’re already on your way to improvement.

  1. Documentation

Identify any documents that need to be created, fixed, or improved in order to prevent future mistakes. Yes—documents! It could be a checklist, a job description, a signoff sheet, a procedure, a label, or even a clause in a contract. Maybe it’s a big sign above a low ledge that reads, “DUCK!”

  1. Write!

Write everything down. The mistake, the causes, and all revised documents that must be incorporated into your company. Get others involved in this process. Ask your people for suggestions and opinions, and ask other companies as well. Then, you can create new policies and procedures that will prevent the mistake from reoccurring as often. Just one mistake can improve several documents at the same time.

  1. Approval

If your revised documents get lost in the shuffle and are just filed and forgotten, you’ve wasted all your time. You need to get everyone involved. Distribute the new policy and make sure everyone signs off on it. Think about those outside of your company that need to give their approval, too. This is a great way to dissolve hard feelings and to prevent putting others at fault. Create a log where all of these signoffs are kept—this is a useful training tool for new hires. They can see proof of mistakes made and how the new policies and procedures will prevent them in the future.

  1. Acknowledgement

If someone on your team makes a mistake, but makes it “write”, publicly acknowledge them. People thrive on a higher authority’s validation, and on their peers’ approval. Simply write a memo and distribute it to the whole team: “Susan noticed an ongoing problem and improved our procedures to prevent it from happening again.” Now, you’ll notice three things will happen. First, everyone will know who Susan is, what she does for the company, and how she made the company better. Then, they’ll know that they’ll also be appreciated when they resolve an issue. Lastly, Susan is motivated to continue improving the company.

 

  1. And repeat!

One of our senior execs didn’t exactly appreciate this policy—“You’re trying to idiot-proof everything!” We quickly responded, “Not exactly. We’re making things idiot-resistant!” He said, “That could be true, but at this very moment, they’re building a better idiot!” And he was right! The target is always moving. So we added clause after clause to our contracts until they were 37 pages long.

You will make mistakes. Your people will make mistakes. So why not make them write?

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

 

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Best Practices Human Resources Investing Management Marketing Negotiations News and Politics Sales Skills Women In Business

Negotiators: Beware of the Hidden Danger in Free Value

“There’s always a hidden fee in free. Don’t accept free without knowing what that hidden cost might be.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

As a negotiator, what do you consider when you hear free? Do you think about the hidden danger that may lurk in something that’s free? Sure, there could be value in the offer, but you should also beware of the hidden danger in anything that’s free.

When you hear the word free, your brain goes into a sense of euphoria. The endorphins begin to flow at the thought of receiving something for nothing. In such a mindset, you can become susceptible to lowering your guard. Doing that can leave you vulnerable to unsuspecting ploys. That can occur even when you’ve planned how you’ll address such offers. When you find yourself in such quandaries, consider the following.

What’s the offer attempting to achieve:

People are motivated by their aspirations. Thus, during a negotiation when offers are extended, a goal is at the purpose of that offer. If you’re aware of that intent, you’ll be in a better position to assess its potential value. Offers are not equal. Don’t let one that appears to be free become too costly for you to accept. Examine it thoroughly.

What’s to be gained:

Sometimes, acquiring a concession in a negotiation can add value to your overall goals. If the concession appears not to contain a cost, its allure may become bewitching. Be cautious when such appears to be the case. Good negotiators accumulate chits that they can use at other points in the negotiation. Thus, while you’re receiving what appears to be free, what you’re really receiving could be an IOU.

The timing of the offer:

The timing of an offer can obscure hidden dangers. If the intent is to obtain a greater concession, a negotiator may seek smaller ones to build towards the larger one. Thus, in some cases, positioning may be the goal. That means, offering something for free may be the setup or cover up for something to come.

Always be aware of where a concession or request may lead. Since negotiations are the accumulations of gains and concessions, you don’t want to make a concession thinking that it will lead to more gains. Or, acquire gains that are too costly, compared to the concessions you make to acquire them.

