Be Aware of Your Thoughts
Because Your Thoughts Become Your Words
Be Aware of Your Words
Because Your Words Become Your Actions
Be Aware of Your Actions
Because Your Actions Become Your Habits
Be Aware of Your Habits
Because Your Habits Become Your Values
Be Aware of Your Values
Because Your Values Become Your Destiny

Page 301 Book “How to Treat Your Employees Like a Dog”

Sitcoms as Leadership Training Tool

Over the course of my career I have worked for eleven companies, they varied in size, geographic location and most importantly in leader styles. On more than one occasion I would see the people I worked with by day as characters on television programs in the evening.

I worked with people who had similar behavior as MASH characters, Radar O’Reilly the under paid, underappreciated, company clerk who knew all of the intricate workings of the organization and quietly made decision to create success; Frank Burns the wanna-bee leader with a title, very insecure, with no leadership skills, and a propensity to constantly screwing up; Colonel Blake the Lasse Faire management style commander of the camp, who neither led nor did he interfere with the unorthodox, unselfish, dedication behavior of middle lower level management staff.

At another organization I worked with people who you would swear were right out of casting for WKRP in Cincinnati with the likes of Jennifer Marlowe the company presidents secretary who possessed sophistication and experience to the point of actually running the organization; Les Nesman the incompetent, newsman in need of recognition, with good intent that often resulted in mishaps; Venus Flytrap the very stylish, suave, evening disc jockey; John Fever the morning DJ who appears to have lost a lot of brain cells in the 60’s yet offers profound thoughts; Andy Travis the new, young, over ambitious, station manager with progressive ideas who is unable to move the organization as fast as he would like. The company I worked for had all of these characters with the same behaviors, only different names.

 Then there was the years I worked in an organization who closely mimicked the behavior of the cast from F-Troop, Captain Wilton Parmenter the naïve, gullible leader; Sargent O’Rourke and his dim witted accomplice Corporal Randolph Agarn who used the organization for personal gain; then there were the simple minded troopers who unquestioningly followed directions, doing just the minimum to survive; best of all the Hekawi Indian Tribe (who got there name after head west, to escape the Pilgrims invasion, became lost, and their leader was heard to say where-the-heck-are-we) who adapted and adjusted to whatever environment they are subjected and us it to their advantage.

The absolute most entertaining were the years I was sure I was on the set of Hogan’s Heroes. While the egocentric, superior attitude, self-centered captors including the incompetent routinely manipulated Kommandant Col. Klink; arrogant, pushy, brash, but easily dupped Major Hockstetter; prototypical German General Burkhalter cautious decision making so as to always look good in Berlin. While the unassuming, humble, non-threatening in-mates, based the view of their captors, yet, were in fact running the asylum. While titled management spent their time trying to impress each other with extensive meetings, conference calls, and secretive behavior they were not paying any attention to the working staff, these people were very impressed with themselves. While at the same time the workers, able to work freely without management distractions, went about building a positive customer experience, improving production efficiency, and ultimately growing sales. Often manipulating management to stay out of the way of progress, the workers were able to make their own rules and procedures to get things done.

Those were my work sitcoms experiences, what are yours?

·                  Smile

When we smile we smell different because a smile stimulates the secretion of endorphins and serotonin which produce feelings of energy and happiness. Compared to when we frown, we do not enjoy the same neurotransmitter chemical feelings. Dogs instantly react different to a person smiling than when they are frowning, because the person smells different. Think about it.

Every day of my life, I continue to be amazed at the power of a simple smile.

People who smile live longer.

People who smile look younger

People who smile attract other people.

People who smile are fun to be with.

People who smile have lower blood pressure.

People who smile have high level of self-confidence.

People who smile have more energy.

People, who smile, are viewed by others as leaders.

People, who smile, are viewed by others as confident.

People, who smile, keep others wondering what they may be thinking.

If you can’t do anything else to make people glad they met you….at least smile, you will smell better.

