Kairospl

July 28, 2010

This is Part 1 of an article well written by Brian Emerson and Anne Loehr. You will definitely benefit from this article.

A good manager must master the use of a number of different tools and know when each is appropriate and when it is not. Coaching is just one of these skills. We don’t want to give the impression that if a manager spends all of his time coaching, life will be dandy. Nothing could be further from the truth. An effective manager needs to know how and when to use the tool of coaching and when to pick another, more appropriate tool. There is an old adage that says, “When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

We are the first to admit that coaching is not the only, or necessarily the best, management tool. However, when used appropriately in the right situation, coaching is a sure fire way of developing and managing the people who report to you.

What Is the Tool of Coaching?

As we said, coaching is not the end-all-and-be-all of management tools. Employees need coaching when they are experiencing problems with the Attitude (motivation, confidence, energy, focus, determination) component of the Success Equation. Good indicators of a coaching situation are things like:

• when a person is experiencing trouble completing a job that he should already know how to do (i.e., there is no Aptitude issue), 
• when a person has gotten himself completely wrapped around the axle about a certain situation, or
• when a person needs help dealing with the frustration he experiences because they do not have the resources needed to complete the task at hand.

As humans, when we are in these situations, it is natural to need help getting ourselves out of the weeds. We need someone or something to help get us to a place where we can see things clearly and make solid decisions from a position of effectiveness and empowerment instead of a place where we are completely hung up and not seeing straight. That’s where coaching comes in. Managers should use coaching as a tool when an employee has the skills and ability to do the specific task, but for some reason they are struggling with the confidence, focus, motivation, drive, or bandwidth to deal with the situation in a manner that is as effective as possible.

Much to the dismay of many managers, Attitude issues usually far outweigh Aptitude issues. Try this experiment:

• Think about your employees and the colleagues around you.
• Take a minute and make a list of the types of things that they spend the majority of their time struggling with.
• Examine the list.
• How many things on the list have to do with Aptitude—not having the skills and abilities to do the tactical aspect of their jobs?
• How many have to do with motivation, frustration, energy, focus, confidence, interpersonal issues, that is, the intangible things that have nothing to do with the actual skill of completing the job at hand (the “Attitude” part of the Success Equation)?

Usually, the majority of items on such a list involve Attitude—the keystone in the Success Equation that affects the Level of Success in exponential ways. If managers want their employees to be effective, they need to be able to help them deal with all of the things that are in the Attitude grouping from the exercise above. Coaching is about providing the support and guidance necessary to do just that.

Again, our definition of a coach is someone who helps another person reach higher levels of effectiveness by creating a dialogue that leads to awareness and action. Sounds good, huh? But what does it really mean and how does that help develop employees in the situations identified above? Let’s break it down. 

• Dialogue. A dialogue is a conversation in which both parties are seeking understanding. They are not trying to prove, teach, or motivate each other to do something. Coaching is a conversation in which the coach attempts to understand, and, thereby, helps the coachee to understand, what and how it is that the coachee is blocking his own success. A coach “creates” this dialogue by using skills such as listening, asking, and others outlined in chapter 3, and by focusing on helping the other person.
• Helpful. There has to be a genuine concern for the coachee on the part of the coach. To be effective, a manager has to really want to see the employee succeed, and he must hold the belief that his own success is connected to the success of the employee. A certain level of trust must exist and the coach cannot be in a situation whereby he is trying to “fix it.” This is tough. For the most part, managers are where they are in life because they are good at fixing things. They are so used to fixing problems, that they often don’t put themselves in the role of helping other people fix it for themselves.
• Awareness. The reason that a coach or manager does not try to “fix it” when he is coaching is because people learn more when they figure things out for themselves, especially when they are learning about how their Attitude is hindering their level of success. People learn more when they can be involved in their own teaching, and they are much more likely to take action on that teaching and apply it again in other situations if they have discovered it for themselves.
• Action. At the end of a coaching dialogue, there is action of some sort. The coachee will do something differently, shift the direction of a goal, or try a new approach to his situation. Without action, the dialogue is just a nice conversation between an employee and a concerned manager, not coaching.
• Higher Level of Effectiveness. The goal of the entire coaching process is to lead to higher levels of effectiveness. This is important to keep in mind, because coaching is not a quick-hit tool. It takes time, has a laid-back pace, and usually requires a manager to stop what he is doing and focus completely on the employee and the coaching situation. The good news to all of this is that when done correctly and in the right situation, coaching works to make the job of the manager easier because it develops employees who are learning and looking for new and better ways of doing their jobs and meeting company objectives in a timelier manner.