What do you have to concede:

In every negotiation, good negotiators have red herrings to use as chits or diversions. They can serve as bartering pieces that don’t contain a burdensome cost to you, or as distracters from the real intent of your offer. In a best-case scenario, a red herring should be perceived as something of value that you possess that can be dangled as a sought-after desire that the other negotiator wants. The more he’d like to possess it, the greater its perceived value will be. Thus, if it doesn’t cost you anything to relinquish, you can heighten its appeal by feigning great concern to part with it. The point is, don’t weaken red herrings by relinquishing them too easily. Doing so will weaken your negotiation position.

There’s a cost associated with everything we acquire, even if it’s just the time that we invest. Because time itself has a cost. If you keep in mind that nothing’s free, you’ll maintain a more prepared mind to assess the hidden cost and hidden dangers that may be concealed in free offers. Doing so will make you a better negotiator … and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.TheMasterNegotiator.com/greg-williams/

#Danger #value #free #Hide #bodylanguage #Negotiator #Business #Management #SmallBusiness #Money #Negotiating #combat #negotiatingwithabully #bully #bullies #bullying #Negotiations #PersonalDevelopment #HandlingObjections #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #psychology #NegotiationPsychology

Categories
Growth Human Resources Personal Development

How to Tell the Difference Between Training that Is Frivolous and Training that Gets Results

Let’s take a look at two professional trainers. In today’s post, we’ll call them Joan and Jack.

How Joan and Jack Are Similar

Both Jack and Joan are energetic trainers who get their audiences laughing quickly. They will both do whatever it takes – using props or quacking or asking trainees to do silly things – to illustrate a concept or get them engaged. And when trainees leave at the end of the day, they feel energized and happy.

How Joan and Jack Are Different

A few weeks after training is over, the performance of the people who trained with Joan has really improved. The performance of the people who trained with Jack hasn’t. They quickly went back to “business as usual.”

In other words, Jack’s training is frivolous. Joan’s isn’t, because it gets results.

How to Avoid Wasting Money on Frivolous Training 

Define outcomes and make sure your trainer can reach them. Do you want your salespeople to contact 25% more new prospects? Do you want the people who deliver and install appliances for your store to give true “white glove” treatment to customers? Or do you want your hotel front-desk staff to delight guests with exceptional service?  Your trainer should explain his or her plans to break those processes down into individual steps and address them directly through training.

Help your trainer know who your trainees are. A good trainer will want to know about their ages, prior experience, educational level, current jobs, and all other factors that can be leveraged to engage them more fully in training.  A concerned trainer will also want to be aware of any factors that might cause them not to engage.

Work with your trainer to develop meaning metrics. If you work together to define what you will measure after training is completed, chances are good that your training will accomplish much more, because its goals are well defined.

Monitor sessions and make sure that training stays on track. If you are a company training director or a member of senior management, you might not want to attend sessions, because your presence could put a damper on trainees’ ability to relax and learn. If that is the case, ask a few trainees to check in with you at lunchtime or other breakpoints to tell you whether the trainer is hitting the benchmarks you created. If not, a quick check-in with the trainer can often get things back on track and avoid wasting time and money.

It’s All About Getting Your Money’s Worth and Getting Results 

If you are a training director who wants to record serious results from serious training, it’s important to work closely with professional trainers who don’t only entertain, but educate.  That’s the difference between training that’s frivolous and training that offers a good ROI on your investment.

About Evan Hackel

Evan Hackel is CEO of Tortal Training, a leading training development company, and principal and founder of Ingage Consulting. He is the host of Training Unleashed podcast, and author of the book Ingaging Leadership. Evan speaks on Seeking Excellence, Better Together, Ingaging Leadership, and Attitude is Everything. To hire Evan as a speaker, visit evanhackelspeaks.com and follow Evan on Twitter @ehackel.

Categories
Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

What Do You Fear?

“Fear will masquerade as truth until it’s unmasked”. -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

Do you know what you’re most fearful of and why? Does fear debilitate you when you’d rather be less susceptible to it? When you find yourself in the clutches of fear, you need to know how to escape it. If not, it will leave you imprisoned and entrapped in a web of despair.