JOB ONE = MAKING OTHERS GLAD THEY MET YOU

Page 300 Book “How to Treat Your Employees Like a Dog”

Behavior Begets Behavior

What a person is at age 7 is what they will be at age 70.

Bullies are a result of their early environment. The longer they are allowed to bully, or worse, are encouraged to bully, the deeper entrenched the behavior becomes. If the pattern is allowed to continue after age seven, a bully will be a bully for life. If under the supervision of a strong respected leader their bulling behavior may be controlled. But if a control figure is not diligent, or if removed, the bully will revert to bully behavior.

A person’s value system is established early in life. The first seven years of life are very important to how a person will act the rest of their life. So, how a 7 year old behaves is going to be very similar to how that same person will act when they are 70 years old. The only thing changing is the effect their behavior can have on others. The behavior they project and attributes they most internalize as important are securely in place. Like an amplifier, the more power or money a person possesses the stronger these values are displayed.

Money/power makes people more of what they are.

Those who are philanthropic will give more.

Those who are bullies will attack more.

Those who have a drug problem will become addicted.

Those with a drinking problem will become an alcoholic.

Those who volunteer their time will give more of themselves.

So when a bully obtains power or wealth their behavior becomes even more exaggerated. The example of people who amass great wealth in a short period of time, they have more money to spend on favorite activities. If they enjoyed gambling, the bets and losses become greater. If it is drug use, the amount is greater.

In contrast, those who give of themselves and experience great wealth become even more philanthropic, helping those less fortunate than themselves. Examples are Bill Gates or Warren Buffet who contribute huge amounts of money to charitable causes.

Article – Relationship sales

For the past several decades the concept of matrix sales has been touted as the future of selling. It is true the more frequent and consistent prospects see a product advertisement or sales presentation the greater the chance of that prospect to purchase your product. But as companies increased the frequency and intensity of their sales efforts; customers have equally created new tactics for defending against these promotions.  Today’s customers, with access to so many tools at their disposal for gathering product and service information, has become very sophisticated buyers. Selling today is more than increasing the repetition sales impressions or expanding the variety of modes for making a product impact. Customers have the convenience of selecting the medium and time frame they want to make a buying decision.

Relationship sales method, is still the strongest most consistent criteria for making a purchasing decision. After prospective customers have researched a product or service though whatever wide range of mediums they have, most still rely on a personal reference. Most people do not make a buying decision with consulting a friend, family member, or business associate.

Thus proving the most effect sales person a company can have, for their product or service, is a satisfied customer who then tells other prospective customers of their positive experience(s). Such a satisfied customer has to be considered, by the prospective customer, as having established trustworthiness. This Effective Sales Person is proven to be an objective individual who does not have direct relationship for personal gain regarding the buying decision.

Another effective relationship selling experience is when a sales representative has distinguished themselves to the level of becoming a sustained resource for a customer’s organization. A sustained resource is a sales person who has built a long time trust worthy reputation with a customer’s organization to the extent that they ultimately become an active participant in their customers buying decisions. In most cases such buying decision inclusions are related to products and services that sustain resource represents, but the deeper the sustained resources becomes valued, due to their knowledge and expertise, into the customer organization the greater the extent to which they are involved in their customer’s business decisions. The status of sustain resource takes years of consistent behavior to establish such trust. These are sales people who become very selective as to the companies they will work for since they understand the powerful influence of their reputation.

Relationship sales is not a short term experiment for immediate sales, it is the long term commitment to the future continuous success. The longer an organization has experienced consistent growth the more important the role of Relationship sales continues to play. Relationship sales methods have existed a long time and they play a very large role in organization with long histories of continuous growth. When the goal of an organization is building for long term continuous growth then it is important to make a commitment into relationship sales.

                                                           LISTENING

In the first six months of work at the first job out of college as a pharmaceutical sales person, I was responsible to meeting with physicians to present my products. The primary activity of this job was driving to physician offices in my sales territory meeting with the physicians and explaining the benefits of my company’s products, the side effects, and the best situations to use my company’s products. The physicians I was calling on had far greater education, more experience regarding the disease states my products treated as well as use of pharmaceuticals, so, it was a bit intimidating to make such sales calls. But that was my job.

