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Month: September 2019

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Best Practices Growth Industries Personal Development Technology

Infrastructure vs. Extortion Structure, and Economies of Scale vs. Monopoly and Coercion

We’ve seen the real effects of climate change: More evaporation, heavier rain, warmer waters, higher temperatures, longer and hotter heat waves, increased brush growth, increased dry fuel, downed power lines, wildfires, heavy winds, firestorms, unhealthy air, loss of housing, loss of business, loss of forests, loss of life, higher utility rates, higher taxes, higher insurance prices. YIKES.

A hundred years ago, a centralized power and distribution structure seemed like a good idea. Cheap power with the cost of infrastructure spread out over a long period of time. Power companies were even telling us to use more power in the 1950s and ‘60s! And why not? It was so cheap!

But fast-forward to the ‘90s and the aging infrastructure and conventional power generation required more money. But because the power company monopoly was the only one in town, they simply raised the rates. By the early 2000s, they told us to cut back. And the costs were going up—of course we should cut back.

Addressing the Elephant in the Room

Because “underground was too expensive” as the system expanded, they decided to use high-tension lines through forests. These overhead lines came with astoundingly expensive liability, ironically enough. So is the cost of undergrounding lines still too pricy?

At the same time, regulators allow power companies to increase their rates—they were “too big to fail”. Does this sound familiar? Recently, we even read that the power company agreed to pay to make up for municipal costs during the fires. But where does this money come from?

It all comes down to this: When an infrastructure-based company grows to be big enough, they can just raise the rates, and regulatory agencies will allow it.

The Silver Lining

The good news? The movement to go off the grid keeps growing. The local Sutter Hospital just finished putting elevated solar panels all over their parking lot. Their spokesman, Shaun Ralson, said, “The impetus is really sustainability and self-reliance so that we don’t have to rely on PG&E.” He then said, “There’s a desire to be off the grid because we don’t want to deal with the vulnerability.” For any business or even your home, this is food for thought. This solar initiative will provide enough power to service 500 patients.

But back to the wires and fires. Not only will the power company charge their customers for their own mistake of creating a dangerous infrastructure, but now they’re also cutting power during periods of high fire risk. Hospitals must run 24/7/365. They can’t afford to depend on an unreliable system.

And—don’t we need power to pump water to put these fires out? And don’t we need power to operate the electrical doors and gates that block our escape? What about the hospital patients that are on life support? Power shutdowns are dangerous as is, but now that we rely on vulnerable infrastructure, shutdowns are the lesser of two evils.

In the end, real freedom is a form of onsite power production, or at least small micro-grids with local power generation. The sooner we reach this goal, the better.

Moving Forward: Rethinking corporate infrastructure

Forces like climate change and terrorism can lead us to rethink how we rely on corporate infrastructures. We can no longer afford to financially support their mistakes. But what we can afford is an alternative method of home power generation. Solar costs are at record lows, meaning it’ll pay for itself even more quickly considering the increases in mainstream power costs.

Advances in wind power, better batteries, and fuel cells running on biogas are all waiting for you. Have you considered pulling the plug?

Gold was first discovered in old California, at Sutter’s Mill. Maybe Sutter Hospital has discovered the new form of gold. Many of us have already cut the cord that connected us to landline phones and cable television. Is the power cord the next to go?

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

 

 

 

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Best Practices Culture Growth Health and Wellness Industries Leadership Technology

Smart Cities – Seeing the Invisible and Doing the Impossible

The word “impossible” connotes something that cannot be done. But we all know the impossible isn’t completely out of reach. For centuries, humans have been achieving the so-called impossible by developing conceptual understanding and making visible that which we’ve been previously unable to conceive. When we develop this sort of understanding, previously unknown opportunities and solutions become clear — doing the impossible then becomes just a matter of commonsense problem-solving.

A new iteration of this concept is appearing in cities around the world. Data analytics and technological innovations provide new levels of clarity when it comes to issues like sustainability, pollution, energy conservation, and crime, giving us greater insight into how the many different facets of our cities truly function. Both local leaders and major companies are paying attention to these Hard Trends, becoming more anticipatory in their thinking and thus developing a solution by creating “smart cities.”

Transforming Our Cities

Cities themselves present an array of challenges: CNBC reports that 55% of the world’s population now lives in cities, being mostly responsible for the world’s energy consumption. These numbers mean our urban resources, including water, energy, and even the police, are under considerable, unsustainable strain.

However, high-speed data analytics allow urbanites to more clearly see their resource consumption, providing clear, pragmatic solutions to the crises our cities face. These crises are considered a Soft Trend — a pattern that we can change through Anticipatory thinking and technological prowess. By making our cities part of the Internet of Things (IoT), we can gather high-speed data analytics and transform our cities into smart cities.

For example, during a DOT Smart City Challenge, where cities planned smart solutions to address transportation, sanitation, connectivity, and safety issues in their communities, Denver pitched to increase public and private electric vehicle use, install pedestrian detection systems at intersections to improve safety, and establish a connected freight system, allowing trucks to coordinate deliveries to reduce congestion. Denver was awarded $6 million to fund the connected vehicle network and pedestrian detection system.