Consider the following the next time you feel fear sneaking up on you.

Inner Child:

There were lyrics to a song that went – ‘little child, running wild …’. All of us carry our inner child with us throughout our life. That inner child can be the source of fearful things you experienced in your formative years that should no longer hold sway over you.

In dealing with your inner child, realize that you’re no longer that person. You’ve evolved. Keep your inner child in check and you’ll be more adaptable to dealing with things that you fear.

Insecurities:

What beliefs temper your insecurities? You should know what they are, why they come into being, and what stimulates them to rise to your consciousness.

Before you can deal with any fears, you must know why they’re prevalent and what gave them life. Once you pinpoint that source, you’ll know to what degree the fear is real or imagined. You’ll also have a better handle on how to deal with them and keep them in check.

Times of Happiness:

During times of happiness, be grateful. Revel in your bliss. But, don’t relax too long. The world continuously evolves, which means you must evolve to stay abreast with the changes that occur in the world.

The point is, the more you recognize when you’re in a state of happiness, the more you’ll focus upon your good fortunes. Doing that will relieve hidden stress, and dissipate fear. That will allow you to experience a greater feeling of happiness. Isn’t that a better cycle to be in?

To enhance your life, know why and when fear becomes ignited in you. To combat it, focus on the times when you were happiest in life. Draw from the lessons learned during those times. Then, mentally summon those happier times to combat fear. By doing that, you’ll recognize when you’re in a good place in your life, and know how to best deal with fear when it comes at you … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations?

During a negotiation, you and the other negotiator will be motivated by gain and loss at different points in the negotiation. It behooves you to understand when either source of stimulus is present because you need to adopt different strategies to deal with that segment of the negotiation. As an example, the fear of loss can be a potent tool to employ against the other negotiator. Be judicious when doing that so it doesn’t backfire on you.

By taming fear and using it as a source of motivation in a negotiation, you’ll have a greater grasp of how to control its usage. That will place you in a powerful position throughout the negotiation.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

 To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

#Fear #Success #Emotion #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #liars #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions #negotiator

Categories
Growth Human Resources Personal Development

How to Identify the Best Candidates for Leadership Training

Leadership training programs offer your organization many important benefits, including:

  • A cost-effective and efficient way to fill your top jobs by promoting excellent performers from within your organization.
  • A powerful motivator that encourages your most talented managers to stay in your company for the long term.
  • An opportunity to create a strong cross-functional leadership team of individuals who bring extensive experience from different sectors of your organization.

Those are all important reasons to invest in leadership training. But before you start to design a leadership training program, let’s take a step back and ask an important preliminary question . . .

How can you select the best candidates to take part in your leadership training?

In a Breakthrough Ideas in Training webinar for Tortal Training Dr. Keith Halperin, Senior Partner at Korn Ferry, outlined these four “leadership dimensions” that should influence your choice of trainees and your training goals.

Experience – For the Korn Ferry leadership consulting team, experience is part of a process. Dr. Halperin and his team identify the most critical experiences that a company’s leaders have had in the past. They then create training that exposes leadership trainees to those same experiences.

Traits – These are specific competencies that leaders need in order to be successful in your organization. Identifying them requires study of your current leaders. Do they have experience doing business internationally, for example? Are they keen marketers, communicators, financial analysts, or something else? Once you have a fuller picture of key traits, you can select the strongest candidates and design training that cultivates the traits that they will need as they move into leadership positions.

Drivers – “Leading is hard work that takes energy and passion,” Dr. Halperin told the webinar. Before selecting candidates for leadership training, it is important to evaluate whether they really have the drive to want to handle the challenges of top leadership positions, or whether they’ll take your training just because it’s the next step up the ladder.

Competencies – Competencies are abilities that leaders are capable of developing. In his webinar, Dr. Halperin cited “Learning Agility” as one of the most important; it means a person’s ability to move into unknown situations, adjust to uncertainty, and understand what needs to be done. Learning agility also means the ability to learn lessons from past experiences that apply to new situations. Other competencies can include the abilities to earn trust, lead change and create a culture of innovation.