On my first visit to meet with Dr. Foster, I enter the office, introduced myself to the receptionist, explained the purpose of my visit, she then told me to sit and wait. When there was a break in Dr. Foster’s schedule seeing patients the receptionist called my name, escorted me to the Dr. Foster’s office and told he would be in a short time. After taking a seat on the visitors side of Dr. Foster Desk I opened my detail bag pulled out my sales literature, arranged them next to me so I would be prepared when Dr. Foster arrived. After sitting quietly for several minutes Dr. Foster entered his office sat behind his desk in a swivel chair looking away from me, tilting his head back, he looked distant and a bit irritated. He seemed to mumble to himself while shaking his head. I was very uncomfortable, not know whether to speak. He did not look like someone who wanted to speak with a pharmaceutical sales person. What seemed like hours was probably just minutes.

I finally summons up the courage to speak. “Dr. Foster, you appear to have more important things on your mind than talking with me.” Why don’t I leave you alone to think by yourself?” As I packed up my literature, he slowly turned in his chair and began to talk. He told me about a house he is building, the problems he is having with the contractors and the additional expenses due to the delays. He went on to explain argument with his wife earlier that morning. He just rambled on for about 20 minutes telling me about a variety of issues in his life. I never said a word. I was too scared to. I was hearing more information than I wanted to hear. He expressed many personal opinions and feelings. As he began to wind down from his monologue, he then sat quietly, looking away from me for a few seconds, got up from his chair and left his office never acknowledging I was even there.

After he departed I felt emotionally drained, took a deep breathe, exhaled. In my mind I thought that was weird. Regaining my purpose for sitting in Dr. Foster’s office I packed up my samples and as I got out of my chair to leave, Dr. Foster popped his head in the office and asked “what did you want to talk about?” I responded with a one word answer, the name of the antihypertensive I was there to detail. He turned and disappeared down the hall. I left his office, thanked the receptionist as I passed through the waiting room. Went out to my car in the parking lot, placed my detail bag in the trunk, climbed in the driver’s seat, drove about a block away stopped and finally able to relax, I chuckled about what I had just experienced.

I worked on a six week call cycle. So six weeks after my initial meeting with Dr. Foster, when I returned to the Community where he practiced, it was procedure, before making physician calls, to visit local pharmacy’s to inquire about product sales. After introducing myself to the pharmacist he responded, Dr. Foster is writing your antihypertensive with both hands. The pharmacist went on to say that over the past several weeks Dr. Foster really has increased his use of your company’s antihypertensive product. We then talked about other products, other physicians, and the pharmacy materials for this call cycle.

The next stop was to visit Dr. Foster office. I followed my usually pattern, introduce myself to the receptionist, sit in the waiting room, have the receptionist escort me to Dr. Foster’s office, open my detail bag and prepare for his entry. Dr. Foster walked into his office made eye contact with me, I introduced myself, his face lit up. He sat behind his desk in that same swivel chair and before I could say anything else he started on his monologue of personal life events. Similar to what I had experienced in the previous visit to this office. He just rambled on about a variety of topics in his life. Similar to what had happened on the first visit, after about 20 minutes he stopped talking, took a deep breath, exhaled, got up and walked out of the office. This time, just before leaving the office he looked down at me seated by the exit and said “what product did you want to talk about?” I said the name of a vasodilator, he smiled and was gone.

Six weeks later on my next visit to Dr. Foster’s community and the pharmacy visit proved similar to the previous. Now the pharmacist said Dr. Foster was writing a lot of scripts for both my antihypertensive and my vasodilator. That pattern continued the entire time I called on Dr. Foster.

Not until the customer is ready to listen that any selling can take place. It is not how much is said, it is what is heard, even if it is just one word.

Too many people want to believe listening is a passive activity, it is not, it is a very powerful skill.

Pessimism

The definition of Pessimist is an optimist with experience.

