I thought it was a good idea to to start a business blog to supplement the journal articles I write on change management.
(PDF Articles) I trust that some of the issues raised here may be of interest to you to pursue away from this blog of ideas and thoughts. The blogs run in date order with the most recent at the top of this page.
Authenticity & Presentation of Self - 30/31 January 2008
I'm not suggesting that it is imperative that being an effective presenter is critical to rising through the hierarchy quickly to a senior position - but it helps. Just suppose that attending one event could make that difference. Would you be willing to invest your time and then practising these new ideas and techniques to achieve your ambition. What we provide is founded upon the best in cognitive behavioural psychology?
Unique Programme of Interpersonal Influence
I have wanted to create and deliver a unique programme that would enable people to utilise their talents to best effect when presenting or influencing others. This is new to the marketplace. This it is the result of significant research and modelling some of the best presenters who influence and persuade both large and small audiences.
Standard workshops on presentation skills are not particularly magical - but what we have created will provide a strong basis upon which people can present with confidence and improve their performance by a huge margin.
We focus on controlling emotions and boosting confidence to present with authenticity - we teach you how to control the medium, the content and also to manage the audience - whether that audience is supportive or hostile.
We'll teach you to deal with negativity of others, and even abusive audiences, in such a way that you will be confident in yourself and your ideas.
There is one best way to influence. The best style is that of flexibility! When there are two or more people in a negotiation or debate, the person with the most flexibility with be the one who will achieve their outcome easier.
Influence is about establishing rapport with others and maintaining that rapport even when those others will change the strategies and tactics they employ. As part of a suite of 'Influencing and Consulting Skills' workshops, we utilise the Myers Briggs Personality profile to help understand how others relate to, perceive, make decisions and prefer to operate from day to day. For those who are familiar with Myers Briggs, there is no one optimum style for any situation of the sixteen on offer.
However, my experience is if you can identify the style of others and how they make sense of and live in their world then you are in a much stronger position to motivate them and appeal to and satisfy their specific wants and needs.
I believe it imperative to follow the four stage approach to ensure you appeal to the 'hot buttons' of others - drawing them towards your joint objectives ensuring you steer away from the 'cold buttons' - those things you would say or do which would turn them off your proposal completely.
Sensory Acuity and Rapport
I guess a great deal is down to what I call sensory acuity - that is being able to follow the flow of cues which others give as to their actual behaviour motivations, interests, immediate responses (verbal and non verbal) as discourse and discussion flows between you, leading to 'rapport', the ability to initially follow the style of communication of others, pace them and eventually be as one in terms of fully experiencing their world.
Thinking the Same Thoughts
Many of us have achieved this with a romantic or close business partner - when we reach the stage where we are virtually thinking the very same or similar thoughts, and maybe even using the same words.
Rapport is established when there is an a subconscious link between two or more people and they literally see 'eye to eye' share the same 'positions' and are tuned into the same words.
I was talking with someone who provides course on Presentation Skills who told me they don't believe in body language and don't include it on their courses.
I was most surprised! Research that dates back to Birdwhistle in the 1950's indicated strongly that effective communication was down to the:
WORDS: Actual phrases and words we choose to use
TONALITY: How we express the words
BODY LANGUAGE: How we physically express our intent through how the body accompanies and expresses the motivations, intent and passion or otherwise of our message.
It's no surprise that Birdwhistle's research indicated that the respective percentages associated with an effective communication are:
7% Words & Phrases
38% Tonality
55% Physiology of Body Language
It's interesting that most presenters focus on words and phrases - largely ignoring the tonality and body language which if delivered in sync with the words, add that important credibility and congruency.
A few words of caution - ignore the importance of body language in communicating with others at your peril!
The benefits that flow directly after our input on this subject can quickly improve communication with the most difficult colleagues or obstinate customer, and many feel this component alone is sufficient to commit to our development activities.
Just suppose we were able to equip you to use six influencing strategies to enable you to persuade your most difficult customers or business partners to your way of thinking. Would that be of value to you to assess your use of theses strategies currently and how you can optimise their use in future encounters?
Addressing Objections before they arise
Could you see the benefits of learning a simple 4 Grid Personality Model so that you could address the objections of others to your proposals, even before they had stated them? What if we told you that, after 30 minutes of being exposed to the theory and the application, you'd be able to anticipate and deal with 90% of typical objections that others would have to your proposals?