About Evan Hackel

Evan Hackel is CEO of Tortal Training, a leading training development company, and principal and founder of Ingage Consulting. He is the host of Training Unleashed podcast, and author of the book Ingaging Leadership. Evan speaks on Seeking Excellence, Better Together, Ingaging Leadership, and Attitude is Everything. To hire Evan as a speaker, visit evanhackelspeaks.com and follow Evan on Twitter @ehackel.

Categories
Best Practices Growth Personal Development

5 Grammatical Mistakes in the C Suite

After proofreading thousands of reports, I prepared this list of 5 grammatical mistakes.

Do you want to present yourself a well-qualified communicator, one who understands how your clients, both internal and external,  scrutinize every word you write?

Here is what NOT to do.

Don’t confuse possessive and plural

Not sure when to use an apostrophe? Plurals mean you are referring to more than one. Possessive means you are describing ownership. I know many people who can’t figure out the difference between these two.

Wrong: “She was responsible for preparing the marketing plans’ for the company.”

Right: “She was responsible for preparing the marketing plans for the company.”

Don’t add an apostrophe to a plural word unless you are using the possessive form.

Don’t mix up hyphens and dashes

This is another sign of an inexperienced writer. What’s the difference between a hyphen and a dash?

A hyphen is also called an “n dash” whereas a dash breaks up a sentence and is called an “m” dash. Keep these separate in your mind by thinking of the fact that an “n” is less wide than an “m”.

Hyphens punctuate words.
They link smaller words to make compound words: 66-year-old.
They link an adjective before a noun: month-long orientation.

Dashes punctuate sentences.
They make a detour around the main idea of a sentence to add an aside. Use two dashes in a sentence if the interruption comes in the middle of the sentence.

“The new hire–who spoke limited English–could not read the employee manual.”

A dash is twice as long as a hyphen. Note there is no space before and after either a hyphen or a dash.

Don’t use insure, assure and ensure interchangeably

Although these words sound alike, they have different meanings.

Insure means to protect against loss.
Assure means to pledge or give confidence to people. (Reassure has the same meaning.)
Ensure means to guarantee or make certain.

  • You contact an insurance carrier when you want to insure your car.
  • You talk to the attorney when you want to assure him the case is defensible.
  • You speak to the assistant when you want to ensure you receive all of the records.

Don’t confuse principle and principal

Principals are people. You dreaded being sent to the principal when you were in school. The principal was not your pal. A principal is a person in control.

Principal also means main or primary. “Our principal need is to be sure we have named all of the possible defendants.”

Principle is a rule or guidebook. “It is against my principles to not refund the unused portion of a retainer.”

This is an example of using both words in the same sentence: “The principal of the company asserted that the firm would not violate its principles.”

Don’t use colons incorrectly

Colons tell your reader to come to a stop. Use them to introduce a list, such as a list of initiatives.

Mr. Guthrie directed the sales department to focus on these actions:

  • Close more sales
  • Identify the most commonly heard objections
  • Reduce the sales cycle

Don’t put a colon after a verb or the object of a preposition.

Incorrect: Please email me: the names of the vice president of sales, marketing director and CFO at Nonny Corporation.
Correct: Please email me the names of the vice president of sales, marketing director and CFO at Nonny Corporation.

The part before the colon must be able to stand alone as a complete sentence.

Also correct: Please email me the information I need to complete my database: the names of the vice president of sales, marketing director and CFO at Nonny Corporation.

Pat Iyer is a C Suite Network Advisor, ghostwriter, and editor. Request her free editing checklist at www.editingMybook.com.

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development

Take Pains to Differentiate Fact from Opinion

A lesson in communication and leadership from my new book Ingaging Leadership

We are living in a time when many people express their opinions as if they were facts. Many do it unknowingly, others intentionally. We hear politicians do it. It has also become commonplace on talk radio and television news.