Most people look at pessimism as a negative trait. In contrast, I find pessimism to be a very productive trait. People who find problems with new ideas are valuable asset to minimizing future failures and complaints when that new idea is introduced as a product or service.

Optimists get so excited about new ideas, seeing all of the benefits resulting from the introduction of such an opportunity, that they often rush to introduction without realizing potential problems. It is important to have optimists to keep momentum and energy when moving a new idea forward, but such enthusiasm can also produce expensive failures, when ideas are not critically thought out.

When building teams to convert an idea into a new product it is a very good idea to include pessimist who will list with skepticism potential problems. Many of these problems may not have much credence which can easily be resolved. Others might be minor short comings that require minor alterations. But the most important issues pessimists expose are true unforeseen problems requiring deeper digging to expose the severity. These are the issues requiring time and thought to overcome.

My favorite customers are pessimists. These are the people who can’t wait to tell me all of the reasons my companies products or services will not work for their organization. Many times their doubts are misunderstandings that if they are given time to talk about in detail the customer will actually correct their own misunderstanding of the products capability. Which is why is very important to listen to the customer and give them plenty of time to express all of their thoughts uninterrupted.

More important is when pessimistic customers raise a concern that is valid, my product or service falls short of solving their concern. This is called an opportunity to improve what my company has to offer. If such a complaint is real, it is not unique to this one customer, but if improvements are made, could result in increased sales with many current and potential customers.

When creating work team, development teams, problem solving teams I like to have pessimists. For the same reasons listed above, the pessimists will find all of the reasons the central topic for which the team was created will fail. Once again, if pessimists are given the time to talk out their skepticism and doubts they will provide solutions. I cannot emphasize strong enough this works best when the pessimists are given time and respect to express in detail why their skepticism is correct. But if the optimists on the team take up the art of debate to prove the pessimist opinions to be wrong antagonism will occur reducing the chances of a productive result.

Optimists are important to such a team’s success but they need to be respectful of the pessimist’s opinion and possess the skill of listening and questioning to produce productive answers.

This article was inspired my niece Emma Hornfisher, for her pointing out my pessimism.

Hunter vs Farmer Sales

I find it very entertaining the organizations who want to build hunter mentality sales forces. When you think about what that means it is a one-time sales plan. It is the concept of the big kill followed by a feast. This one time sales plan is a peddler’s mentality. A Peddler’s primary selling skill is closing. With such a limited skill set peddlers are sales people who changes jobs regularly because they do not build repeat sales. This is a Neanderthal, over testosterone induced, short-term, predatorily mentality does not build long term organizational growth. Sales managers with this hunter mentality, usually have limited sales experience, if any, thus have a narrow prospective. People, who believe in this form of sales, also lack in sales training, nor do they have an understanding of professional sales management.

Societies that have enjoyed long term successful growth have done so base controlled dependable crop farming with predictable annual productions. Such food sources are the result of well-organized farming and domesticized ranching. Selection and quantity of crops to be planted is done with a long term perspective. Understanding not just the immediate food needs but more importantly planning for six months, one year, and two years into the future for both humans and domestic animal crops is a necessity for building a society.

Long term successful sales people build their careers similarly to long term successful societies, their success is based on goals and planning for years of future growth, not just satisfying immediate sales needs. Professional sales people who build life long careers do so by learning, developing, and routinely improving their selling skills. These people invest their time in front of customers asking questions and listening. They constantly invest in learning more about the products and services they sell; the products and services their competitor’s sell; and the market they sell in. They build long term relationships with customers by helping them grow their business thus needing more of that sales person’s products. They look for new uses of their product at existing customer’s business.

In addition to working with long term customers, professional sales people are constantly exploring their market for prospects they can convert to new customers. With a keen understand of each prospect potential use of their products and services professional sales people develop a specific plan for each of these prospects. The goal of professional sales people is building for the future with long term relationships.

The sales people with a farmer mentality are professionals with goals and long term business plans. These professional sales people can provide monthly sales projections by customer into the future. They can also tell what prospects they are working on to convert to customers and what the sales potential is for each. In most cases they can make projections as to when such prospect should become customer and what products or services they are most likely to purchase. Sales people who have a farmer mentality become a valuable resource to their customers.

