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Category: Leadership

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Best Practices Growth Management Personal Development Technology

Building Integrity – The Glue of the Cybersecurity Team

So far we have discussed Engagement and Productivity, the first two pillars of an EPICC high performance team. Let’s continue exploring how to create an EPICC high performance security team, and look at the third pillar, Integrity. Integrity is the glue that holds an engaged and productive team together.

My two favorites definitions of integrity are doing the right thing even when no one is looking and doing what you say you will do long after the feeling you said it with has passed. That last one is what happens when, for example, you ask your friend to help you move and they say, “Sure anything to help…” but then the day comes to help you the last thing they want to do is move boxes and furniture. The person with integrity does it anyway because they said they would.

When members of a team have a what’s in it for me attitude, i.e. a lack of integrity, the team does not get very far. When it comes specifically to a security team, that is downright dangerous. In the world of cyber security, the team has to work well together if you want to stay ahead of the adversary. And if you don’t think you have any adversaries, remember that mistakes and errors internally can cause just as much damage to your organization. Your security team is on the front lines to prevent this and catch the errors or mistakes before they become costly or irreversible.

Your role in ensuring a team with integrity is to create an environment that establishes and supports integrity, and you do this by building a strong community. We have all seen what is possible when communities come together, whether after a natural disaster like a tornado, hurricane, or fire; or after a terrorist attack or violent incident. We have seen what is possible when neighbors help neighbors and the sense of community is strong. We have also seen the flip side with riots and looting that occur when a community is not strong and has a weak sense of integrity among its neighbors.

A community for your team means that everyone works together and no one is thinking what’s in it for me. When one member has a problem it is everyone’s problem, and that means the personal stuff gets addressed too. Because when someone is having trouble at home or outside of work it affects him or her at work. When they can come to work and know that it is safe to discuss with you or the team their focus will improve and so will their productivity.

No one wants to come to work and feel alone or worse suffer in silence, but people need to know it’s safe to share the personal stuff and the work stuff without fear of retribution, judgment, or scorn. You have to build this environment, set the rules of engagement, and make sure everyone knows where, when, and how to address the personal stuff and what will and won’t be tolerated, then lead by example.

Think about those communities where neighbors help neighbors and people have integrity. These Communities have greater property values, good schools, safe streets, and community activity. A team with high integrity members can get more accomplished, see problems ahead of time and bring projects in on time and on budget more easily. That brings value to the organization, which equates to your team having a high property value. When you provide continuing education you are offering good schools, the ability to share problems in a safe space is a safe neighborhood, and community activities means doing things outside of work from time to time. All of this helps build community and results in a high integrity and high performance team.

A low value community is rife with violence, low property values, lack of safety, and often are partly driven by fear. When this is the community of your team the violence shows up as in-fighting, backstabbing, and manipulation. When there is a lack of safety, people don’t share ideas, much less personal problems or challenges they are having with their work. All of this results in a team that does not work well together and ends up with a low property value within the organization.

Your security team is one of these two types of communities: they either have a high or low value within the organization, which will greatly depend on the type of community you have created. Start a conversation with your team about community, get to know your people, treat them with respect, and ask that they do the same. When you see something that might lead to a low value community, speak up and have the tough conversation about what needs to change. Lead by example and keep moving the team forward. Your security team is up against a lot of adversity as they protect your organization from faceless attackers, errors, and mistakes. They often only get feedback when something has gone wrong and rarely hear job well done. In order to keep them working together and in the right direction, integrity is going to be the glue that holds it all together.

If you have questions or comments about this article or the series you can reach out to me at sharon@c-suiteresults.com to discuss this topic, security teams, or security strategy. If you enjoy podcasts you can listen to C-Suite Success Radio to tap into the wisdom of other successful business people who know the path you’re traveling.

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Growth Management Personal Development

Trust Is Essential for the Health of an Organization – Part 4

This final blog in a four-part series about trust is important because every C-Suite leader needs to accept responsibility for creating environment that makes it safe to tell the truth and safe to trust. Managing the variation in trust within an organization must be everyone’s responsibility but the C-Suite leader needs to make it possible. And, I am very sorry to say many are not.