When people speak with any level of passion or conviction, they often speak as if what they are saying is a fact. In reality, much of what people try to pass off as facts are simply opinions. And when people state an opinion as a fact, their audience is prone to believe it to be a fact and react to it in a certain way. Most often, the conversation either ends or never gets to the point of addressing real issues.

You might hear someone in your organization say, for example, “You cannot bring that product to market by early next year because of A, B, and C.” That person is stating opinions as though they were facts and if you disagree, you look like you are calling him or her a liar.

If you cultivate the habit of delineating between fact and opinion during conversations, you become more empowered to move toward real solutions. If you fail to do so, miscommunications usually result. Imagine, for example, that you’re asking for advice about a particular issue, but that you express your opinion of that situation as though it were undisputable truth. In such a case, the advice that you receive will probably not have great merit, because the other person will not base his or her advice on a wider and more comprehensive understanding of what the situation really is.

From the other side of the equation, it is wise to cast a similarly critical eye on the information you receive, by consistently challenging the assumption that what is being said or presented to you is actually fact. To make the most informed decisions, you need to investigate and become as certain as you can that you are considering not opinions, but the reality of what is taking place.

Now, it’s not realistic to think you can do this with absolutely everything that comes across your desk or in every conversation. Time limitations and pressures often will keep you from probing on a deep level into what you are hearing. And you do not need to do so all the time – not when you are dealing with low-priority issues or activities, for example. But you certainly should do it when you are dealing with serious or deep issues. That’s where you’ll want to dig deeper – to look at every angle to get to the real facts.

When you get there, you’ll realize a significant improvement in business. Fact or opinion? You decide.

Communications skills that help differentiate opinions from facts . . .

When you are offering an opinion, precede it with the phrase, “In my opinion.” This differentiates opinions from facts. Perhaps more importantly, it raises the quality of the conversation by inviting people to contribute to your opinion, refute it, or offer productive alternatives of their own.

Ask other people, “Is what you are saying a fact or an opinion?” This strategy, like the one just above, encourages others to be more alert to situations in which they are tempted to offer their opinions as facts.

Point out when other people are presenting opinions as facts. This can be difficult to do because in a way, you are pointing out that those other people might be lying. Plus, it can be unpleasant to challenge other people’s opinions. If someone says, for example, “Your price increases are killing sales,” you should consider exposing that statement by stating that it is an opinion, not a fact. You can then explore that opinion to see if it has validity or is simply an attempt to box you into a corner or limit a productive search for information and solutions. In some cases, you will discover the other person is simply trying to advance his or her own agenda or goals. One good choice of words is to say, “I believe . . .” (“I believe that other factors could be at work too . . . let’s explore some more.”) In a non-confrontational way, those words help you address the reality that another person is expressing an opinion as though it were a fact.

Get into the habit of looking for facts. If someone says, “Your price increases are killing sales,” you can work with that person to arrive at statistics, data, feedback, and facts that either support or refute the opinion. This elevates the quality of your conversation to a level of higher ingagement.

An Experiment for You to Try

Over the next two days, pay attention to times when people state opinions as facts. Watch some commentary shows on television and notice when it’s taking place. Pay attention to your own communication too, and try to make sure that others know when you are stating an opinion. What do these steps tell you about how effectively you and other people in your organization make this important distinction?

About Evan Hackel

Evan Hackel is CEO of Tortal Training, a leading training development company, and principal and founder of Ingage Consulting. He is the host of Training Unleashed podcast, and author of the book Ingaging Leadership. Evan speaks on Seeking Excellence, Better Together, Ingaging Leadership, and Attitude is Everything. To hire Evan as a speaker, visit evanhackelspeaks.com and follow Evan on Twitter @ehackel.

Categories
Best Practices Culture Entrepreneurship Industries Management Personal Development Technology

Keeping Up is a Fool’s Game

Many business consultants agree that benchmarking is imperative to strategic planning. By using metrics, a business will study the practices, designs, and financial outcomes of industry leaders with one distinct purpose: To keep up with the pacesetters.