Another fantastic example of transportation efficiency was pitched by Columbus, Ohio. During the DOT Smart City Challenge, Columbus pitched the idea of a connected platform to improve resident and visitor mobility, which involved creating an integrated “multimodal trip planning/common payment system application,” simplifying the sharing economy for commuters. Cities often have several different transportation apps, including a variety for parking and public transit, but by creating a single app that allows residents to pay for all modes of transportation, mobility around the city becomes simpler and thus improves access to available options.

Smart City Benefits

Smart cities can be utilized in resource conservation, which is paramount to cities the world over. Even something as simple as a “smart meter” for energy or water usage can drastically reduce costs and conserve resources by 20% to 25%. Trends for 2019 in smart city water technology empower utility customers to reduce water loss. A growing number of utilities are engaging their customers in helping to manage their water usage. Water utility customers have access to engagement tools, enabling them to see their personal consumption data daily, hourly, monthly, and annually via their devices, empowering and educating them. This helps mitigate questions about water rate increases or leaks and reduces response time — all of which can improve efficiency and support water conservation efforts.

While getting citizens to truly care about conservation and sustainability in their cities might be somewhat of a Sisyphean task, everyone cares about local crime. England has roughly one CCTV camera for every 11 citizens, coining it the “most-watched country in the world.” But when Verizon installed CCTV video monitoring in several U.S. cities to create real-time situational awareness, crime was reduced across the board by 5% to 20%, and these cities saved an average of $1.50 for every dollar spent.

This notion of saving money in the long run by spending a little bit of money now seems lost on many cities. By refusing to make these simple financial concessions, city leaders are essentially using legacy thinking to solve tomorrow’s problems today. Saying no has become a financial and environmental liability; it’s much more expensive to say no to the kind of technology that stands to provide huge quality-of-life increases for your city.

Part of changing this system of governmental city management relies on educating mayors to city planners in learning to think in a more anticipatory way. The local heroes of tomorrow, the ones who get re-elected and really push their cities forward, will adopt my Hard Trend Methodology — that is, paying attention to the trends that will happen — and the emergence of new technology to benefit their cities and the people they serve.

Check out my new Anticipatory Leader System, I’ll teach you my Hard Trend Methodology and how to use it to elevate. Your business and personal strategies to transform results.

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development Women In Business

Admitting to Mistakes Leads to Greater Productivity

Be a Leader Who Can Admit Mistakes 

We all make mistakes. When someone makes a mistake, the ego can prevent him from admitting that. All leaders make mistakes as well. Making mistakes is a part of a leadership journey. It’s easy to call someone else out when they make a mistake at work. It’s not always as simple to admit to your team or yourself when you are the one at fault.

One of the most powerful opportunities for any leader in building trust is to admit mistakes publicly. The source of that power is that it is so rare for leaders to stand up in front of a group and say something like this: “I called you here today to admit that I made a serious blunder yesterday. It was not intentional, as I will explain.”  – Bob Whipple, MBA, CPLP

When mistakes or errors occur how do you handle it. There is a school of thought that leaders should not admit when they have made mistakes, presumably because there is a belief that by doing so, they lose credibility and power.

Dwelling upon mistakes will diminish your self-confidence and your creative self-expression.

When you dwell on mistakes you trigger the habits of procrastination and perfectionism, as well as a plethora of emotions such as anger, stress, worry, fear, and frustration.

You can only learn from a mistake after you admit you’ve made it. As soon as you start blaming other people you distance yourself from any possible lesson.

Blaming Someone Else

By blaming others for your mistakes doesn’t help you learn from them. It also gives the other people a negative reputation. Blaming always starts with: “You…”, “They…”, “If only…”.  It only starts with an “I” statement when the “I” is followed with a “but…” , as in “Yes, I… but they…” (Paul White)

Obviously, a leader who makes many mistakes on an almost daily basis has a serious problem but it has little to do with admitting mistakes, and everything to do with their competence levels and judgment.

The reality is that leaders should be able to admit their mistakes to their followers. In fact, this increases trust and loyalty by making the leader a human being in the eyes of followers. More importantly, by admitting mistakes, employees learn that you are serious about being honest, open, responsible and accountable, and this is fundamental to creating trust and loyalty.

In the long run, employees who listen to their leaders admit their mistakes and accept them will be in a more relaxed position to admit to their own mistakes and errors. With this in mind, these employees will be more open to performing better in their jobs.

By Not Admitting Mistakes or Errors

“If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.” – John Wooden

People’s inability to admit mistakes is sometimes born out of a defensive measure brought about by anxiety. Because of fear, some people will always be inclined to seek a haven in deception, to preserve their ego.

Shift Your Perspective About Mistakes

Most likely as a child when you made mistakes, you either hid them or were embarrassed by making them. This was a conditioned response because of the consequences that went with them.

Respected leaders are not afraid to challenge the status quo and take bold initiatives.

Resilience is something that will help you to keep pushing forward despite the obstacles and setbacks in your way. The more mistakes you make, the more resilient you become.