So, coaching is helping another person reach higher levels of effectiveness by creating a dialogue that leads to awareness and action. Said differently, coaching is a two-way conversation in which a manager asks questions and provides support in a way that enables an employee to understand how they can make changes to be more effective for themselves, their manager, and their organization.

July 18, 2010

Below is an article from Steve Martin from Influence At Work, UK which I would like to share with:

This month I want to persuade you to buy a car. It’s a compact sedan with a small trunk, good gas economy although the performance is nothing to write home about. Not a great start I hear you cry. And it gets worse. I am going to charge you several thousand dollars more for this car than other highly efficient and better equipped cars on the market.

The car I want to persuade you to buy is the Toyota Prius, arguably one of the most successful cars of recent times. Many have put its success down to people being incentivised to purchase one by way of the extra tax credits available to them. However after tax incentives were removed in 2006 rather than falling off a cliff, Prius sales actually rose by over 68%.

So what is persuading purchasers to be so keen to go green and can we apply the same lessons to our influence attempts?

In a recent study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vladas Griskevicius from the University of Minnesota along with Joshua Taylor and Bram Van den Bergh from the University of New Mexico and the Rotterdam School of Management claim that making environmentally conscientious purchase decisions can be seen as altruistic and as a result publically enhance people’s status. As a result people can be persuaded to pay more money for a product that is green, not necessarily because it is any better than a comparable non-green product, but just because it is green.

To test their ideas a series of studies were set up where participants were asked to consider the purchase of three everyday items; a car, a dishwasher and a common household cleaner, each of which was available for purchase as either an environmentally conscientious green option or as a non-green option. In effect there were 6 products in total – 3 green and 3 non-green.

Each of the product types were equally priced, however it was clear that the features of the non-green products were considerably more luxurious than the more environmentally friendly ones. To give an example, the dishwashers had the same price ($1,100) but the luxurious non-green option featured a revolutionary drying system and came in a choice of finishes whereas the ‘green’ dishwasher used a water recycling system and was made with recycled parts.

Before they were asked to consider which of the products they would most likely choose, half the study participants were primed to think about ‘feelings of status’ by reading a story describing how they had landed a great new job and how very impressed they were by all the trappings of the office’s high-status features like the upscale lobby and the designer furniture. The other half read a control story that didn’t elicit any feelings of status.

When it came to choosing between the green and non-green options, getting people to consider their status had a significant influence over their choices. In the case of the car, 54% of participants who were primed to think about status chose the more environmentally conscientious green option compared to just 37% in the control condition. Similar results were recorded for the dishwasher and the household cleaner products. But why?

The study authors suggest that there are two potential influences at play here. The first is ‘costly signaling theory’ which is the idea that people often show off by drawing attention to excess energy and other resources they possess -  much like a peacock showing off to attract a mate. The second is ‘competitive altruism’ which is the idea that public displays of selflessness can build desirable reputations – think Bill Gates for example. To test these ideas a couple of further studies were conducted.

The first of these found that people in the ‘status’ group were less likely to choose green option products when no one knew about their purchases – for example if they made a purchase online.

A follow up study found that people in the status group preferred green option products less if they cost less to purchase. Thinking about their status and position persuaded people to make a less than optimal economic decision by choosing a more expensive but green option. It was like they were saying “look at me, I am a friend of the environment and I can afford to be a friend of the environment”. 

Perhaps this is the reason why, contrary to the belief that Toyota Prius sales would plummet after the tax incentive was removed, they actually continued to rise. It might also explain why so many Hollywood stars were persuaded to ditch their Ferraris and drive to the film set in their new Prius instead.