Thank you OPC

Thank you to Orthotic and Prosthetics of Canada for the invitation to speak at their meeting last week. It was a great meeting. They had terrific attendance, excellence participation. My compliments and appreciation to Dana Cooper and staff for a very well organized and executed meeting. I had a wonderful two days talking about change, leadership and marketing.

This past weekend I had an opportunity to witness the importance of training and proofing. The pictures attached to this story are Dan Phillips, Chief of the Plymouth Fire Department and the other picture is a 120+ year old house that was donated to the fire department for training purposes.

A control burn for fire departments is a rare and unique experience. For five days leading up to the big burn three neighboring fire departments took turns conducting small controlled burns, extinguishing fires and rescuing life-like dummy’s planted in the house.

Local residents were informed of the date and time of this controlled burn so as not to create alarm when it occurred. On the day of the total burn, a crowd of residents gather in designated locations to observe and take pictures. Chief Phillips did a great job addressing the crowd to providing 10-20 minute explanations about what the fire fighters were preparing to do next, and then he would excuse himself to instruct his staff. While addressing the crowd, Chief Phillips made some very interesting comments emphasizing his job is about teaching staff new techniques (that means he is learning new techniques) the best proven methods. He went on to explain how important is to create new unexpected training scenarios (Proofing). Chief Phillips stated firefighter’s train every day, not just occasionally, so when faced with a real fire they act with confidence which reduces hesitation, doubt or mistakes. That is right, his job as a teaching, learning, proofing and creating confidence, which are four of the traits displayed by leaders.

CONFIDENCE

Confidence is very important to the success of both individuals and organizations.

True Alpha’s are born with confidence, not to be confused with arrogance. An example of such innate confidence was displayed by Thomas Edison who after failing more than 1,000 times to find a functional filament for his incandescent light bulb, he continued to persist with his invention, stating that they were not failures; he had found over 1,000 materials that were not appropriate material for his incandescent light bulb filament. He had the confidence in both himself and his ideas not to falter in his quest. This is referred to as Natural Confidence

For those who are not born alpha, confidence can still be developed, but it requires work, when successful this is called Learned Confidence. Some of the tools that can be used to develop Learned Confidence are:

Training is a useful tool to improve confidence. Learning how correctly or efficiently performs routine job tasks helps build confidence. Identifying the most efficient method of performing an operation, then breaking that skill into small easy to train steps, which then is used to help train others which is often called benchmarking. Using Benchmarking knowledge broken down into small steps, training can be very effective at building learned confidence.

Practicing is the repetitive performance of an activity to ingrain and insure understanding of a skill or activity. The more often an activity is preformed the efficiently the activity is performed, and so too is the confidence.

Proofing is the activity of practicing for the unexpected. Once an activity has been learned under ideal conditions, then it is time to practice such activities under unusual adverse situations.

These are common techniques used in sport such as teaching a person the proper technique for holding a baseball bat, where to place hands on the bat, positioning the body, where feet should be positioned. This is all done utilizing proven techniques that have produced the best batting outcomes, which we call Training. After the novice batter understands the how to swing a bat then it is time to repeat the activity, “batting practice”. The newly learned skill is then repeated standing in the batter’s box swinging at pitch after pitch to become more comfortable and successful, thus called Practice. Once the skill becomes a natural comfortable routine, then it is time to practice under variable and adverse situation, taking batting practice in cold weather, with a variety of sun/shade positions, hitting sliders, curveballs, knuckleballs, etc., this is referred to as Proofing

This same technique is used to teach a person to swing a golf club, shoot free throws in basketball, driving a car, or even making sales calls.  

People are more likely to repeat a behavior they feel confident performing and less likely when they lack confidence. If you want to increase the frequency an activity is performed, or the chances for a desired outcome of a behavior, building confidence is a very useful tool.