Start a Journal

Start documenting all of your mistakes. Keep track of where these are happening: at work.

Keep a detailed account of what happened so you can start to see patterns in where you’re making mistakes and which ones you’re repeating too often.

Admitting a mistake helps both businesses and individuals to learn and grow. This is because by admitting the mistake isolates the problem and allows leaders to pool resources so that they can set about resolving the issue.

“Admitting and correcting mistakes does not make you look weak; it actually makes you look stronger.” –Bruce Rhoades

According to research, admitting to mistakes leads to higher productivity whether you are the leader of an organization or you are an employee.

Categories
Entrepreneurship Investing Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills

Seven Sales Person Cop-Outs

I’ve been helping salespeople and sales leaders become better at their craft for a while.  I’ve seen greatness and, well, less great.  Here are some of the all-time worst things I’ve heard salespeople tell themselves or their managers, actually thinking they were doing well.  (I’m not including anything I’ve heard from salespeople who knew better and were just trying to get away with something.  That’s a whole different set of lessons).

It’s the Company’s Job to Make a Profit at the Price I Sold

Far too many sales forces are divorced from the responsibility of business: to make a profit. This happens regularly in companies compensated only on revenue, not on margins. I don’t care if “it’s hard to measure profit on a given deal because of internal transfer prices” or any other excuse.  If a sales force isn’t compensated on profit, they focus on easy-to-win revenue.

When this is carried to an extreme, sales people feel entitled to sell at discounts…even insane discounts.  I actually heard this from a guy who claimed to be a sales consultant.  I hope his clients survived.

Here’s what sales leaders should coach instead. You need to have conversations about customer value…with customers.  This shouldn’t stop with selling value.  It should carry through toward monetizing value with the customer. Then, pricing – even premium pricing – becomes a comfortable afterthought.  High pricing becomes a bargain.

Great salespeople can sell high volume and high margins.  I know. I’ve seen it. In the mirror.

But I TOLD Him/Her ____

Sales is not one of those jobs where you can get away with simply “telling”, making your listener responsible for understanding what you meant.  Those jobs exist in departments like accounting (and such poor communicators seldom rise to middle management).

The commission for “I did my job, but the customer misunderstood” is zero.  Salespeople are responsible for the picture that forms in the other guy’s head.

Value exists only in a customer’s mind.  If a salesperson simply barfs some “value messaging” they were given by marketing…without having a conversation to confirm that value formed between a prospect’s ears, they are a teller, not a seller.  If that seller doesn’t also confirm how much value formed, they may be the person who thinks “it’s the company’s responsibility to make a profit at the price I sold”.

Our Value is [insert feature here]

The most critical question a sales coach can ask is “what’s our value in this situation?” In fact, if that’s the only question a coach asks, they can learn a lot about how sellers are selling. When sellers have great answers for this question, they probably did everything your methodology teaches them to do. If answers don’t articulate an understanding of customer value, it doesn’t matter how many methodologies they performed; the sale is still in trouble.

When salespeople answer “what’s our value” with a feature or a seller capability, they don’t understand the value. Customers buy outcomes, not products or services. Value forms in the customer’s mind around those outcomes, not your shiny features or stunning capabilities.

Sales coaches who allow value to be described in terms of a seller features or capabilities are failing their salespeople. Value is the desirability of an outcome (hopefully measured in dollars or something just as measurable).  Accept no substitutes.

Customers Don’t Buy Your Product, They Buy You.

Slavery is illegal.  Customers can’t buy you.  As I said above, customers buy outcomes.

This old saying has merit but is meant to communicate how important the seller-customer relationship is.  Specifically, the critical aspect of “relationship” is credibility.  Personal affinity (knowing birthdays, hobbies, expending entertainment budget, etc.) is useful for some buyer-seller relationships, but not for many.

Credibility, though, is foundational to every successful customer relationship.  When a customer is considering some purchase to obtain an outcome, they always consider execution risk. That is, they estimate how likely it is that the purchase will actually result in the desired outcome.  Salesperson credibility forms the foundation of that assessment.  Without credibility, very little buying will actually happen.

Yes, they buy as a result of your credibility while connecting their desired outcome to a purchase, but…they’re buying the outcome.  Always.

Purchasing Says They Like Our ____ Better, but We Have to Meet the Competitor’s Price

I know a number of purchasing people, and they all confirm this truth:

Modern purchasing/procurement professionals are chartered with buying the best total value.

These same purchasing people confirm this truth as well:

Modern purchasing/procurement professionals are not chartered, trained, paid, or given enough time to proactively uncover and evaluate total value.

So…whose job is it to assemble a value picture for them?  That’s right.   A seller’s.  Professionalism and bedside manner counts. Credibility counts even more.  Enlisting the evaluations of experts within the buying organization to validate the value story is often part of the game.

If a seller doesn’t assemble a validated value picture, value doesn’t form in a purchasing person’s mind, and guess what they use to break the tie? Yep. Price.  They like ___ better means they do indeed like it better, but nobody helped monetize that for them…and they aren’t chartered, trained, paid, or have time to do it themselves.