It’s still too easy for C-Suite leaders to blame their people for results that don’t meet expectations and/or budget.  What is the C-Suite leadership contribution to the poor results? If trust is less than optimal, that leader needs to withhold any blame. The ability to meet expected results starts in the C-Suite. The responsibility of managing the variation in trust (which leads to the desired results) starts in the C-Suite.

“Quality starts in the boardroom.”

-Dr. W. Edwards Deming

THINK – BEHAVE – IMPROVE (TBI) is a set of ideas which help us to appreciate how an optimum leader thinks, how an optimum leader behaves and how an optimum leader acts to improve the system within which they operate.  In this blog we will expand and clarify the IMPROVE portion of the structure.

“Where the rubber meets the road” is a popular phrase that means ‘there is a point where a theory is applied’.  In part 2 of this series we discussed ‘systems thinking’.  We identified ‘systems thinking’ as the desired leadership theory for optimum trust. In part 3 of this series we identified certain behavior required by leaders who want to demonstrate trust.  The rubber meets the road in this blog because we answer these questions:  What does a leader do when there is a mistake and/or poor results? How does that leader facilitate improvement?  What does that leader do to protect trust and address the problem?

We need a problem-solving model that addresses problems and still protects trust.  C-Suite leaders need a problem-solving model that gives them total confidence the problem will be solved without them needing to get in the middle and micro-manage.  As stated earlier, C-Suite responsibility lies in creating an environment which optimizes people to tell the truth, to manage trust, and optimally address problems.  A ‘systems thinker’ asks ‘system’ questions.  They avoid asking blame questions.

As in most situations in life, when we see a problem and it needs to be resolved, there are often two choices, an easy choice and the difficult choice.  One easy choice is to absolve ourselves from the problem.  When a leader blames their people for the problem they are absolving themselves from all responsibility and that does nothing for trust.

Another easy choice is to solve it quickly and hope it doesn’t return.  Matchbooks have been around since the late 1800’s.  The first ones had the striking strip on the front of the book along with a warning “Close cover before striking”. Careless consumers would often catch the entire book on fire because the other matches were easily exposed to a spark when one match was struck.  The warning was an ‘easy’ way to solve the problem.  It put the responsibility on the consumer to follow instructions and to be careful doing it.

It wasn’t until 1962 that a true resolution was found.  The manufacturers moved the striking strip to the back of the match book thus preventing a spark from igniting the other matches.  This was a true resolution to a problem. The resolution was not an easy one to create. It required thought and a change in the manufacturing process.  It required innovation and an investment in time and money.  It required thought and a predictable problem-solving method.  This method is known as Plan-Do-Check-Act or the Scientific method or the Learning Cycle.

The learning cycle can be traced back at least as far as Galileo who developed the idea of making observations, creating a hypothesis and then conducting an experiment. Edison used the method to test 6,000 materials before finding the one that proved to be most practical and cost effective for the filament for a light-bulb.

Plan-Do-Check-Act is the recommended problem-solving method for leaders who want to protect trust.  It requires the creation of an action PLAN including the steps of knowing what to improve, the identification of the current condition of the problem, and how to measure the success.

The DO portion is carrying out the plan. DO is about carrying out the planned experiment. The CHECK portion is about analyzing the data to see if the hypothesis was correct.  The ACT portion is about deciding to either revise the hypothesis, to revise the method, or to adopt the method just tested.  The adoption of Plan-Do-Check-Act creates an environment where blame is unnecessary.  Every member of a team can contribute their ideas and their effort to experimenting with new hypotheses and with new methods.

Adopting PDCA makes problem-solving a fun exercise that enrolls everyone.  It creates engagement and improved quality for customers.  PDCA allows for organizations to avoid the use of the typical performance appraisal because the focus becomes the experiment and avoids the evaluation of the individual.  It leads to great ideas like moving the striking strip.  The adoption of PDCA starts with the C-Suite and that is why “Quality starts in the boardroom.”

Wally Hauck, PhD has a cure for the “deadly disease” known as the typical performance appraisal.  Wally holds a doctorate in organizational leadership from Warren National University, a Master of Business Administration in finance from Iona College, and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania.   Wally is a Certified Speaking Professional or CSP.  Wally has a passion for helping leaders let go of the old and embrace new thinking to improve leadership skills, employee engagement, and performance.

