Posts Tagged ‘choose’

Why Do We Do It?

Friday, September 11th, 2009

We are goal directed beings.  We’re always accomplishing something.  Which means there is always a reason for what we do. Getting a glass of water, getting drunk; talking about our faith, telling a lie; starting a business, selling a business, or any of millions of possible choices, there’s always a reason why.

Usually, we don’t examine that reason – we don’t even think about it.  We don’t do things intentionally.

But, what if we always understood the intent behind our actions?  Would we make better choices?  I think so.

The implications could be life changing – couldn’t they?

That’s one reason why writing our goals and reviewing them regularly is so powerful.  These two actions identify and reinforce our framework  and helps guide the selection of what we do daily.  Subconsciously, we make better choices.  Better choices yield better results.

Writing and reviewing our goals creates a direction for us and frees us from the need to constantly examine the reason behind every action.  So, I guess goal-setting is a life skill and a time management skill.

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Laughingstock no longer

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

How does one ship go from a laughingstock to winning the Battle “E” in twelve months?  (And then winning the next cycle.)

Imagine a car race between 14 Ford Mustangs.  For eighteen months, they race around the same track.   And, only one car wins.

The US Navy “race” is called the Battle Efficiency Award (the Battle “E”).  For eighteen months, US Navy ships compete against other ships just like them. The ships are nearly identical; the officers and crews have similar levels of experience and expertise.

Each ship goes through a bunch of inspections (supply, gunnery, engineering, navigation, damage control, communication, etc.), in addition to assessments of operational readiness, responsiveness, administration and so on.  At the end of eighteen months, a winner is selected based, in large measure, on these results.

One particular ship was the laughingstock of the waterfront.  Not only had it recently failed a major engineering operational inspection, it took six separate attempts, over a two-week period, to successfully leave port for a five-day transit along the coast.

So how was it twelve months later, this ship won the Battle “E”?

Leadership – and it wasn’t the Commanding Officer.  It was “TJ” – the new CHENG (CHief ENGineer).

He called the engineering department together and told us he knew how we could pass the re-inspection.  He told us he’d successfully passed this inspection with six separate engineering departments.  It would take hard work and long hours, and, if we did as instructed, we would pass.

He didn’t promise extra pay, extra time off, world peace, or the end of global warming.  He treated us like adults – and we responded as adults.

Did we work hard?  Oh, yeah.

Did we pass our next inspection?  With one of the highest grades on record, at the time.

The momentum from that success carried on for the next three years.

When your organization is experiencing tough times, don’t be afraid to trust your people. Be honest with them.  They’ll appreciate it, and you can expect they’ll work harder to ensure you (and they) succeed.

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Do You Care Enough to Sell?

Friday, July 24th, 2009

My friend was telling me about his first solo sales presentation.  Coming back from it, my friend’s father (who owned the business my friend worked in) asked, “Well, how did it go?”

“It was great.  He’s a really nice guy.”

“Did you get a check?” asked his father.

“No, but he’s going to do it.”

“So, is he enrolled?”

“No, but he’s thinking about it.”

“Do you think we can really help him?”

“Without a doubt.  He really needs it.”

“What,” asked his father, “would you have told him if he were your brother?”

“I’d have told him:  Get your **s in class, or I’ll drag you there.”

“So, are you telling me you don’t care as much about this guy because he’s not your brother?”

Sales people are “too nice” when we care more about ourselves (don’t want to lose this prospect/customer/sale; what if they don’t like me?) than we care about our customers or prospects. 

Will being less “nice” win more sales for us?  Probably.  More importantly, it changes our self-perception from product peddler to sales professional.

So, do you really care enough to sell?

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Emotionally Rewarding

Monday, July 20th, 2009

Dale Carnegie’s first principle is: “Don’t Criticize, Condemn, or Complain.”

Simple – NOT easy.  In fact, this principle goes so against our natural inclinations that Dale Carnegie put it first.

Does not criticizing mean we are always “positive”?  Nothing is ever wrong?

No.  If it did, how would we correct the real-life performance or behavior problems existing in all of us (and in everyone else)?

This is more about the attitude we choose (yes, choose) when confronting daily problems.  It changes the questions we ask ourselves in a given situation from:  “Why are they like this/doing this?” to “How can I change this behavior/outcome/situation to achieve a different result?

For instance, when we’ve got an employee who isn’t performing, rather than go use our brainpower to explain why this person behaves the way they do (they’re a jerk, they never talk to anyone, they’re lazy, they’re stupid, etc.), let’s use it to identify or develop a solution to it.

In the short run, it may not be as emotionally rewarding as what we’re accustomed to doing.  That said, in the (not very) long run, not only is it more emotionally rewarding, it is significantly more financially rewarding (particularly when we learn to apply it to ourselves).

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