What if we could provide you with a model of how the brain processes information to ensure that you would appeal to most people's preferences in the majority of presentations - would that make your life easier?
We have devoted resource over the last two years to research beyond established understanding of interpersonal mastery to produce a series of workshops geared to those who manage others, who earn their livings through appealing to customers, or have to work seamlessly with team members. We are anticipating a great deal of interest so much so that my new book will complement the courses in 2008.
The book will be published in the Summer of 2008 and pre-published chapters of vital information will be provided to workshops delegates as and when they attend our series of programmes.
My book 'Influence, Persuasion & Negotiation Strategies to Achieve Excellence' will be available from our publishers in June 2008.
Over the years I have focused much of my work on corporate change through Leadership. My books and articles have emphasised the vital elements that bring change to life even in the most bureaucratic and traditional archaic organisations. From the New Year, we will be focusing on a new aspect of change working from the inside out. Much of this work has originated from the skills of effective change makers and consultants.
We tend to find that those most effective in helping others in organisations to change have pretty well worked out how they apply their communication and interpersonal skills to best effect.
The focus of our work will veer towards examining what adds to the 'internal excellence' of the effective change master who models their behaviour so as best to help others to develop the same skills and with practise achieve the same level of mastery.
My colleagues and I look forward to rolling out our programme in 2008 and trust that many will be interested in following our progress - and valuing our methodologies for effective change at the individual and the corporate level.
Micro Behaviours are the Key to Change: Until Behaviour Changes, Nothing Changes
'Until Behaviour Changes, Nothing Changes,'
is a new article which can be downloaded from PDF articles. The premise of the piece is that many change initiatives are less than successful, because they fail to address the actual behaviours required to demonstrate that the desired change is being displayed and generating the associated rewards.
Managerial Expectations
Often there is too much faith put into the belief that people can change their behaviours fast enough. We believe that until you can convince people of the benefits of changing their behaviour, and demonstrating this through the beliefs owned and practised by the senior team, then that change will not happen.
Commitment
When the commitment associated with the display of those behaviours is visible, then others in the business will come on board and from there you will see and feel the culture change. But where do we start with new behaviours? Some find it difficult to believe that people can change so quickly, but they can if you focus on micro-behaviours rather than large scale macro-behaviours.
Micro behaviours are those things which comprise the larger element of the full blown behaviour. Let's pick on a behaviour which is often automatic when we we'd prefer to be more considered. If we want to help managerial staff change some of their less positive behaviours let's look at an example.
Anger and Volatility
We all get angry and it is not always with what others do or don't do - often it's a reaction to a simple frustration that things are not going as planned and are perceived to be escalating out of proportion.
If we want to help a manager to stop throwing a temper tantrum, to control anger and generally be less volatile we cannot reasonably expect full scale change and reversion of that emotion to take place immediately. With anger we have a complex set of stimulus-response relationships set up in a cause-effect sequence of events that lead to the unfortunate behaviour of which others are the recipients.
Demonstrating and Controlling Anger
To demonstrate the behaviour of 'anger' you have to look at the components of it which trigger the behaviour. Usually what many seem insignificant have enormous effects.
For those in receipt of the behaviour, they are fully aware of the sequence of events and the cues that typify this behaviour being fired off. It could be an event or a mood or it could be simply the body language that others display when this behaviour is primed to be triggered. For those about to receive the effects of this anger the advice is…………… "When the blue touch paper is ignited retire to a safe distance quickly."
What Micro Behaviour Triggers ignite the full blown behaviour?
So in the example of anger or volatility what micro-behaviours trigger the sequence of events resulting in anger or volatility? For those who display these behaviours regularly they may need to take note of the unconscious triggers that lead to the resulting behaviour. Once we recognise these triggers we can again become conscious of them and ensure that our micro-behaviour is fired differently. What we may do is focus on the three little things that usually happen that precede an "anger or volatility attack!"
It could be as simple as replacing the narrow interpretation of what has happened. It could be assessing in a cool - headed way - instead of a knee-jerk reaction asking instead, "what else could this mean?"
A piece of advice given to me long ago by a friend was, "It's not what happens to you that is important, it's how you respond to what happens to you."
You might want to think through these issues when you explore some of your own behaviours over which you may like more control.
I like to keep my attention on changing patterns and habits as a reflection of changes in consumer behaviour. I think that this something that has passed me this years and last year? Have a missed a change in consumer preferences?