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Skills Women In Business

Are you Consistent Monday to Monday®? 4 Steps to Commitment

Click here to watch Are you Consistent Monday to Monday®? 4 Steps to Commitment

Consistency is a key element of influence. Inconsistency leads to a lack of trust. If people don’t trust you, they won’t act on your recommendations or follow your lead.

Influence comes down to two different elements that often collide; what you communicate, or the message, and how you communicate it, or the delivery.

Take action this week to make sure your personal brand is consistent Monday to Monday rather than making your listeners guess who is going to show up.

Categories
Growth Health and Wellness Women In Business

What is Your Bottom Line?

Years ago I was a project manager for an international franchise organization who was involved in acquisitions and rebrandings. I was working closely with their legal counsel primarily dealing with franchise agreements and defining trading areas. This legal team was amazing! They were so bright, talented, focused and strategic. We had a great rapport.

On one occasion two members flew in from Montreal to Toronto to meet with me. We had a tight deadline and too much to do. We had been hard at work all day and it was going on 7:00 pm. Our eyes were starting to burn and we were feeling nausea from all of the reading. At one point one of the lawyer’s said, “I can’t believe I came all this way to feel sick! If I read one more Appendix D, I’m going to throw up!”

I thought that was a good time to change the mood so I started singing , “ I would walk 500 miles” then the other lawyer sang, “And I would walk 500 hundred more” lastly Mr. Appendix D sang, “Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles and falls down at your door!” Then Mr. Appendix D found that song on his laptop and played it. The three of us stood up and stomped around the boardroom. It was a great stress relief! We worked well into the night and managed to meet our ambitious deadline.

A few days later they were back in Montreal and called me to help them out with mediation. They had an unintentional situation that needed damage control. One of the lawyer’s filled me in on the pertinent history and another lawyer began to coach me as to what to say and what not to say. After about half an hour of coaching I told her that this seems too complicated. Then I asked her, “What is your bottom line?”

I continued, “Be fair, and tell me what your best case scenario is?” She told me the best case scenario. Then she explained that she didn’t think I would be able to even get to that point in the mediation, as the other party’s mediator was known to be very aggressive. She wished me luck.

About an hour later I was on a conference call with the other party’s mediator. I said “hello” and then she interrupted me to begin her rant. I pressed the mute button and ate my golden delicious apple (it was really delicious). She went on and on and on. It must have been at least 20 minutes, which is a really long time to be yelled at by someone I didn’t even know. She eventually paused, so I thought that was my cue to start.

I had a lot of work to do and was not interested with dragging this out any further, so I simply proposed the bottom line. She was silent. I asked her to kindly relay the proposal to their legal counsel and ask them to reply to our legal counsel. I wished her a good day and then I hung up the phone. Done!

It was the end of the work day and my phone rang as I was getting ready to leave the office. I picked it up. It was the legal counsel. They were so happy to inform me that the other party accepted the proposal. They asked me what it is that I said to be so convincing. I told them, “I silenced her with a fair offer. No one can argue with that – not even her!” We laughed.

The next day, I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers, a delightful basket with cheese, crackers and chocolates and a card that read, “Special delivery from 500 miles!”

Michelle Nasser, Executive Coach michellenasser.leaders@gmail.com

 

 

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Best Practices Health and Wellness Human Resources Management Marketing Skills Women In Business

Handling Conflict with Class

Potential conflict lurks around every corner. Over the weekend, I found a surprise in my inbox, which turned into a good lesson in two-way diplomacy and proactive problem solving.

It was an email from Jeff Hayzlett, co-founder and chairman of the C-Suite Network and the Hero Club. He was responding to a couple of questions I had asked, and at the bottom was the following comment:

“On a side note— I got feedback that when asked you had mentioned that the experience with Hero was not good— so was that wrong feedback or is this [program you are putting together] another run to make it work?”

I’m not sure which dropped further – my jaw or the pit of my stomach.

These are the kinds of scenarios that tend to trigger people’s fight-or-flight reflex. They either run away in embarrassment – even if the allegations aren’t true – or they react angrily and defensively, neither of which is conducive to productive discussion and problem solving.

My mind raced, simultaneously trying to figure out who had given him that “feedback” and what on earth I had said to that person that would have left the impression that I had a negative overall experience with the organization. Plus, I didn’t want some misrepresentation to tarnish my relationship with Jeff and the C-Suite Network.