Purchasing Owns the Budget

Purchasing really owns the budget for supplies and equipment used in the purchasing department.  Period.  Salespeople who are led to believe purchasing owns a budget are incorrect.  Sales coaches who let them work under this misconception are damaging careers and losing sales.

Whenever purchasing makes you believe they own the budget, it’s because they believe your offer has no differentiated value. In their minds, there is no need to bother people inside the company with a nonexistent value proposition.  In fairness to purchasing, letting a seller of a non-differentiated product/service shouldn’t happen.  Undue influence, like “whiskey and tickets” shouldn’t shape a commodity purchasing decision.  If your offer’s only differentiation is courtside seats, that shouldn’t be allowed to shape a decision.

As your offer’s differentiation diminishes vs. the next viable choice, the need to analyze value diminishes, and the entire buying organization feels safe in delegating the buying decision to purchasing. Purchasing doesn’t technically own the budget in these cases, but the organization gives de facto authority to purchasing. This only happens, though, when sellers create no value in the customer’s mind. These are the kind of sales environment that is about to be conducted by bots, AI, etc.

I’m Talking to All of the Right People

Complex B2B sales methodologies help sales professionals organize their selling efforts among a multi-person buying ecosystem.  While they’re handy for organizing an approach to an identified set of people, they aren’t that great at identifying all of the appropriate parties.  Most simply tell you “identify everyone, then use our tool”.

When somebody at a customer tells your salesperson the set of people they’ve engaged internally, how does a salesperson – or their coach — know that list wasn’t kept short in order to make somebody’s job easier?  Should you expect anyone at your customer to know how all of your capabilities translate to outcomes throughout their company?

Here’s the reality:  companies silo themselves more narrowly every year. Silos become sub-specialties, then sub-sub-silos, then soda straws. Only one soda straw has budget to buy your offer, but many benefit.  As customer subdivide, more soda straws benefit.  People in your budget-holding soda straw have three things working against them: 1) they no longer have a big-picture view of their own company 2) engaging all the people they really should make decision complexity awful and dysfunctional simply from a committee size standpoint 3) nobody at the buying company has your sellers’ expertise in the domain of possible outcomes.

If your selling organization hasn’t built the business acumen to help customers navigate these challenges, it won’t happen. Customers aren’t equipped – and shouldn’t be.  That’s your job.

Summing Up

I hope you didn’t find any of these hitting home.  If you did, though.  I’m here to talk.  Contact me if you’d like to stop hearing these statements in your sales organization.

To your success!

Categories
Management Marketing Negotiations Operations Sales Skills Women In Business

“Are You Better Or Worse Under A Pressure Deadline” – Negotiation Insight

 

“Pressure stems from how it’s perceived. To alter it, alter your perspective.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert (Click to Tweet)

 

 

Click here to get the book!

“Are You Better Or Worse Under A Pressure Deadline”

I’ll ask you a question in a moment. It’s one that you should have a ready answer. Don’t analyze your response before stating it – answer it in your mind as soon as you read it. The question is, are you better or worse under a pressured deadline?

What was your first answer? Did you think of one before that? Okay. The last question was a trick. Because I asked about your first answer, therefore, there should not have been one before it. But sometimes, when you’re under pressure, you don’t think logically. And, in some cases, you don’t realize that you’re outside the boundaries of reasoning. That can lead to adverse outcomes.

Now that you’re more aware of the thought process you engaged in, analyze the first question I asked again. Are you better or worse under a pressured deadline? Do you have a different answer this time? If so, what caused you to change it? If it’s the same, what did you consider in not changing it? Even if you didn’t alter your response, what were some of your additional thoughts?

You should always be aware of how you perform under pressure and the circumstances that affect your performance. Stress impacts your thought process, which affects your performance. And deadlines impact pressure.

The following are ways that you can perform better under the pressure of deadlines and enhance your performance.

 

Psychology of Deadlines:

Mindset – Be keenly aware of how you act and react under pressure. You should be mindful of how different forms of stress impact your mind and performance too. If you’re aware of that, you’ll be better prepared to address the challenges that will confront you. Even when some of them appear in the form of surprises.

Self-actualization – There will be times when your actions are motivated by a drive to prove to yourself that you can achieve a goal. Even if you’re aware that you have other items with higher priorities, you may elevate a less critical task above them. Then, as the deadline approaches, to complete the other tasks, you find pressure building. And you like it!

The point to remember about self-actualization is, you have to balance it. Weigh it against the importance of addressing real priorities versus those you make up to challenge yourself. While there’s nothing wrong with challenging yourself, do it when it serves you best. Don’t create unnecessary stress for yourself.

Competition – In some environments, you’re more competitive than in others. Know what motivates you to become more competitive in specific situations. And determine what position you’ll play in that competitive game.

Here’s the point. Others can create stress in you but only if you allow them. So, if you determine how you’ll react in environments where someone attempts to motivate you by pitting others against one another, you can choose to participate or not. You’re the one in control of your thoughts, your mind, and your actions. So, control yourself.