For those of us who would like to persuade more clients and customers to choose the green option there is some potentially good news. You don’t necessarily have to compromise on price, providing you think of ethical ways to publicly recognise your customers as environmentally conscious individuals.

This research should also prove insightful to those in the public sector who have the challenge of influencing whole communities to behave in more environmentally conscientious ways. Ensuring that there are mechanisms in place to publicly elevate the status of those who are acting in desirable ways can be very effective – just as effective as providing financial incentives.

 And for those of you who are yet to be persuaded to buy that Prius from me. Forget about the extra money it will cost. Instead imagine how wonderful your neighbors will think you are when you drive it to the store at 5mph so that everyone can see it really is you.

And remember not to park it in the garage!  

Source:
Griskevicius, V., Tybur, J.M., Van den Bergh, B. (2010) Going green to be seen: Status, reputation and conspicuous conservation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Vol. 98(3), 392-404

Watch out for the annoucement for the next Principles of Workshop in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

July 13, 2010

Coaching is just one tool that a manager must use to be successful. Used in the right situation at the right time, coaching can make the life of a manager immensely easier. Conversely, a manager will end up extremely frustrated if they try to coach employees who need something else from their manager, whose situations do not call for coaching, or who flat out don’t want to be coached. Learning how to recognize when and when not to coach is just as important as learning how to coach.

Coaching is a dialogue that leads to Awareness and Action. When an employee has the skills and ability to complete the task at hand, but for some reason is struggling with the confidence, focus, motivation, drive, or bandwidth to be at their best, coaching can help. Employees typically struggle because one of three things is in their way:

1. Skills and Abilities—They currently lack the skill or ability to complete the task at hand; this relates to Aptitude.

2. Themselves—They currently lack the motivation, focus, chutzpah, confidence, or commitment to complete the task at hand; this relates to Attitude

3. Outside Factors—They currently are being affected by things that are largely outside their control, such as not having the Available Resources, changing market conditions, ineffective vendors and partners (internal and external), or poor relationships with various stakeholders and colleagues.

If an employee needs to develop specific skills and abilities, coaching is not the answer. You don’t teach someone how to create a budget for the first time by asking him curious questions in an unattached manner! You teach someone a new skill by giving him the proper instructions for that particular task. If you tried to coach him, you would end up driving yourself crazy and your employee out the door. To that end, when determining whether coaching is the right tool to use in a certain situation, first ask yourself this question:

• Is this about Aptitude? Is there a lack of skills or ability getting in the way of the employee’s success?

 If the answer is “yes,” then your answer to whether or not this is a coaching situation is “no.”

 If, in fact, the answer to the first question is “no” or “not really,” next ask yourself: 

• Is this about Attitude—his confidence, commitment, enthusiasm, focus, chutzpah, frustration?

If the answer is “yes,” then you have a situation that is primed for coaching. You will want to create a dialogue that helps the employee become aware of what they are doing and then help them develop an alternative action that will lead to better results—in short, coach them.

If the answer to the second question is “no,” then most likely the answer to the next, and final, question is “yes.” 

• Is this is about an outside factor getting in the way of success (i.e., lack of Available Resources, changing market conditions, poor relations with another stakeholder(s), or lack of direction or support from me)?

If the answer to this question is “no,” you need to reevaluate the answers to all three questions because, chanc are, you’ve missed something along the way. If the answer is “yes,” you have two more questions to ask yourself: 

• Does the employee have the skills and abilities to effectively deal with the outside factors in order to be successful?
• Does the employee have difficulty dealing effectively with the outside factors despite having the skills?

The answers to these questions will lead you down the same path as before. If the employee needs skills, teach him, but be sure to do it while utilizing coaching skills such as concern and listening. If he needs help with his attitude, coach him, but be prepared to offer suggestions and teaching tips along the way—dealing with outside factors can be tricky and there may be some skills you can teach as you go.