However, one thing I did notice was how he chose to bring it up to me. On the one hand, he didn’t passive-aggressively write me off and give me the silent treatment, leaving me completely in the dark, but he also he didn’t attack me with accusations. After all, upon hearing that kind of rumor through the grapevine, most people’s reflex would probably have started with “WTF?!”

Instead, he neutrally and unemotionally stated the nature of the information he had received. There was no direct accusation, insult, or attack. He then equally objectively asked if what he’d heard was accurate (it wasn’t), and made an effort to try to understand my current position, giving me the benefit of the doubt and a chance to give my side and set the record straight.

What mattered most to me was to maintain that tone throughout the exchange, however long it took, in order to get to the bottom of things while keeping our relationship intact.

I responded showing my surprise, and wanting to set the record straight, while indicating my continued support for the organization and mending any fences that may have been damaged:

“??? I have no recollection of saying that. Can I ask what the context was?  Be good to know who that came from, not for gossip, just for context. And if I can reach out to clarify to them I’d be happy to. I want to promote HC, not disparage.”

Although he didn’t reply directly to my email, we saw each other the next day at the C-Suite Network Thought Summit in New York, which he had organized. I approached him first.

Knowing that if our roles were reversed, I would have felt betrayed upon hearing such a report, I apologized for any potential miscommunication on my part, and repeated the request for more information to try to figure out where things got lost in translation.

The story he received was that I had sent an email responding to an invitation his team had sent me about speaking on his panel, allegedly saying I didn’t want to because I’d had a bad experience with the Hero Club. This already sounded odd to me, because I love being on stage at his events (heck, at just about any event), and we both get great feedback afterwards, but I wanted to see what I had written.

I took a moment to scroll through every email I had sent to him or his team in the past few weeks, and the only one I found that remotely addressed the issue was a response I had sent to the original invitation saying that (a) I’d love to; (b) in full transparency I couldn’t address [XYZ] exactly as requested and explained why, but (c) suggested another angle from which I could approach the topic, and asked if that would work instead.

I showed him the message, and wanting to confirm that he hadn’t inferred something unpredictable from it, I asked him sincerely if it sounded like I had declined the invitation.

“No,” he agreed unequivocally.

“Does it sound like my reasons for [XYZ] implied that my experience with the Hero Club was not good?”

Again, he shook his head and said, “No.”

I also pointed to the thread and showed him that I had not received a response regarding whether or not my alternative solution was an acceptable one. I wasn’t trying to be antagonistic, or throw anyone else under the bus. I simply wanted to show where my current understanding of the situation ended, and hopefully restore my reputation with him, not at anyone else’s expense, which I also stated outright.

What was important in the exchange was that we both kept objective and neutral in word, tone and body language, and shared what information we had with each other, staying open-minded and seeking mutual understanding, all of which is critical to problem solving.

A little while later, he came back to me after a bit of his own digging and shared what he had discovered regarding what had fallen through the cracks on his end as well. I was relieved, knowing that my reputation and our relationship had been restored, which was my main priority, regardless of whether or not I had a formal speaking role at the event.

He said to me, “(when I realized what happened), I told my team, fix this.”

Sure enough, a little while later we were both on stage together. And truthfully, I think the result was even better than what either of us had originally envisioned.

But what made the greatest impression on me was how powerfully smooth the process was. At the end of the day, I asked him how he’d feel if I blogged about the experience and how we worked through it. He nodded. “Go for it.”

When both parties address concerns directly but diplomatically, share all relevant information, listen openly, take responsibility for whatever went wrong on their respective side, and collectively seek to find a remedy, that’s where positive change occurs.

******

Do you struggle with how to navigate conflict, or know someone who does? Contact me at laura@vocalimpactproductions.com or click here to set up a 20-minute focus call to discuss it with me personally.

 

Categories
Best Practices Growth Management Personal Development Technology

How to Create a Productive Cybersecurity Team

This is part three of a six-part series for leaders of cybersecurity teams who want to create a high performance team. To start from the beginning read The Importance of a High Performance Cybersecurity Team and Protecting Your Organization through Engagement of Your Cybersecurity Team.

Throughout this series we are talking about the EPICC model for high performance and the 5-Pillars – Engagement, Productivity, Integrity, Collaboration and Communication. Today is all about Productivity.