 

What does this have to do with negotiations?

 

Deadlines are constant tools that negotiators attempt to employ in a negotiation. They do so because it stimulates pressure. And, good negotiators are aware that people respond differently to pressure. Thus, a good negotiator knows how to exact action by exciting pressure points. She does so based on the activities she wants her opponent to enact.

If you want to become a more efficient negotiator, always consider how you’ll use deadlines to induce pressure. And how you’ll use that as a tool to nudge the other negotiator in one direction versus another. Having a well thought out plan to implement, what could prove to be a decisive instrument, will allow you to control a negotiation better. Having that ability will enable you to have more favorable negotiation outcomes … and everything will be right with the world.

 

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

 

Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://anchor.fm/themasternegotiator

 

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d 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/

 

#Pressure #Deadlines #Negotiate #Negotiation #Negotiator #Business #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions #GregWilliams #Success

 

Categories
Leadership Marketing Personal Development Sales

Warning! A Good Interview Does Not Always Mean a Good Fit!

Let’s get real for a moment.

This is kind of hard to say, but it is something you really need to know, so let’s just rip the band-aid off quickly and get this over with: you may not be as good at spotting a winner during an interview as you think. There. We said it.

You see, many sales managers pride themselves on being able to pick out the best candidates based on their interviewing skills. Sadly, studies have consistently shown that when it comes to picking the best, there is a very low correlation (less than 25%) between a good interview and actual job performance.

Ouch.

And even if you are an exceptionally good interviewer, even the best interviewers can’t make an informed decision if the information received about the candidate was incomplete, irrelevant, or simply didn’t representative of their capabilities and ambitions. Much of which can be traced back to poorly worded job descriptions or less than ideal mandatory interview questions.

The hard truth is that no matter how impressed you were, the candidate you felt was a sure-fire go-getter, may fall flat once the paperwork is done. So much so that you might have been better off with a completely blind selection process. In large part, this is because as much as we would like to believe that we can’t be fooled, we all have inclinations and ideas that make us susceptible to hiring people based on our own personal preferences and internal biases.

OOPS.

 

For example, you may be very impressed with a candidate that attended your alma mater, or one that has a background or interests like yours. While that may make for interesting conversations, it does not mean that they will be top performers in the field. A candidate can also be extremely polished and present themselves flawlessly yet have no real intention of staying with your team long enough to make an impact. Others, who may be nervous or otherwise having a bad day, may actually have highly useable skill sets that never come to light because they did not click the way a less qualified candidate did.

Focus on Performance

 

It is not that interviews are not important; we think they are, but they are only a piece of a larger puzzle. After all, an impressive interview can tell you if the candidate is poised, quick on their feet, and a lot about their overall personality. Interviews however never really give you the entire story, which is why you should consider them as only a part of your hiring strategy. Interviews aside, the best indicators of job performance may lie within other areas, such as those that focus more on skillsets, rather than pedigrees.

A Lesson from The Voice

 

NBC’s popular television show The Voice, illustrates this point well. On the show, celebrity judges must face away from contestants during the initial selection process. This allows the judges to listen intently to the way a given contestant sounds, instead of being distracted by their overall appearance, or other factors. In the same way, when you are evaluating which candidate will become part of your team, you need to focus on the underlying talent, just as much as how well you like them during an interview.

One of the best ways to do this is to require relevant pre-employment skills testing. These should include personality and behavioral tests, as well as sales skills tests. The right testing combined with proper vetting and targeted interviews can go a long way towards placing the right candidate in the right sales role.

By using a thoughtful multi-step process, you can better weed out poor performers, before you hire them, saving you headaches down the road. It also allows you to fill your team with sales representatives that have what it takes to meet sales goals month after month.

Categories
Body Language Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

“How To Be More Powerful Through Body Language” – Negotiation Tip of the Week

 

“Power is exposed through body language. But only to the degree, you expose gestures correctly.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert (Click to Tweet)

 

Click here to get the book!

 

“How To Be More Powerful Through Body Language”

 

As he walked into the room, his body language said, I’ve arrived – hear the trumpets roar. Everyone turned and looked at him. His gaping stride gave the appearance of him gliding around the room.

Yes, he exuded confidence. He displayed it through his bright-broad smile, shoulders held back, and head held high. And then it happened! He began to speak. Some in attendance later said, his voice was like an angelic choir singing in perfect harmony. And his body language gestures and words were in perfect alignment. Attendees erupted with an outpouring of emotions. They couldn’t contain themselves. Yes – he oozed power. Others wanted to get closer to touch his hand, his jacket, or to receive recognition from him.

So, what did he do to cast such a powerful image? Several factors added to his veneer. After observing and incorporating the following body language gestures, others will perceive you as a power source too.

 

Indecision:

Some people enter environments and appear caught in a vortex of uncertainty. They show it through their body language first without ever uttering a word.

To portray confidence, never compress your body into itself (e.g., shoulders slumped, eyes cast downward to the floor, slow pace when walking). Such gestures message others that you lack depth and self-assuredness. That demeanor would be beneficial if you wish to convey a lack of assuredness to your negotiation opponent. And that role would have to be in alignment with your strategy for the negotiation.