Leaders create a vision for others to follow

On May 25, 1961, John F. Kennedy stood before Congress and proclaimed “This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” He did not say we would like to; nor did he say it would be a worthwhile project to look into; nor did he say we will try to accomplish. John F. Kennedy stated the USA would complete this task by the end of the decade. He spoke confidently creating a vision, he made others believe would happen and then he told them when it would happen.

Leaders create visions for others to believe will happen and then the followers make his vision happen.

The “HOW” is easy when you have a “WHY.”

When the speech was made, NASA had just been created. Even more remarkable, the USA had not been able to launch any type of rocket of any size without it self-destructing.

But, at the time the USSR was far ahead of the USA in the space race and John F. Kennedy needed to do something to get things moving forward. And fast. He needed to mobilize the entire country on a single-focused event, which was tangible, measureable, and understandable by every American. Nothing motivates people like competition. Which is just exactly what JFK did, he threw down the challenge to the rest of the world, including what the USA was going to do and when. Great leaders confidently provide a vision; they are smart enough to allow others, who possess the specific talents and skill with the freedom and creativity to figure out HOW the actual project will be accomplished.

JFK did not talk about what type of rocket booster would be used, nor did he explain in details. He didn’t create the idea of stages of development through separate programs such as Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. He had no idea HOW it was going to happen, which was up to the scientists, engineers, and business people. What he gave Americans was a clear vision of WHAT needed to be accomplished and WHEN. Leaders are good at motivating their followers toward a common goal and keeping them focused to achieve that goal.

Page 282 Book “How to Treat Your Employees Like a Dog”

HAPPY 4^th of JULY

The continental congress, in Philadelphia, PA., led by President John Hancock voted on July 2, 1776 to declare independence from Britain (not July 4).

John Hancock was the first of 56 signatures on The Declaration of Independence. It took months to obtain all of the signer’s signatures. As of August 2, 1776 there were 51 signatures, the exact date of the last signature is not known.

The signatures were made by representatives from the original 13 states. Can you name the original 13 states?

The first five US Presidents were signers of the Declaration of Independence. Can you name them?

The first fireworks display took place in Philadelphia, July 4, 1777.

The US Constitution was not signed until 1787.

Every July 4^th at 2 PM Eastern Time the Liberty Bell is rung 13 times, once for each of the original states.

Three signers of the Declaration on Independence died on July 4; Thomas Jefferson and John Adams in 1826, James Monroe in 1831.

Calvin Coolidge is the only US president to have been born on 4^th of July 1872.

Successful Sales

Over the past year I have read numerous articles and surveys stating the same results, the most successful organization recognize and value the importance of training sales people and management. Players of championship teams, both professional and college, repeat the similar comment, their coaches are always teaching. A principle skill for any leadership position is that of a teacher. Many of the skills such coaches teach are the fundamentals of their sport.

Too many people move into management for ego rather that ability. They are untrained at sales or management and unable to train others. There is also another percent of the population who are successful at selling, yet unable to transfer, via training or demonstrating, those skills that made them successful onto others when promoted into management position.

When surveyed, more than 70 percent of all sales people and sales managers do not truly understand their job. They have never been taught selling skills or management tools to properly do their job.

If a coach/manager does not understand their job how can they be successful teaching their players the foundation skills of their sport/job?

Foundation skills that are missing in most sales organizations include:

Product knowledge

Competitive knowledge

Market analysis

Goal setting

Planning

Needs analysis

Question design and application

Listening skills

Neurolinguistics

Problem solving

Documentation

Organizational skills

Proper use of sales materials

Managers who do not possess such foundation skills instead must resort to threatening and pressuring sales people in an attempt to increase sales.

So, why is it that more organizations don’t invest in training their sales staff?

Russell Hornfisher, author, trainer, speaker

How to Treat Your Employees Like a Dog

Scars

In my young years I tried to find ways to cover or disguise my many scars. As I have grown older I have realized how important my scars are, they are the merit badges of life’s challenges, some success, but also failures. The failures, mistakes, injuries incurred which produced these scars are the best stories of life. That includes scars not just to me, but also inanimate objects such houses I lived in, cars I have owned, etc. When I look at nicks in a wall; dog scratches on a window sill or a door; bumps and scratches on the side of a car; the mars on my skin and distortions to my joints, they all remind me of stories that have made me who I am.