When it comes to your cybersecurity team productivity is essential. There is typically more to do than most teams have time for and this team is your organization’s frontline defense against cyber attacks and internal threats. In the last article we talked about engagement in and I want to clarify that just because an employee is engaged, does not mean they are productive. Engagement is a great first step, but engaged does not equal productive.

Being productive means getting the tasks done that have an impact to the team meeting their goals and deadlines and an impact to the bigger picture and organizational goals. The way you are going to help empower your cybersecurity team to be more productive is by getting rid of the idea of time management and to start talking about priority management.

Priority management is a clear understanding of what each person on the team should say yes to and what they should no to. And as their leader this applies to you too.

You will need to work with each individual on your team to help them determine what their priorities are. This is important because if you have more than three priorities you have none – a priority is something that is more important than something else – and if everything is deemed a priority then nothing is actually a priority. This is about looking at the entire team, determining what the team’s priorities are and then breaking those down into individual responsibilities and tasks.

You may find a lot of tasks need to be done and that they all support the priorities of the team. That means you need to clearly identifying what is most important and what is least important and which tasks support which priorities. It is allowing members of your team to say no to requests on their time that do not support one of their three priorities.

As tasks get completed, organizational goals change, or new projects are initiated the priorities will change. Until that time, the priorities you set with each person is their focus and their guide for what they should say yes to and what they should say no to. But in order for them to say no to requests they need to know you support that action and the best way to accomplish saying no.

It’s about empowering them to determine if something supports a priority or not and the freedom to come to you and let you know that by saying yes to this new request something else on their priority list is not getting done.

We all have the same number of hours in the day and when they get filled with tasks that do not support the big picture or do not fall into the category of priority, the big projects don’t get done, or don’t get done well, on time or on budget.

Another big time suck is what people like to call multi-tasking. To read about this in its entirety check out The Dirtiest Word in Business.

The intent here is understand that that there is no such thing as multitasking the way we use the term. Our human brain does not allow for it, we are not built for doing two different cognitive activities at the same time. You are not multitasking you are switching between tasks. You might be doing this quickly, but you are missing out on details and losing efficiency every time you do it. Think about any time you have had to ask someone to repeat themselves because you missed what they said while you were “multitasking” and reading or writing an email while you were supposed to be listening to a conference call. We have all done it and we have all had it happen to us. The point is that we miss critical details, prolong meetings, and lose productivity when we are task switching.

If you want more productive employees and a high performance team you want your cybersecurity team to single task. That is one thing at a time. Even if that task is only planned for 10 minutes, during those 10 minutes they are laser focused on the task without distraction. Teach your team to block time for their tasks and projects and during that time they are focused on the task and nothing else. That means they don’t check email, don’t answer text messages, don’t answer the phone, don’t surf the web, and don’t stop to have a conversation about anything else.

This will take practice because in the world we live in we are currently bombarded with a lot of information all at the same time and we have spent a lot of time thinking that we are great multitaskers.

Start the conversation and discuss priorities and multitasking with your team and with some practice and diligence you will start to see more productivity. Couple that with increased engagement that we discussed in the last article and you are really onto something great.

For more information or help getting the conversation started email sharon@c-suiteresults to discuss resources. Visit www.c-suiteresults.com or listen to C-Suite Success Radio for more topics that will elevate your results.

 

 

Categories
Leadership Marketing Operations Personal Development

When the Sale Hits the Fan

Victoria wanted a new car. Since she had previously bought three cars from the same dealership, and even though she had recently moved several hours away, she chose to drive the extra distance to make yet another annual new car purchase. Her credit was good, and the sale went off without a hitch. After a few hours, she drove off the lot in a brand new year end model.

Two weeks later, the car brakes failed, the engine lights all came and the car stalled in traffic- all in the middle of traffic. To make matters worse, she narrowly missed being hit by an 18 wheeler and her 75-year-old mother (who was in poor health) was also in the car, shaken by the near miss.

She immediately called for roadside assistance. Needless to say, she was less than pleased that her car, with fewer than a thousand miles on it, not only almost got them both killed, but had left them stranded on the side of the road. Roadside assistance arrived after a two hours wait and towed the car to the nearest dealership. (Which was over an hour and a half away from her home.)