 

Vulnerability:

Do you know when you feel most vulnerable? It’s worth noting. Because when you sense exposure, you’ll display nonverbal behavior that shows in your body language. When you feel threatened, assess its source.

If you know you’ll enter into an environment that may cause you angst, plan the nonverbal gestures you’ll invoke to enhance your persona. Do so to emit confidence. As an example, you might consider smiling more than you usually do, be more open to being engaged and engaging in conversations, and speaking more while using hand gestures to highlight your words. Casting such an image will make you appear to possess more confidence. It will also serve as a deterrent to those who would challenge you if you seemed to be weak.

 

Body Language Gestures To Observe:

  • Smile – People that smile, at the appropriate time, display a lack of concern about their wellbeing. This gesture also suggests that the person is open and approachable. When someone flashes a smile during times of adversity, it can cause a potential threat barer to question his intent. He’ll wonder why you’re not displaying fear.

 

  • Walking Stride – People walking at a brisk pace with a wide gap indicate that they’re ‘on the move.’ They have a destination in mind. Contrast this against the individual that shuffles upon a path. The signal is, they’re not in a hurry. Use the appropriate pace for the image you want to send.

 

  • Hand Movement – Like other body language movement, hands should be synchronized with the words pronounced. But, someone’s hand motions can occur a moment or two before their words. Hand movement can also indicate the beginning of aggression (e.g., closing into fists and opening again). Thus, to show you’re not afraid, do so by displaying palms up. To add to the display, splay your fingers too.

 

  • Pace of Speech – Nervous People tend to talk too fast and too much. Thus, you can use this act to gauge how calm someone is. And, to convey more power when you speak, do so at a pace associated with what the listener perceives as someone exerting influence.

 

Whatever the environment you’re in, by controlling your body language and observing that of others, you can become better perceived as being more powerful. Therefore, once you master the techniques mentioned, the perception of your power will become heightened … and everything will be right with the world.

 

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

 

Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://anchor.fm/themasternegotiator

 

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d 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/

 

 

#BodyLanguage #Nonverbal #Negotiate #Business #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #Negotiator #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #BodyLanguageExpert #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions #GregWilliams #success

 

 

Categories
Best Practices Culture Growth Human Resources Leadership Skills Technology

Increase Employee Skills to Decrease Talent Shortages

When it comes to the future of your industry, how secure do you feel, not only in your position but in your career and abilities as well? The era in which you go to school for a specific skill or trade, develop your acumen and grow a career until retirement has passed. The future of your career doesn’t depend on whether employment is available at a given company; it depends on how employable you are. This requires constant learning to be proactive in refining the skills you have to fit the market in its current state, as well as its ever-changing demands.

We’re Living in Transformational Times 

As the Three Digital Accelerators (bandwidth, computing power, and storage) continuously grow, new positions emerge in the tech sector, and traditional jobs get overhauled. This means the skills required to do these jobs change, and it’s up to both employees and employers to keep up with these trends.

If your job description isn’t already changing, it probably will in the near future. You can’t afford to stand still in your career like generations past. You can’t simply coast along and not pursue more training or a better education tailored to the skills you’ll find yourself needing.

Many unemployed or underemployed individuals are still having difficulty landing jobs. Even working professionals looking to make a move, whether lateral or upward, are finding difficulty in locating open positions suited to their particular abilities. But blaming the economy is now a misperception: in our ever-shifting economic landscape and technological evolution, many once-common jobs are disappearing. Simultaneously, new roles are opening up, but companies are experiencing difficulty filling these positions.

Specific Skill Sets Needed?

Even many traditional roles, such as medical technicians, machinists, construction workers, or even nurses, are harder to fill because of a lack of up-to-date skills. These are relatively common jobs in our economic landscape; they shouldn’t be too difficult to fill. However, most of these jobs call for developed, nuanced skills that can grow in lockstep with our technologically advancing economy. But it’s starting to look like many professionals aren’t keeping up with the evolving skill demands of their industries.

In addition to these more traditional jobs being difficult to fill, a slew of new roles and professions are offering untapped potential for workers with the right technical knowledge. In the tech sector, the ability to negotiate and manipulate data to extract actionable knowledge has become invaluable. Freelancer, an online outsourcing platform, claims data scientists are in high demand, along with people experienced in the eCommerce arena and the ever-increasing advent of wearable tech.

This disconnect between talent, necessary skill, and employment doesn’t hinge entirely on employees. Many employers are having trouble addressing what’s now being viewed as a serious talent shortage. These employers are failing to meet the changing needs of the economy, especially with respect to teaching new skills to new hires. Even when applicants have the required skill sets, many are looking for higher starting salaries than most talent-strapped companies are willing to offer.

According to the results of a Talent Shortage Survey from ManpowerGroup, 45% of employers globally claim that they can’t find the skills they need. This is up from 40% in 2017 and is the highest it has been in over a decade. The ones most affected by the shortage are large companies of 250 or more employees.