There’s just one problem. Keeping up—with technology, with the competition, with anything in business or life—is what some would call a fool’s game. Think about it: When you’re merely keeping up, what’s the advantage? In reality, there is no advantage; all you’re doing is making yourself just like everyone else.

So how do you gain advantage and truly stand out from the crowd? Here are three suggestions.

1. Get off the Treadmill

Rather than keeping up, a smarter way to benchmark means you will look to the future. Most benchmarking practices are based on two questions:

  • What path are my competitors on right now?
  • And, what are all the successful companies evolving to?

However, there is a third question to ask yourself – and it’s key to moving past the pacesetters:

  • What’s the likely progression of the industry as a whole?

Asking these questions enables you to go beyond your competition and get off the treadmill of keeping up. It opens your eyes to future possibilities—to stay ahead of the pack instead of side-by-side with them.

In my latest book, The Anticipatory Organization: Turn Disruption and Change into Opportunity and Advantage, I reinforce the major competitive edge that comes from the ability to accurately anticipate the future. Think of being anticipatory as a new competency; it’s a mindset that teaches you to elevate tried-and-true strategies like benchmarking to new levels. Unlike traditional benchmarking, which looks backwards and measures what has already worked, being anticipatory requires you to look forward.

2. Use Hard Trends to Get Ahead

Ask yourself: Is your industry faced with cyclical changes, such as seasonal, economic, or sales cycles? If the answer yes, you can expect the normal ebbs and flows that go along with that. But, if the answer is no, there may be even opportunity out there.

Trends that are linear (and not cyclical) present the best opportunity for exponential change. These are trends in technology and innovation that show no signs of slowing down. Think about the future of virtualization, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT). How could advances in these areas impact your business?

I call the latter, Hard Trends, and they are things that are sure to happen based on their upward trajectory and other considerations I talk about in the Anticipatory Organization. Knowing how to identify them can give you a powerful window to the future.

3. Learn from a Leader

While Blockbuster worked to maintain its foothold as the largest movie-rental outlet, Netflix was redefining the concept altogether.

Though Netflix began in 1997 by lending or selling physical DVDs to its customers, it already had a technology platform. Consumers could order their movies online and have them delivered through the mail. One thing it didn’t do was open a brick-and-mortar store.

Ten years later, Netflix added streaming media to its mail-order business. From there, consumer behavior and digital technology took care of the rest. By the time Netflix reinvented itself as a content creator in 2012, the majority of its content was consumed online – including on tablets and phones, which didn’t even exist when the company began.

The key here is to realize that moving beyond competition into innovation wasn’t just a small tweak in order to hit a benchmark; it was a complete change in direction. Netflix didn’t even try to compete in the physical space, they made a one-way move and invested in the future of streaming technology instead.

Are you anticipating the future with confidence? If you want to learn more about the Anticipatory Organization, my new book is available on Amazon.com now.

Categories
Best Practices Body Language Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

How to Observe Body Language to Uncover the Truth

“To uncover the truth, expose its darkness.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

When you negotiate, what body language gestures do you observe to uncover the truth? Do you seek insights from gestures, intonations, and other signs to validate when you suspect the truth is being violated? If so, exactly what do you look for?

You can gain great insight about someone’s truthfulness via their body language, and negotiate better, by arming yourself with the following information.

Body Language

Before you can accurately interpret someone’s body language, you must establish their baseline. That baseline will allow you to more accurately assess and compare the body language gestures the other negotiator exhibits more accurately during the negotiation. To form his baseline, observe his mannerisms when he’s in a non-threatening environment.

Our body seeks to maintain a constant state of comfort. When it’s out of that state, it will commit actions to put itself back into that state (e.g. babies cry for attention when they’ve soiled themselves, adults feeling overly aggrieved strike out in anger to get even and soothe themselves, etc.). During the body’s state of discomfort, observe signs like, rubbing of the hands, touching one’s face/neck/arm/leg, etc., to validate the state of mind that person is in; those signs are called comfort gestures. The person emitting the behavior is attempting to comfort himself; that person’s body is attempting to put itself back into a state of comfort.

