Make All That You Say Count!
We can only effectively influence, if we first can truly understand. People have a tendency to answer questions way to early. They think they know and they very much want to be seen to know. Especially if they are in a senior position or are the contextually perceived authority.
As an active listener our job is to stimulate the flow of useful, relevant and factual information. Before we speak we want to know, what what we know to be fact, recognising what we don't actually know yet, work out what we contextually need to know (because we don't need to always know everything) and structure our questions in a way that helps us to uncover, all the required pieces of the puzzle that will ultimately support the optimum solutions the situation requires.
A key to influence is to recognise triggered emotional associations and entrenched limited beliefs and not overtly push against them. That which we resist, persists! People will invest a huge amount of effort to argue for what they believe to be true even when that reality is negative and debilitating, they will still want to be right about all that is wrong for them.
Most people don't like the feeling of being being sold to, especially when it's something that they NEED rather than something they REALLY WANT. What most people do prefer to do, is to BUY, especially if they are buying benefits and perceived value.
Zig Ziglar the renowned sales trainer, speaker and author would often share this powerful principle that suggests 'that a person can achieve all that they want in life by helping other people achieve what they want.' And that really is what successful selling is all about.
A couple of the key fundamentals that are required to make this principle consistently work and deliver great results. Are, subtle unconscious Influence along with gaining and maintaining congruent, aligned and most importantly genuine agreement throughout the sales experience.
Delivering Consistent Results
A BAD manager is someone who feels the position and title are there to be leveraged and respected. They usually spend most of their time telling people what to do. Which generally delivers poor results, which they subsequently blame on the staff, the plant, upper management or the economy in general.
A GOOD manager, may have little management experience or expertise but knows the job really well, understands the skills they have at their disposal. Whilst all the time having the right level of empathy and genuinely caring about their staff.
They can usually juggle a schedule well, but, might not necessarily be good at growing and evolving their team or dealing with potential conflict. This type of manager can spend way to much time fire fighting, get stuck at the coal face and be stressed, time poor and always entrenched in the day to day detail.
A truly GREAT Manager has a global to specific mindset and knows exactly what the team is currently capable of and can consistently optimise the output of that resource. Whilst having a vision of what their potential is and a strategy of how to influence, motivate and inspire each individual to deliver on that potential.
A great manager will quickly identify problems and deal with them consistently and effectively, making sure to learn and evolve so as to only suffer that problem the once. They will also operate in a win/win entrepreneurial way! Creating the best contextual win for everyone, a win for the company, a win for their customers, a win for their staff and a win for themselves.
A person can never make the claim that they are a leader. The title of leader is conferred by others who are open and willing to be inspired to follow. Leadership therefore is a consistent and effective set of actions, not something they ARE but something they are BEING because of the things they are DOING.
It is often said that their are natural born leaders and at the same time it is also often referred to as leadership skills. Whether a person is born with the qualities of a leader or not is semantics. There is definitely a set of skills that a person needs to acquired and mastered if they want to successfully fulfil a leadership role.
To be a leader you must know the 'WHY' and the 'WHAT' and have a well trusted, aligned and highly skilled team to follow through on delivering the 'HOW'. Whilst having collectively a heightened sensory awareness of all the possible, positive and negative 'WHAT IFs".
A great leader should never need to answer a question. They will have the wisdom to notice the flawed, ambiguous structure of any question being asked and they will reply by ask the perfect question to stimulate the other persons thinking in such a way as to inspire them to discover their own answer.
IQ and EQ in equal measure.
Heightened sensory awareness and strategic thinking.
Advanced listening skills, speaking skills and influencing skills.
And the ability to accurately measure and develop the mindset, attitude, skillset, capability and potential of each member of their team.
To find out the more and to grab a copy of our 12 Fundamentals Of Leadership, then simply click the link below to go to our Leadership Coaching And Training page.
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