June 24, 2010

Former president Ronald Reagan once had an aunt who took him to a cobbler for a pair of new shoes. The cobbler asked young Reagan, “Do you want square toes or round toes?” Unable to decide, Reagan didn’t answer, so the cobbler gave him a few days. Several days later the cobbler saw Reagan on the street and asked him again what kind of toes he wanted on his shoes. Reagan still couldn’t decide, so the shoemaker replied, “Well, come by in a couple of days. Your shoes will be ready.” When the future president did so, he found one square-toed and one round-toed shoe! “This will teach you to never let people make decisions for you,” the cobbler said to his indecisive customer. “I learned right then and there,” Reagan said later, “if you don’t make your own decisions, someone else will.” 

From:  Today in the Word, MBI, August, 1991, p. 16.

June 11, 2010

Let me share with you this persuasion article from Noah Goldstein of the co-authors of the book, “YES” together with Steve Martin and Robert Cialdini. I am conducting a workshop on the Principles of Persuasiaon (POP) at the Park Royal Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from July 1-2, 2010. The POP brochure for this workshop can be accessed from this website. Write to info@kairospl.com to register.

Yes” might just be the most beautiful word in the English language when we’re trying to persuade someone to take a particular course of action. But all too often, in cases in which there is a delay between Yes and when the course of action must be taken (e.g. “Yes, I’ll be sure to bring up your proposal in the meeting next week”), the person saying it fails to deliver on his or her promise. Fortunately, a new study points the way to a simple but often ignored strategy to encourage people to follow through with their initial commitments: Have them form a specific plan for where, when, and how they will go about accomplishing task, which researchers call implementation intentions.

Behavioral scientists David Nickerson and Todd Rogers wanted to know whether asking potential voters to form a specific plan for how they would get to the polls on Election Day would actually influence whether these voters made good on their intention to vote. To answer this question, they conducted an experiment in which a large sample of individuals eligible to vote in the 2008 presidential primary were called at home using one of several different scripts:

1. The Standard Script encouraged people to vote by reminding them about the election and suggesting that voting is an important responsibility. 

2. The Self-Prediction Script was the same as the Standard Script except it also asked whether the person intended to vote. This script was based on previous research suggesting that asking people to simply predict whether or not they will perform a socially desirable behavior increases the likelihood that they’ll do so by encouraging them to say yes, which leads them to feel committed to that course of action.

3. The Voting Plan Script (i.e. implementation intentions script) was identical to the Self-Prediction Script but also asked three follow-up questions designed to encourage individuals to create a voting plan on the spot. These questions were, “What time will you vote?” “Where will you be coming from?” and “What will you be doing beforehand?” The notion here is that by answering these questions, individuals will be able to generate a concrete plan that actually takes into consideration all of their other obligations that day, one that will be simple to follow come Election Day.

There was also a Control Condition that did not involve any contact with the potential voters whatsoever.

Realizing that asking people to report whether or not they voted after the election could produce a whole host of biases and inaccurate data, the researchers instead examined the official voter turnout records to see who did and did not end up actually voting in the election. The results clearly showed that the most effective script was the Voting Plan Script, which increased turnout by at least 4 percentage points compared to control. What’s more, the researchers found that this script had the most impact among households in which there was only a single eligible voter, increasing their turnout by 9.1 percentage points. Although there are several possible explanations, the evidence appears consistent with the possibility that multiple-eligible-voter households are much more likely to spontaneously generate concrete voting plans than single-eligible-voter households because they have more schedules to juggle, which means that the single-eligible-voter households have more of an opportunity to benefit from being asked to generate a plan by an outside party than do multiple-eligible-voter households.

This research makes it very clear that simply hearing “Yes” from another person is just a starting point, rather than an ending point, for persuasion. To optimize the likelihood that others will follow through with their intentions, consider specifically asking them how they plan to go about accomplishing the goal they’ve promised to pursue. This doesn’t need to be done in a micro-managing or demanding way. Rather, you could ask about the details as they relate to whether or not there are specific aspects of the tasks with which you can help.

April 27, 2010

I am holding a public workshop on “Competency-Based Behavioural Interview at the Evergreen Laurel Hotel, Penang from May 19-20, 2010. For more details, will you please contact me at: ckkhoo@kairospl.com?