Towed with Less than a Thousand Miles on the Odometer

The dealership receiving the car advised her that the car was under warranty. They told her to leave the car and then come back a week later to retrieve it. This upset her and she told them that she wanted the dealership to replace the car. They responded that most dealerships would simply repair it and not replace it. They further stated that upon inspection, they were not able to locate the issue. They went so far as to question her version of events, until she provided photos taken with her cell phone of the lights and warnings lit up on the dash. This made her even angrier.

At which point, Victoria called the original dealership demanding to speak to the manager. Unfortunately, the sales manager was out due to a doctor’s appointment, and her call was not returned to the next day. (More about this later.) The preceding scenario is not only real; it shows how one weak link or product failure can kill a previously profitable long-term sales relationship.

A 2011 study, for example, demonstrated that customers are overwhelmingly responsive to good service, with 9 out of 10 people surveyed stating they would be willing to pay more for a positive customer experience. US companies lose as much as $84 billion dollars each year due to poor customer service, and or product performance failure.

While it can bring an abrupt end to the sales conversation, a flawed product or even poor service does not necessarily mean the end of future sales. Of course, the best solution to poor quality of a product or service is always to prevent it beforehand, rather than trying to fix it later. If and when it does happen though, all is not lost. The same research study mentioned above also concluded that as many as 70% of all customers will continue to do business with a given company following an issue, provided the issue is resolved promptly.

It may not work every time, but a thoughtful retention strategy can rebuild customer and brand loyalty, when issues arise. This kind of responsiveness is not haphazard and must permeate the company culture and mindset. If left unchecked, product and performance issues tend to create a downward spiral that sucks out profitability.

Poor service or product issues can compromise and damage your brand, leading to a sales slump. Even if your you spend more to market the product, the issue will only grow unless you forcefully course correct the way you respond to inevitable failures. This means that you need to anticipate, plan and respond in a way that makes the customer feel both heard and valued.

Back to the Broken Brand New Car 

After arriving at the dealership the next day, the sales manager was informed of the issue. He promptly called her and offered to replace the car, but she would have to drive to the dealership (a trip of several hours due to her relatively remote home location), to pick up her replacement.

Someone would either have to drive her there and then follow her back, or she would need to rent a car and then figure out where it could be returned. In the end, the sales manager made a decision to have two members of his team drive out with an identical replacement, bringing the necessary paperwork and contract with them.

This was outside of the norm, but given the lifetime value of the customer, the specifics of the problem, and the need to rebuild trust, he chose to step up with demonstrably superior service. The manager also made sure to include a few extras, such as adding the window shading at no charge. The issue was resolved within a week. As an aside, the customer later stated that she intends to purchase her next vehicle from the same dealership.

The takeaway is threefold:

  • Develop a responsive plan for restoring client faith
  • Be proactive in making them whole and rebuilding brand trust
  • Listen and respond appropriately based on the situation and client needs

Instead of simply trying to save face, taking responsibility for situations and working towards rebuilding brand trust, can save not just the sale, but the lifetime value of the sales relationship.

Jamie Crosbie is an accomplished senior executive with a proven record of sales leadership success.  Contact Jamie today and find out how to take your business to the next level. Beyond ordinary. Be extraordinary! jcrosbie@proactivate.net

Categories
Entrepreneurship Management Personal Development

How Employee Engagement Can Be Smothered by Compensation, Compliance, and Corporate Structure

Today’s C-Suiters search for ways to enhance empowerment, employee engagement, and entrepreneurial culture. They can say they want a more innovative, entrepreneurial environment, but they need the tools to get there.

Our book, The Entrepreneurial Culture, 23 Ways to Engage and Empower Your People, is a companion to our New York Times Best Seller, The Barefoot Spirit, which gives you what you need to foster a dynamic, constructive, and progressive corporate culture. The Entrepreneurial Culture speaks to corporations, giving them successful entrepreneurial tools to engage their employees.

Developing a new corporate structure from scratch isn’t necessary—these tools can benefit a company’s present structure. In order for these tools to be successful, changes must start from the top, and tip-top management must be eager to make those changes. But, a common trait of many C-Suiters is that they are terrified of change. A C-Suiter might think that change will result in legal issues, wasted money, or an employee rebellion. What they might not realize is that they can prevent employee empowerment and engagement by praising the three sacred corporate cows.