When you see the gestures noted above, assess what has caused that person to experience discomfort. Was it something he said? If so, he may have entered a state of untruthfulness. If you sense that might be the case, consider questioning him about your suspicion. Or, you can progress the conversation and note when other comfort gestures are exhibited. The second, third, etc., iteration of such signals will add to the possibility that he’s violating the truth.

Intonation

When a person speaks, note their intonations. It will lend insight into what they believe to be more important than other aspects of what they’re saying. As an example, if someone said, “I’m not sure if that’s the whole truth.” The word(s) they placed the most emphasis on would denote what’s important to them. Thus, if the emphasis was on “whole”, there may be more that’s undisclosed. Once again, if you think that’s the case, probe to get to the root of the possible deception.

When it comes to intonations, observe what causes someone to alter their speaking pattern. Remember, the body seeks a constant state of comfort. Thus, if someone alters their speaking pace, they’re doing so due to the stimuli that put them into that mood. The behavior may be due to their contemplating what to say to complete their thought. If you sense they’re concealing the truth, consider how and when you’ll challenge them.

Once you become astute at reading body language gestures, you’ll uncover secret cues that indicate when someone’s not being forthright. You’ll become a human lie detector … and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating! 

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.TheMasterNegotiator.com/greg-williams/

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Entrepreneurship Management Marketing Negotiations Operations Sales Skills Women In Business

Thank You for Your Patience

“Patience can be a virtue; it can also be an enslaver. Know the difference to avoid entrapment.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

How many times have you heard the words, “thank you for your patience”? To a degree, there are times when such words become frustrating. You hear over the intercom, “you’re flight’s been delayed”, thank you for your patience. The train is 33 minutes behind schedule. Thank you for your patience.

In most situations when such words are uttered, thank you for your patience, you’re in a captive position. You can’t do anything but wait. So, why do you think such announcements are made? Do you think there’s a hidden message implied?

Sometimes, the attempt is to keep you calm and feeling like the offending party is sorry for the dilemma they’ve caused. They’re soliciting empathy to soften you to the plight you find yourself in. In other times, they’re genuinely sorry.

So, what can you do to pushback on such psychological ploys? In some cases, you can say, I appreciate the sincerity of your statement, can you please do ‘x’? In this case, ‘x’ is something that you might want due to the inconvenience you find yourself in. That request is nothing more than a test to assess their sincerity.

Depending on the circumstances, you might be surprised at what you’re granted. The point is, words are used to influence emotions. In this case, they could be used to assuage the hostile feelings that may be swirling in you due to the circumstances. To allay those feelings and test your negotiation skills, ask the other party to show through action how sorry they are. You can request anything that pleases you. I’ve done it by asking for a penny. The request got a laugh, which made the situation more tenable. It changed the outlook I had and that of the other party.

When you find yourself in a position of helplessness, due to situations that you perceive to be out of your hands, take actions to control them. You’ll be amazed at how well you feel … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations? 

In a negotiation, the words, ‘thank you for your patience’ can be a way to subdue a request for concessions, or slow the negotiation process down. It can also suggest genuine sincerity for an indiscreet remark or action. The point is, you need to understand the real meaning of someone’s conveyance to assess the purveyor’s true intent. Without validation, you could misperceive that intent, which can cause the negotiation to take an unexpected turn.

First, consider the mindset you possess; your current state of mind will influence your perspective. Next, consider the person with whom you’re negotiating. Has she displayed an ill temper throughout the negotiation, or a demeanor that’s been non-threatening, passive, and one of conciliation?  Take into account what has occurred prior to that point; the closer you are to a point of exasperation, the less likely you are to being in an understanding mindset. That means if you’ve been riled throughout the negotiation, or at a point that’s not too distant, you’ll be more likely to seek retribution and less likely to offer forgiveness.

Always be mindful of the intent of the other negotiator. It’s through that understanding that you’ll gain insight into the real person with whom you’re negotiating.

Remember, you’re always negotiating! 

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

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