Below is an article by Martin Haworth (business and management coach) on Competency-Based Behavioural Interviewing:

A common type of job interview nowadays is the behavioral interview or behavioral event interview. This type of interview is also referred to as a ‘competency based interview’ and is based on the assumption that a job candidate’s previous behaviors at work are the best indicators of future performance. In behavioral interviews, the interviewer asks candidates to recall specific instances where the candidate was faced with a set of circumstances, and asks them to describe how they reacted.

Some typical behavioral interview questions that you might expect to hear: 

• “Tell me about a project you worked on where the requirements changed half way through. What did you do to keep on track?”
• “Tell me about a specific instance when you took the lead role on a project. What did you do?”
• “Describe the worst project you worked on and how you maintained your discipline.”
• “Describe a time you had to work with someone you didn’t get on with.”
• “Tell me about a time when you had to make an unpopular decision, and how you managed to make it work.”
• “Give us an example of something you have done that made an improvement in the workplace.”
• “What happened the last time you were late meeting a deadline?”

Because a bad hiring decision can be extremely expensive for any business in terms of having to re-hire, wasted training costs and the effects on other employees, selection techniques of this nature, using a behavioral interview have a better track record of identifying the best candidate than the traditional interview everyone is familiar with.

Competency based interviews are the same as a behavioral interview and are intended to get the best from you, the candidate, whilst also fulfilling the needs of the organisation to get the very best person for the job. There are some easy steps to make the most of yourself and have a much better chance of success. 

• Prepare well, but keep it sensible
  As long as you know the job you are going for, ask for details of what you will be measured against. Ask for a set of competencies. Ask for a job description. This sets you up to succeed, not just because you are better informed, but also because you have asked – which will impress the decision-makers, before you even get there!
• Get Creative
  Here is the time to use your own experiences to create ’stories’ which you can use in the actual interview. These ’stories’ are real scenarios that you have been a part of, which over a period of days and weeks beforehand, you write up. Maybe you will have 20+ initial ideas.
• Leverage!
  Take the very best scenarios and write them out, bullet points first. Then flesh them out, whilst referring carefully to the competencies you’ve been given. It is amazing how you can ‘tune-in’ your scenario to include many, if not all of the competencies. And if you can’t fit them all in, there will be a use for them – later!
• Practice
  By reading through your scenarios (and by now you should not have more than six or seven) you will familiarise yourself with the contents, so well, that they will become second nature – even in the scary experience of a behavioral interview.
• In the InterviewThere are some tactics in here too!
  • Using your scenarios make just three key points about what you’ve been asked. Make them relevant and the right ‘weight’. Not too long or too short.
  • After that, leave space for them to ask more – that’s what they are listening for.
  • Say ‘I’ a lot – they want to know what your personal involvement and experience was, not ‘the team’ or ‘they’.
  • Have fun – whilst not contrived, smile and make some simple jokes, if you feel comfortable with that – they want to employ happy as well as capable people.
  • Can’t answer? That’s fine. Make sure that you reflect on your shortcomings by saying things like, ‘It’s one of the first things I want to develop in my next job – if you did your stuff on your scenarios and your competencies well enough, you will have covered 90% of the bases well and you’ll be forgiven for not being ‘perfect’. If you are really stumped – say so!
  • Ask questions – relevant, about their culture, focus on developing you, opportunities – the positive ‘peopley’ things (remember it’s your chance to see if you want to work with them!).
  • Also ask about current issues they may be facing – you did do your homework on them, didn’t you?
• Strong Ending!
  Keep the whole thing light, even as you leave at the end. Have a conversation in general terms – about anything! Do make sure that you ask them some things that are about them – they will love it if you ask them some open (what, how, when, where, who) general questions about your new job! About something nice in the building or their clothes – take as it comes and do what feels comfortable!

Remember that competencies are there to help you and they provide a guide-map for your competency based interview success!

April 05, 2010

Wisdom has a lot to do with avoiding decisions that look attractive, but will turn out badly. If you have been out late at a party and on the way home your friend says, “I know where we can still get one more drink!” well, that sure sounds attractive but the wise decision is to refrain.