I feel sorry for those who have lived their life in a bubble, protecting themselves from activities that might produce a scar. I now believe those who have incurred the most scars are probably those who pushed themselves the hardest and furthest; these are the people who have the best stories. Living a life that produces scars, is living a life that challenging oneself. Doing things that are not the easiest, having a lot of great experiences, are also the mistakes that produce the most learning.

Principles for success

The most valuable asset anyone has in their life is your own health. If you do not have your health nothing else is important.

The second most valuable asset is time. Time is a finite asset that can never be reused.

Third is when your home life is in order the rest of life is easier, when it is out of order, everything else becomes more difficult.

Fourth, everyone needs a job, which includes responsibilities. An important part of life is being held responsible for your actions.

Russell Hornfisher, author of the book,

“How to Treat Your Employees Like a Dog”

Listening

Research has found the most successful sales people spend 75% or more of their time in front of customers listening and less than 25% talking. In contrast, people who have short careers in sales spend 90% or more of their time in front of the customer talking and less than 10% allowing the customer to speak. This only makes sense because we cannot learn while talking. Learning requires listening.

Those who talk the most usually have the least to say.

Who is the most interesting person you have ever met?

You!

We all love to talk about ourselves.

At the start of the work day in just about every office, someone can be heard saying: “Let me tell you what happened to me on the way to work this morning” which is soon followed by: “That’s nothing, from a co-worker; wait till you hear what happened to me.” We love to talk about ourselves, because we are the most interesting person we know. We spend more time talking about ourselves than talking about anything else. It is for these reasons sincerely listening naively is difficult.

To listen, we have to put someone else’s needs ahead of ourselves. Setting our ego aside and turning our interest to another person is not easy. Listening is not passive activity; it’s actually a lot of work.

There are three levels of listening

·        Not hearing

·        Hearing but not listening

·        Active listening

Active listening causes the heart rate to increase, respiration to increase, and blood pressure to rise. Active listening requires focusing our full attention on what someone else is saying. Active listening is so difficult most people can only do it for mere minutes at a time without lapsing into intermediate daydreams, or search for past experience or prepare a response. The average brain is capable of processing approximately 500 words per minute, yet the average person speaks at a rate of about 200 words per minute – leaving a lot of spare brain time (about 300 words per minute) to think about other things. It takes discipline to listen, because our spare brain time wants to think about other things. With the extra space, our brains wants to start thinking about what we are going to do this evening, or a phone call we need to return, or the coffee stain on the shirt of the person who is talking.

Even more important is learning to listen naively. Listening naively requires a commitment to listen without trying to formulate a response until the speaker has completed their thought. We all have prejudices and frames of reference from previous life experiences. Unfortunately, those experiences come into play with every communication experience in life. Becoming a naïve listener requires the discipline of not jumping to conclusions or finishing other’s sentences, which is difficult with 300 words per minute of unused brain space. It is very easy to hear a word or phrase, which then sends our brain spinning off thinking about something other than what the speaker is intending, which is when we sabotage the intent of the message.

The most important component of communications is listening.

Great listeners need to possess the ability to listen with an open mind if they hope to learn anything. Listening to another person’s full thought without jumping to conclusions is critical to effective communication. How often have you been in a conversation where the person you are speaking with finishes your sentences? This is not listening. To listen naively requires control of emotions. Reacting to preconceived emotions can cause us to begin formulating a response, rather than listening to full thoughts. When listening to another person, our natural human reaction is to respond quickly.

A magnificently presented question in which no one listens for an answer was just a waste of time and energy. Listening is an even more important skill than the ability to ask a well-structured, properly positioned question. Another trait possessed by great listeners is the ability to be patient. After asking a useful question, too often the askers get impatient while the potential responder formulates an answer. The questioner winds up answering their own question.