1. Compensation: Salary is the most popular method of compensation among corporations. But salary does not pay for performance—it pays for attendance. With salaried pay, a raise is not personal. It’s not based on accomplishments, good ideas, or profits; instead, it’s based on tenure. Why should an employee care what they accomplished this week if their paycheck will look the same as it did last week? This teaches employees that they are unappreciated—they are not respectable assets to the company. Two or more employees might be paid the same salary if they do the same work. So, why would either of them put in extra effort when it won’t be acknowledged? These people will leave to find employment that pays in line with production. Who can blame them? How can an employee work to their potential if the company’s compensation plan holds them back?

2. Corporate Structure: Most companies operate in a pyramid shape, functioning from the top down. Within the company pyramid are several smaller pyramids. Each small pyramid ferociously defends itself from the other small pyramids, creating an environment susceptible to turf wars. This jagged structure can prevent great ideas from moving upward, potentially stifling any chance of real breakthrough. It’s tough to expect employee engagement when their ideas will be forgotten, withheld, or altered. How can anyone feel comfortable coming up with resolutions for other departments’ challenges if they are seen as forbidden territory.

3. Compliance: Compliance is designed to mitigate liability. Instead of finding reasons why things should be done, the legal department finds reasons why they shouldn’t be. Compliance is not a quick process—it creates a backlog, and employees know it. This alone can discourage them from proposing new solutions and ideas. Since the legal department is paid by the hour, they have an interest in running everything through compliance. Some legal departments go as far as to discourage public recognition for good work, fearing it could be used against the company in a legal dispute. What these legal departments fail to understand is that public acknowledgement encourages positive production, sets a standard for appreciation, and creates a respectful environment.

Want to discover how to achieve entrepreneurial culture by rounding up the sacred cows and removing the element of fear? Come back soon!

For more, read on: http://csnetworkadvis.staging.wpengine.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/

 

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Entrepreneurship Management Women In Business

Putting the R.A.P. in Rapport – Mastering the Art of High Power Communication

Imagine hearing a conversation in a foreign language and immediately being able to understand what is said and communicate effectively in that language. How powerful would that be?  I’ve always had a secret fantasy of being able to do that. One of my favorite fictional characters is Lieutenant Commander Hoshi Sato, the Human Linguist from Star Trek Enterprise whose superpower is her ability to instantly connect with anyone.   I have always wanted to be it just like her.

Granted, speaking Klingon or Vulcan isn’t essential in the business world, or for that matter on planet Earth; yet the gift of being able to communicate effectively with anyone, at any time, in any given situation is extremely valuable.

Whether you have a product or a service, you are in sales. One of the biggest mistakes that people make in offering their products and services is working hard to sell something when there is no need or no perceived value.  When it comes to sales, proper communication is essential and can make all the difference between closing the deal or walking away empty handed.

What if you can look at your sales process in a completely different fashion? What if you were connecting to people and offering them solutions to their pain, suffering, and problems?

Delivering your message is more than just what you say. It is how you say what you say, when you say it, and why you say it and who you are when you deliver your message.

Whether in a one-on-one situation, on a stage or in writing, high power communication is an essential key to High Performance. It is a topic that I review with my clients both in sales and in relationships. Raising the level of your communication will deepen your connection with people and enhance your relationships, leading to higher affinity and increased sales.

Aside from choosing the proper target market, it is essential to make a connection with them. People want to feel valued and appreciated. Who do you do business with? People you like and care about. If you want people to do business with you, wouldn’t it help if they felt that you cared about them?  Show them you care, get to know them a bit, and build rapport.

We all have our own unique way of connecting and building rapport; look at it as your personal “Rap”. Most often it comes naturally and you don’t put much thought behind it. What if you made it intentional in order to uplevel your game and improve your results?

Let’s look at the strategy behind Putting the R.A.P. in Rapport.

R- Relate to Your Audience

A- Active Listening

P- Present Your Solution

R-Relate to Your Audience
 Your physiology and body language can help you make a connection. Keep your body open and your posture nonthreatening, give the other person proper personal space. Help them feel at ease. Remember like attracts like and connects to like.
Pay attention to your voice. Are your tone, volume, and pitch similar to your customer or audience?    How about your energy? Are you excited about making a new connection and the possibility of helping someone without overpowering them?

Are you speaking their language? Are you using terms that they can understand? One of the biggest mistakes is getting too technical by using professional jargon with someone who really doesn’t care.