Dr. Sydney Finkelstein, lead author of Think Again: Why good leaders make bad decisions and how to keep it from happening to you is interested in how we can figure out which decisions are at risk of being the really bad ones. If we understand the psychological processes that guide decision making, and look at real examples of where decisions have gone bad, then we can identify red flags to watch for. These red flags are the banners of wisdom.

How Humans Make Decisions

As we get into the topic of decision making we once again have to kill off the rational choice model beloved by economists. Wise management thinkers like Henry Mintzberg, James March and Karl Weick have long argued that the rational choice model doesn’t reflect reality. It’s important to understand the major mechanisms that underlie real decision making.

Finkelstein explains, “We don’t list a bunch of alternatives, identify the pros and cons, weight them and then identify the best ones. That hardly ever happens in real life. What we do is make one plan at a time – usually without discussion, perhaps even without conscious awareness that we are making a decision. We just take the first reasonable option and do it until it clearly isn’t working”

“If a marketing manager has to place ads in some media, she might well just place internet banner ads because that is what she did last time and it worked well, or she read something about it and it seemed reasonable, or it she felt it was the cool thing to do,” says Finkelstein. “She’ll keep doing it until it clearly is not working.”

Young and not yet wise MBAs critique this kind of ‘irrational’ behaviour but humans operate the way we do for a reason.

“We can’t take forever to make decisions,” says Finkelstein, “Imagine if we had to debate the pros and cons of everything. The one plan at a time model works pretty well—at least it does most of time.”

It’s that last phrase “most of the time” that chills the blood because just one really big mistake can be enough to kill a company.

“There’s another thing I want you to understand about the brain,” Finkelstein continues. “Anytime we do anything we file it away and it’s tagged with a memory of success or failure. I call it emotional tagging. When faced with a situation we almost always without thinking make our decision based on those emotional tags.”

Again this makes sense, of course we’ll do what worked for us in the past: it’s the “without thinking” part that you need to watch out for.

“If you look at RBS (the Royal Bank of Scotland)—which is such a disaster that they may be taken over by the British government—their really bad decision was the acquisition of ABN Amro. RBS had made previous acquisitions which had gone well and had got accolades in the press for their great work. So they went out of their way to repeat that experience and chased down the ABN Amro acquisition without proper caution.”

If only RBS had noted some kind of red flag which warned them that their decision making process was at risk of making a serious error then they might has escaped their nasty fate.

(to be continued)

Source: David Creelman

NOTE: Why not attend the “Managing & Making Decisions” workshop to be held from April 28-29, 2010 at the G-Hotel, Penang to learn more? You can download the brochure from this website.

March 25, 2010

Why is persuasion the world’s most researched skill? That’s easy—as history shows, it’s the world’s most important skill!

Take a trip back to the Fifth Century B.C., when Athenians were experimenting with a new form of government. The Athenians quickly discovered that to succeed in a democracy, they had to be persuasive. Leaders used persuasion (then called rhetoric) to gain agreement and win support. Everyday citizens used persuasion before a new legal body—the jury.

Recognizing its importance, Athenian scholars, including Plato and Aristotle, began to study the powerful process of persuasion. Circa 435 B.C., they defined three elements of the process of persuasion: Logos, the appeal to logic, reason, and facts; Pathos, the appeal to emotions; and Ethos, the appeal of the speaker’s character and credibility. These scholars found that one or more of these appeals characterize any instance of persuasion.

Aristotle wrote three books about persuasion. Among his conclusions, he stated that logic is the most reliable appeal, and that it is a “human failing” that people sometimes tend to be persuaded less by logic and more by emotion. Scientists are now learning precisely why appeals to logic can be so unproductive. And they’ve learned that Aristotle had it all backward when he defined logic as the most reliable appeal to persuasion.

In ancient Greece, persuasion proved to be enormously effective in politics, commerce, jurisprudence and everyday life—so much so, that when the Romans conquered Greece, they continued to study and apply the skill of persuasion. Caesar Augustus became a master persuader. He magnificently used the Ethos appeal, starting every speech with the phrase “Vini, Vidi, Vici.” I came, I saw, I conquered. By establishing who he was and why people should listen to him, he was able to quickly win their support.