The Solution? 

ManpowerGroup suggests employers overhaul best practices when it comes to recruiting, like redefining qualifying criteria and conveying the image of their organizations as a destination for valued talent with a culture of learning and employee encouragement.

For both employees and employers, education is key. Prospective employees need to be more anticipatory and pay attention to the Hard Trends shaping the future of their industries while continuously augmenting their skill sets in order to remain employable. By studying the Hard Trends I’ve outlined, career-minded individuals will predict what sorts of skills they’ll need to develop and where opportunity for employment may lie.

As for employers facing a talent shortage, they need to develop new recruiting methods and be willing to provide necessary additional training to new hires. From both sides, it’s clear that the most important aspect of this talent and employment shortage is the pursuit of modernized knowledge.

What are you doing to stay ahead of the curve in your industry? How are you growing your career by being anticipatory? Just how employable are you, given the transformational changes that are yet to come?

Learn to turn disruption and change into opportunity and advantage with my latest book The Anticipatory Organization. Don’t wait, get your copy today at www.TheAOBook.com.

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Entrepreneurship Human Resources Marketing Negotiations Skills Women In Business

“Caution Can Make You More Valuable and Powerful” – Negotiation Insight

 

“Perceived value can lead to power. But caution is what connects them.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert (Click to Tweet)

“Caution Can Make You More Valuable and Powerful”

Caution without proper deliberation is nothing more than indecisiveness for lack of direction.

All seven of the members were in a state of confusion. They had differing opinions about what action to take, and they felt time running out. The leader of the group said, we have to proceed with caution. Then, he asked each individual, in private, to state how they arrived at their conclusion.

Finally, he reconvened the meeting. And he emphatically announced the action that the group would take. The power contained in his pronouncement left no ambiguity about his conviction to that action. Everyone looked at him in amazement. That was due to the respect they had for how he’d come to his decision. They viewed him as being more valuable and powerful than he’d been in the past.

What do you consider before making decisions? And, to what degree does caution play a role in your decision-making process?  The following are ways you can improve the perception of your power and make yourself more valuable to others.

 

Caution Versus Haste:

Depending on the circumstances, making hasty decisions can be beneficial. You can say the same about being overly cautious when making decisions, too. But too much caution can cause an opportunity to dissolve before you have the chance to address it. While being hasty can vanish future opportunities that never materialize because of your current haste.

If you have to make impactful choices that will occur in the future, prepare for them sooner than later. Consult knowledge holders that can give sage advice. From that, adopt the most beneficial direction. Then, allow your thoughts to simmer into a more cohesive form of logic. That will dampen emotions from hijacking your thought process.

 

Seeking Advice – Setting The Stage:

When seeking advice, let those that offer an opinion know that you may not wholly agree with their assessment. And, inform them that their information will have an impact on the final decision. Doing that will make them feel valued.

By framing how you’ll use their input, you set expectations. And, when you set expectations, you shape the boundaries for what might occur. When you do that, it disallows others from legitimately stating they thought something else would happen.

 

People want you to listen to them – hear them. Let them speak. They’ll perceive themselves as possessing power because they’ll think you thought enough to solicit their opinion. That’ll enhance the value they have of you.

Thus, by seeking their advice, you’ll increase their perspective of the value you have for them, which will bestow that power back to you. It becomes a completed circle. By making others feel good, they’ll feel good about being a source of value.

Caution – be mindful that people view environments based on their outlook. And that will shade how they see the world and the opinions they have. Those variables will impact their thoughts and suggestions.

 

What does this have to do with negotiations?

 

First, you have to have a firm understanding of the problem you’re addressing. That means not miscommunicating per how the other negotiator views the situation. As mentioned earlier, you should seek input from those that may add value to the final solution or outcome. When negotiating, that includes the other negotiator, too.

When seeking the process that led to his decisions, understand the mindset that developed those conclusions. If possible, discover his advisors and their mindset, too. Also, assess how you might play to their vanities if they exist. Everyone wants to feel valued. That leads them to believe their more powerful. As it serves your purpose, enhance their feeling by seeking their input. If getting what you want in the negotiation is essential to you, doing that will aid you in achieving a successful negotiation outcome … and everything will be right with the world.

 

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

 

Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://anchor.fm/themasternegotiator

 

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d 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/

 

#Caution #Power #Powerful #Valuable #Negotiate #Negotiator #Business #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions #GregWilliams #Success

 

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Best Practices Personal Development Sales Technology

The Communication Hierarchy

Cosmo, our Bengal cat, is spayed. But that doesn’t prevent him from sniffing things out or marking his territory. It is fascinating how much information is shared with just one spray. He knows everything about the other cat—where they’ve been, how often they stop by, and who they are. He uses many other means of communication too, including body language, to tell us what he thinks and wants. He cries in different ways that tell us if he’s hungry, just caught an animal, or wants to take a walk. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if us humans could communicate that easily and efficiently?

Not only do we have much more to say, but we also have a few more ways to say it. That’s the tricky part. We have to communicate our message clearly and effectively in order to avoid misunderstandings. By understanding the values and limitations of each communication method, we will be able to use them the right way.