Answering your own question is insulting to the other person in the conversation. Not providing another person the time to formulate an answer and respond does not provide an opportunity to learn anything. After asking a challenging question a second of silences seems like five minutes and a minute of silence seems like an hour. The ability to wait patiently, quietly and confidently with sincere interest while another person contemplates their answer takes discipline and practice. While you sit quietly waiting for a response to your question, your brain now has 500 words per minute of unused brain space which is impatiently waiting to be used.

Tools to improving listening include

Asking questions = 15%

Taking notes = 20%

Reporting learned information back to others = 35%

Page 136 How To Treat Your Employee Like a Dog"

Lessons in Leadership as Taught by a Dog

People who are not familiar with pack behavior are under the misconception the member of the pack making the most noise, barking, and back-biting with other members of their pack are the Alpha’s. Fact is the members of a pack making the most noise and having the most conflicts with other pack members are the Omega’s, otherwise known as the bottom of the pack. Due to insecurity and fear Omega’s make noise attempting to feel more important by trying to scare others.

True Alpha’s Leaders focus their energy feeding and protecting their pack, not fighting with pack members. Alpha’s do not have to fight with other member of their pack to establish their leadership position, it is naturally recognized by other pack members. The most notable traits of an Alpha include confidence (not arrogance), intelligence (by actions not titles), and sincere concern for other members of the pack.

At an early age puppies recognize the hierarchy of their pack including the Alpha. The same is true of humans, Alphas are recognized by organizational members due to ability, intelligence and contributions to the organization; not artificial titles.

“How to Treat Your Employees Like a Dog”

COMMUNICATIONS

A 2017 Gallup survey of the US workplace found 67% US managers who say they don’t like talking with employees, which mirrors the 67% of US workers who say they’re not engaged at work. That figure comes from the most recent, annual in-depth report of more than 31 million workers across US industries.

Only 13% of respondents in the Gallup survey said that their company’s leadership communicates effectively with the rest of the organization. Those employees who did report having conversations with their manager in the previous six months about their goals and successes were 2.8 times more likely to be engaged at work.

“Organizations are realizing that more frequent, ongoing conversations may be the missing link in performance management, but there is a huge caveat: Managers have to understand how to have effective performance conversations with employees,” the report read. “Unfortunately, Gallup research suggests that many managers struggle in this area.”

37% of business time is spent correcting mistakes.

W. Edward Deming

Engineer/Author

Painful as the interactions may be for managers, Gallup’s research found that employees do, in fact, want to have conversations with the people they report to at work. The organization suggests manager’s check in with employees individually at least once a week. Workers want relevant feedback on their performance, clear discussion of goals, and the freedom to approach their manager with questions.

60% of business failures are due to poor communications.

Peter Drucker

Page 235, “How to Treat Your Employees Like a Dog”

Things to Remember About Leadership

A leader is a natural problem-solver.

A leader is someone who can look at chaos and find clarity.

A leader evaluates the opportunities and obstacles.

A leader draws from experience and knowledge to determine the most useful assets for a given situation.

A leader assembles the most appropriate tools.

A leader develops a plan or creates a vision.

A leader communicates the plan/vision to enlist support.

A leader teaches and trains the needed skills.

A leader produces a feedback system and utilizes the feedback to adapt, adjust and fine tune.

Managers do the right things, leaders do things right.

                                                        Peter Drucker

                                                                 Economist

Page 95 Book “How to Treat Your Employees Like a Dog”

Seven Steps to Stagnation

Seven Steps to Stagnation

1. We have never done it that way.

2. We are not ready for that.
3. We are doing all right without it.
4. We tried that once before.
5. It costs too much.
6. That is not our responsibility.
7. It just won't work.
8. You obviously don't understand; we are different.

You are correct the title says seven steps to stagnation yet the list includes eight.  For years when giving my presentation on change I had listed the first seven.  Audiences frequently responded, "Russ, you obviously don't understand; we are different".  Everyone believes they are unique, and their business situation is unlike any other.  My experience is that basic business principles are true for all business.

Please visit my website HERE

AND... read my book:  "How to Treat You Employees Like a Dog"