I remember towards the end of November each years there used to be celebrations and a race to get the first bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau to the UK. Entrepreneurs from the Hotel, Catering and hospitality world would put on displays of the special efforts they had gone through the ensure that the first case of wine reached these shores. So what's happened………because the first bottling must have come and gone and I have missed it!
How Choice and Micro Behaviours is the Key to Mastering Change
The ability to change both at a corporate level and individually is down to the ability to choose to make a decision and then follow through with action. In many organisations we can usually correlate a slow rate or capacity to change with a corresponding mindset or inability to make decisive choices.
People, organisations and societies that fail to change have usually put off the decision to choose to do so. They display a high level of procrastinating behaviour and indecisiveness.
What happens with Procrastination?
When we procrastinate we shut off our ability to influence events and people. Without making decisions and following through we have less opportunity to blossom and grow. This is true both individually and in a business organisation.
Signs of Success
When people and businesses succeed they leave signs of their success. A major signs of success focuses on the confidence of people to be decisive and to follow through with their intentions and implement solutions and take action.
Progress involves forward motion, taking action, emotion, passion and belief.
Visibility & Success
Successful people get noticed. They are visible by their actions. They make choices, whereas their less successful counterparts put off decisions and prefer to consider options for too long - resulting in inaction. Bottom line - successful people are visible because of the choices they make.
Unsuccessful people are not visible because they fail to make choices and are consequently inactive.
Research into Personal Change
Following on the theme from 3 December's Blog it's not surprising to find that people who tend to be successful, and fully exploit their talents, tend to change the way they behave.
They don't have set behaviours to which they slavishly adhere. Successful people tend to be more flexible, fluid and can easily get into a flow state where their behaviour changes according to the circumstances.
Myths about Macro and Micro Behaviours
We also know that 'Big Behavioural Change' is not necessary to bring about personal and organisational improvement. That has been a myth of change management for too long.
Transactional and Transformational Change
Macro Behavioural change focuses on transforming the way we do things and requires a great deal of energy. I know because I have worked with businesses to help change their culture from a transactional culture, peopled by managers focusing on technical and administrative elements, to the detriment of transformational change, to taking the organisation to the next level of performance.
Transformational change requires substantial investment in enabling managers explore their macro behaviours - in effect examining new competencies and development activities.
You can radically improve by kick- starting the process through micro-behaviour change, which is changing small elements of key behaviours. This means helping people introduce more choice into the process of how they do things and how they manage.
This is a far more effective change process because it's an evolutionary approach to improvement. Few resist small incremental improvements whereas there is plenty of resistance to 'Big Change'
Making Change Happen: Behaviour Changes the Culture
Carefully designing a change programme around micro-behaviours works every time - especially when you build it on the platform of continuous or relentless improvement.
This has huge benefits and advantages to organisations which don't have a great track record in change management and produces some useful business and people development models.
Whether we are talking personal or business transformation we can highlight the keys to successful change. There are two strategies that work for me. Firstly, there's the 'Big Bang' when we focus on the really "Big Idea".
Strategy 1: The 'Big Idea', Big Bang' or 'Big Change'
That's what I'd call a total transformation - whether it is personal or corporate change. The really Big Change happens because the 'Big Idea' unites people and meets all their needs in one huge commitment to take action. Everyone is on board - there are no dissenters and the change has to happen. There is enough energy in the system or people to bring about that change. Usually the change is mandatory, and if it does not happen the organisation may cease to function. So the big Idea or 'Big Change' happens when there is enough pressure pushing for that change, and any barriers crumble.
In corporate terms this can be when an organisation merges with another business or when the whole structure is right sized and re-engineered - failing to do so would result in significant loss to the business.
In personal change, it's when the individual decides that they just cannot bear the pain associated with not changing and they commit to create a new life for themselves. This may be beating an addiction, losing weight or taking control of one's future and career and finances. But it is a major change and takes some time.
The Big Change works but the conditions which have to be satisfied to make the change stick imply a pretty enormous undertaking.
Strategy 2: Relentless Improvement Step by Step
The second strategy that works effectively all the time is the one I favour. There is no hullabaloo, no coffee mugs or tee shirts with empowering banner headlines proclaiming such phrases as "In Teamwork we trust", "Leadership is our creed"……"The Customer is King" ….etc.
No, this approach to change focuses upon small steps but with a substantial momentum so that change becomes the culture of the business, or the core behaviour of the individual.