You can choose to talk to anyone via email, text, telephone, video, or in person. Sure, we can use other methods, like audio recordings, video recordings, and social media platforms. We can even go the traditional route and write a letter. But for business purposes, we depend on the big 5 when it comes to communication methods. Let’s discuss each method’s strengths and weaknesses so we can make the right decision every time.

Communication Methods: The Big 5

1. Communicating in person
Through experience, we’ve found that face-to-face communication is the number 1 way to effectively get your message across, especially when you’re getting approval on a proposal or making a sale. This is why:

First of all, you actually see who you’re talking to, in real-time. You can see their to-the-second reactions to what you say. Misunderstandings can be prevented. With its 20-plus muscles, the face can create hundreds of unique expressions. Why not use this constant and powerful feedback to absolve differences and misinterpretations as they occur? A person’s body language can also tell you if they’re truly interested, or getting defensive.

Secondly, they know they have your undivided attention. You aren’t multitasking or checking your messages. This conveys a singular commitment of your energy and time. You have the benefit of the doubt! You have nothing to hide behind, and you may have to answer difficult questions. This shows you’re sincere, and it’ll build a bond that will foster a sense of familiarity in your relationship.

For first meetings with anybody important, this method is crucial and to display your continued commitment to repeat customers. Of course there are drawbacks—it’s time-consuming, you can’t multitask, travel might be involved, and you’re put on the spot.

2.  Communicating via video

When you aren’t able to meet in person, video is the best option. It has most of the same advantages without the inconvenience of traveling. And, you can meet with more than one person at the same time no matter where they are. Communicating over video is great for meetings where everyone’s looking at the same document or presentation, and it’s a great way to get the positive benefits of communicating face-to-face.

When you can see someone’s face, even on a screen, you’re more likely to assume they have good intentions. This is why we prefer video over telephone. The drawbacks that come with video communication are poor user knowledge (where applicable), the possibility of poor connection, and the fact that different platforms have different features.

3. Communicating via telephone

Talking on the phone is much more personal than email, and it happens in real time. It’s easy to immediately figure out a misunderstanding that might’ve occurred over email. Once your emails go back and forth trying to prove a point or figure something out, it’s time to pick up the phone. After all, nobody ever said all of your communication must be in writing!

Speaking on the phone also allows for intention and tone. You can tell by their voice if you’re agitated or sincere. Their tone might tell you if today isn’t a good time to discuss a certain issue, for example. Imagine blindly continuing email communication without being able to provide and receive this crucial level of feedback!

When it comes to two-way conversations, we prefer phone over email. But the phone is less personal than video—you can’t read the other person’s facial expressions. It’s much easier for the other person to interrupt or be abrupt. When you talk on the phone, you’re only a voice. It feels like you aren’t as worthy of respect as someone who can be seen. After initially introducing yourself via video or in person, using the phone to communicate is ideal.

4. Communicating via email

Communicating via email is an effective way to document what was said during a phone call or meeting. It’s also good for transmitting documents. On the other hand, it might be the worst way to have a disagreement. Each side feels obliged to have the last word. And if you want to change your mind, guess what? Your message exists forever. When communicating through email, some things are better left unsaid.

Most people have yet to discover the behavioral expectations that come with email communication. For example, if you have a list of requests, your recipient is likely to only address the last one. To get around this, we always recommend one email per request. And if the paragraphs in your email aren’t short enough, your recipient won’t read them. We recommend always cutting your paragraphs off at 3-4 lines. We’ve written at length about getting the most out of your emails, all based on real procedures we used in our business.

The biggest drawbacks to email communication are the risk of not having your message heard because of too much text, misunderstandings that result in a never-ending back-and-forth, saying something you may end up regretting later, and the overall impersonal nature of an email message in itself.

5. Communicating via text

Communicating via text is a great idea when you can’t speak in person or on the phone. It’s also a good way to keep everyone updated about the status of a meeting, for example. Keeping up with friends and family is also ideal to do over text. But you’d better be close to the other party—this level of communication can put someone off if they don’t feel as familiar as you do.

Texting is an efficient way to send addresses and talk to people who are en-route to a destination. Despite texting being more and more common these days, it’s still an extremely limited communication method with many drawbacks.

The person you’re texting may not yet know your name and may only see your phone number. This can get frustrating. We suggest that you give your name in any initial message, or if you believe you might not be in their address book. Most people send text messages in short bursts. If they know you, this comes across as sincere and personal. If they don’t know you, this comes across as irritating. Be careful of saying something you might regret later, despite the guise of it being a more personal way to communicate. Texting makes it easy for people to think they are connected 24/7, leading someone to potentially become offended if they don’t receive a response as soon as they’d like.

Conclusion

Just like Cosmo, our cat, you must choose your communication methods wisely. Make sure they’re appropriate for the party you’re speaking with, and for the type of message you want to convey. Consider the pros and cons of each method—use all of them to reinforce one another. Respect the communication tool hierarchy. And don’t forget—in-person face-to-face will always be at the top!

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