Fast forward to the U.S.A. in 1940s and ’50s. Explosive post-war economic growth led to more research into how people could make good things happen through others. Writers produced a spate of books based on the groundbreaking research of Carl I. Hovland of Yale University. Many other prestigious universities and business schools also initiated research into the science, art and skill of persuasion. The race for knowledge on how to gain agreement, compliance, to get to YES was on in earnest!

Politicians of that era also realized that the greatest power in the world was the power to persuade. Even President Harry Truman understood how central persuasion was to his ability to lead. “I sit here all day trying to persuade people,” he said. “That’s all the powers of the President amount to.” Today Condoleezza Rice adds to this from her own position of power, “Power is nothing unless you can turn it into influence.”

In time, new and exciting facts about persuasion continued to appear. In the 1980s, Dr. Robert Cialdini, Arizona State University’s Regents Professor of Psychology, conducted extensive research into the emotional “triggers” of persuasion. By the late 90s, his book, Influence – the Psychology of Persuasion, had become Amazon.com’s best-selling business book. Soon, Harvard Business School and other leading institutions were offering executive courses in persuasion skills.

Today the quest for persuasion knowledge continues at warp speed. While some scientists are unraveling the human genome, defining how our chromosomes and DNA affect our physical bodies, others are unraveling the secrets of the brain, exploring how it processes decision-making information.

In this vein, Jay Conger, Director of the Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California School of Business, tells us why research into the “how to” of persuasion is so critical: “Today’s business contingencies make persuasion more necessary than ever,” he says. “Many businesspeople misunderstand persuasion and more still underutilize it.”

The art and science of persuasion continues to attract the world’s best minds. Why? Because today’s leaders need to know:

• How do I motivate others to act?
• ­­­How do I produce agreement, compliance, and results?
• How do I generate change?
• How do I make important things happen with and through others?
• How do I sell my ideas, my products, and my services?
• How do I trigger YES?

The brilliant minds of antiquity had many answers, and today’s scientists have even more. According to New York University Neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux, “The amygdala [the emotional part of the brain] has a greater influence on the cortex [the thinking part] than the cortex has on the amygdala, allowing emotion to dominate and control thinking.”

Similarly, the book and the PBS series “The Secret Life of the Brain” (funded principally by the National Science Foundation) distills the entire 2,500 years of persuasion research into a single sentence:

“We are not thinking machines. We are feeling machines that think.”

History and modern science agree. To persuade successfully, we must appeal to the listener’s inborn, hard-wired need to satisfy emotional needs and wants. We must frame our presentations to appeal to specific shortcuts, the triggers embedded in each of our brains. We must learn to work with the other person’s brain rather than against it as we have been doing for 2,500 years.

The brilliant minds of Greece and Rome recognized the need for persuasion, and set forth fundamental guidelines. Today’s scientists and researchers have defined the specific process that our brains use to make decisions. For the first time, we understand how to work with, not against, the brain’s decision-making process to help others make easy, non-analytical, yet correct decisions.

Today persuasion is more critical than ever. And for the first time we are learning how to persuade efficiently. For the first time we can see, in vivo, in real time, the brain’s blood, oxygen and neuron flows as it responds to decision stimuli. We can see distinct brain elements “light up” as they are brought into play. The exciting news is that we finally understand the persuasion process, a process we’ve been doing poorly for 2,500 years. And that understanding enables us to produce YES, agreement, action and results with and through others.

For the first time in history, we have the scientifically documented breakthrough to quickly, easily produce YES, and the results we want and need from others.

(Source: Seven Triggers)

Kairos Performance Learning will be hosting a Principle of Persuasion (POP) Workshop on June 17-18, 2010. Please click on POP on the website page for the brochure.

March 23, 2020

Decisions, decisions, decisions. It seems like every time we turn around, we have to make more decisions. The question is, “Are you a good decision maker?” If you aren’t (or don’t think you are), there is no need to worry. Decision-making is a skill that can be learned by anyone. Although some people may find this particular skill easier than others, everyone applies a similar process.

There are two basic kinds of decisions: those that are arrived at using a specific process and those that just happen. Although both kinds of decisions contain opportunities and learning experiences, there are definite advantages to using a specific process to make a decision. The most obvious advantage is the reduced level of stress you will experience.