Knowing that each day we are committing to improving, reducing waste, winning new accounts, (however small), reducing cycle time, containing costs, investing in improvements that engender results, is powerful. It confirms a thus a positive ROI relating 'cause' to 'effect' and creates a habitual set of behaviours that lead to significant results.
This is also true for personal change. By altering just one or two aspects of our behaviour we can change our own personal outcome. Simply by focusing on making small new choices, we can significantly shift our personal performance. Committing to a daily 10 minute powerwalk, or 15 minutes of stretching and yoga everyday on waking, will significantly shift our energy levels and our mood, for the better.
Delaying the drinking of caffeine until the early afternoon will relieve our stress levels. Banishing the daily bagel and choosing fruit each morning is a change that could have a major impact on our overall health.
Walking up stairs in the office, rather than taking the elevator, and choosing a new route to our workstation may provide more variety and enlarge our social network. It's the little changes, or changes in our micro behaviour, that impacts our macro behaviour.
Psychological Contracting with Self
It takes a great deal of commitment, time and energy to run 5 miles every morning. To take a ten minute powerwalk or yoga takes a lot less commitment, time etc. And once you are out walking or stretching you'll find you want to do more.
In this instance, what are the chances of people committing to the powerwalk? There is a greater likelihood that we would commit to the small but steady and daily commitment to exercise than the larger goal of the 5 mile daily run.
It's the same in a corporate setting. People are more able to commit to continuous small improvements than the Big Bang. It's all about making commitments and promises. I take it most staff can look to improve their performance by 1-3% over time and keep up the momentum. This is true personally or for business.
Personal and Corporate Kaizen
I was amazed about the statistical results I was about to hear when I visited a Toyota Plant in Japan. This was part of a trip organised to witness Best Practice in Quality Improvement within ten companies. We were to hear of the results of Quality through continuous and relentless improvement.
The Japanese had built the idea of' relentless improvement' into the culture of Toyota worldwide. The Quality professional toyed with our delegates requesting information he knew we would not possess. He asked specifically how our metrics for continuous improvement in European plants compared to the Japanese. Obviously, we did not know the answer which gave him the opportunity to 'grandstand' with some outstanding data.
The Japanese manager then told us that the average Toyota employee generates 187 ideas for improvement each year, of which 97% are implemented. Amazing figures and how embarrassing for our delegation knowing we probably don't even record such data in the average business!
Metrics for Improvement
That means each year that the 60,000 employees in Toyota (at that time) would implement a total of 10,883,400 ideas. At the time Ford employed about three times that number.
I don't know what the Ford situation was, but the implications were immense - if Ford or GM or any other big automotive builder was not capturing just as many ideas and implementing them, then everyday at close of business they may be lagging behind Toyota in the race for product and service quality. So, a continual drive for incremental change really pays off.
It works for personal change also. Running intensively 10 miles a day for Paula Radcliffe is fine and will prove her a winner, however, the average adult seeking mental and physical fitness will only gain injury free results by focusing on small and steady progress, rather than outlandish distances putting the body under undue strain and pressure.
Crash diets don't work. A steady and progressive switching of foods leads to gradual weight loss coupled with gentle exercise - creating new habitual behaviours. Get rich quick schemes don't work. Steady progress in new ventures enables you to differentiate between what works and what does not.
Methodology for Change
My remaining Blogs for 2007 and the early weeks of 2008 are focusing on choosing to go for steady and relentless improvement and building that into our corporate and personal lifestyles.
We will focus on key issues to make change seamless and painless, and as the New Year beckons I trust that readers will choose to incorporate some of these ideas into their business and personal resolutions for 2008.
It is year end for many businesses and as they are working through their accounts, they are probably thinking of how they will fare in 2008. Now is the time to start planning some challenging goals for the New Year.
I have been working with a few clients asking some important questions and these questions apply to all businesses who treasure their customers
How can we………………..
Create new customers relationships and increase our revenues?
What action to we need to take to retain existing customers and transact more profitable business with them?
Identify where we are most at risk of losing customers, and take action to win their continued support?
Ensure that we create a customer facing business for our customers 100% of the time?
Prepare our non customer facing staff to support those staff who do face the customer?
Streamline our processes to ensure they are customer centric?
Eliminate the time wasting activities that do not add value for the customers or improve customer admin?
Develop an emotional bond with our customers to promote life time value?
Thinking about our customers and shaping our business culture to be focused entirely in meeting their emotional and material needs, is time well invested.
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