A- Active Listening
What is behind the words? Are you truly listening to your audience? What are they asking for? Are they hesitant, do they have reservations? Remember, people will buy what they value and what they want, not necessarily what they need. They look for a solution to the problem, a relief for their pain or suffering. Are you listening to them and speaking their language?

Understanding your customers’ primary mode of communication will help you better relate to them. You can figure out their communication mode by listening to the words they use to describe things. People fall into the categories of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. In other words, some are more comfortable with seeing things, some need to hear things, and some need to feel things. Your primary mode of communication is the language in which you process information and connect to others.

Once you have successfully related to your customer or your audience, and actively listened to their problem, you can move to the third and final step by offering and presenting your solution.

P- Present Your Solution

People want solutions.  They want to know what is in it for them. They want to know that things will work and the problems will be resolved. Push a sale on them, and they will walk the other way. By using high power communication, you can connect with them, listen to them, identify their problem, and offer them a solution that will change their life.
Once the need and value have been established by understanding the problem, offering a solution is an easy process. Wouldn’t you give a fresh towel to someone who’s soaking wet? All they need is to dry off. You wouldn’t want to sell them Cologne, would you?

Effective communication in any situation is a combination of several actions. It is always a matter of having a good R.A.P.  Listening alone won’t build a good dialogue. However, when you listen and truly hear the other person, you have the ability to build better rapport with them. We all have the need to know we have a voice and are being heard. Practice all three aspects of communication and challenge yourself to master them. When you do that, you will build trust and a great following, and you will create loyal customers who will come back for more!

 

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Best Practices Growth Leadership Personal Development

5 Steps to Build and Develop Trust

Every good business relationship is built on trust. From creditors to employees, people need to trust that you’ll treat them the right way. Once trust is established and they know they can depend on you, they will extend their support even further, and may even make exceptions for you. This is essential to business success.

The sooner you show that you’re dependable, the quicker you’ll see the benefits, for instance commitment, devotion, priority ranking, extended credit, increased sales, and more opportunities. You must be proactive! Find ways to show your employees, creditors, and clients that you have their best interests at heart.

Here is our short guide for building and developing trust:

 

  1. Communicate. And communicate often. Be transparent when it comes to what you’re doing and why. Don’t leave anyone guessing what you’re up to—keep everyone informed! We suggest having regular meetings with suppliers, outsourced services, creditors, and your team. Share important information with them early and often. This alleviates their fears and allows them to feel valued. The more your team knows ahead of time, the more confident they are working with you.

 

  1. Be honest! If you purposely reserve information or harbor ulterior motives, you will destroy relationships and your reputation in your industry. Voluntarily discuss loopholes to assure the people you depend on that they will not be exploited. Make it clear that you’re a true partner who is looking out for them, not one who’s waiting to stab them in the back! Prevent them from keeping their guard up. Otherwise, you’ll get only the words of your agreements, not the spirit behind them.

 

  1. Create strategic alliances. Identify who gains if you gain, and treat them like partners. Share your ideas for growth and development with those who would prosper from a business relationship with you. Figure out how to advance their business while decreasing your need for money. For example, construct contracts for improved terms and free warehousing in return for longer term commitments.

 

  1. Take care of your customers. Nothing says, “Now that I have your money, you’re stuck with my products” like bad customer service. Customer service takes priority over what you’re selling. When you do your best to make that the sale is made, but can’t be bothered to prevent or fix an issue, you are asking competitors to take your customers. This is detrimental to your long-term business security. Without good customer service, your buyers won’t continue to buy, and they’ll tell others about their negative experience. Customers become devoted supporters when you treat them like a friend.

 

  1. Be responsible. Don’t try to play the blame game or cover up when you make a mistake. It will only worsen the situation, hurt your relationship, and lose you valuable trust. If you realize you’re going to miss a payment, contact your creditors right away. And be prepared! Develop a strategy that will bring your account up-to-date. This shows your empathy for the risk they’ve taken on you. Remember: You are not judged when everything goes smoothly. You’re judged by how you handle mistakes.

Long-term good behavior is the foundation for trust. In the first stages of a business relationship, trust can be lost easily. How you deal with an awkward situation tells your employees, creditors, and clients all they need to know. It could help them justify putting their faith in you, or it could lead them to regret the relationship. Trust is a lot more than saying, “Trust me.” And you can trust us on that!

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