Wise decisions are decisions that are made using a definite process. They are based on the values and perceptions of the decision-maker and include carefully considered alternatives and options along with periodic reassessments of the decision and its effects. Wise decisions may or may not follow societal norms and expectations. However, they are right for the decider based on what she knows at that point in time about both her options as well as herself.

Ten Steps to Wise Decision-Making

This process can be applied to any situation where you need to make an important decision. If you follow these ten basic steps, you will find yourself making wiser decisions, both in your professional as well as your personal life. 

• Define, as specifically as possible, what the decision is that needs to be made. Is this really your decision or someone else’s? Do you really need to make a decision? (If you do not have at least two options, there is no decision to be made.) When does the decision need to be made? Why is this decision important to you? Who will be affected by this decision? What values does this decision involve for you?
• Write down as many alternatives as you can think of. Brainstorm as many different alternatives as you can imagine. Let your imagination run free and try not to censure anything. This is not the time to be judgmental. Just be sure to write everything down.
• Think where you could find more information about possible alternatives. If you only come up with a few alternatives, you may want to get more information. Additional information generally leads to more alternatives. Places where you can look for the information you need include friends, family, clergy, co-workers, state and federal agencies, professional organizations, online services, newspapers, magazines, books, and so on.
• Check out your alternatives. Once you have a list of alternatives, use the same sources of information to find out more about the specifics of each option. You will find that the more information you gather, the more ideas will pop into your head. Be sure to write these down and check them out too.
• Sort through all of your alternatives. Now that you have your list of alternatives, it is time to begin evaluating them to see which one works for you. First, write down the values that would come into play for each alternative. Second, look for the alternatives which would allow you to use the greatest number of your values. Third, cross the alternatives off the list which do not fit into your personal value framework.
• Visualize the outcomes of each alternative. For each remaining alternative on your list, picture what the outcome of that alternative will look like. Here, too, it helps if you write out your impressions.
• Do a reality check. Which of your remaining alternatives are most likely to happen? Cross off those alternatives that most likely will not happen to you.
• Which alternative “fits” you? Review your remaining alternatives and decide which ones feel most comfortable to you. These are your wise decisions. If you are very happy about a decision, but are not as comfortable with its possible outcome, this is a clue that this is not a wise decision for you. On the other hand, you may dislike an alternative, but be very excited about the possible outcome. This decision would probably not be wise for you either. If you feel you can live with both the alternative as well as the possible outcome, this is the wise decision you should follow.
• Get started! Once you have made your decision, get moving on it. Worrying or second-guessing yourself will only cause you grief. You have done your very best for the present. You always have the option of changing your mind in the future if you want to. Remember, no decision is set in stone.
• How is it going? Be sure to review your decision at specified points along the road. Are the outcomes what you expected? Are you happy with the outcomes? Do you want to let the decision stand or would you like to make some adjustments? If the decision did not come out the way you planned, go through the complete decision-making process again. In the process, answer the following questions. Did I not have enough information? What values actually came into play? Were they my values or someone else’s? Remember, you can always change your mind!

 Common Decision-Making Mistakes

As much as we would like to believe that we do not have any prejudices or biases, the fact is that everyone does. The more aware you are of yours, the better off you will be. The main reason everyone has their own way of viewing the world is because our brains simply cannot take in everything, at least not on a conscious level.

Have you ever tried to learn ten new things all at once? If you have, you know that it is very easy to become overwhelmed and to end up learning very little at all. That is because of the way the brain works. Our brains screen and categorize information so that we can understand the world around us without being overwhelmed by it. We get into trouble when we fail to realize that many of the perceptions we hold are based on what society (i.e., parents, teachers, the church, all institutions, etc.) teach us, not what we actually know to be true.

Below is a list of the most common decision-making mistakes. By learning about these pitfalls now, you will be able to avoid them in the future. 

• Relying too much on “expert” information. Oftentimes, people have a tendency to place too much emphasis on what “experts” say. Remember, experts are only human and have their own set of biases and prejudices just like the rest of us. By seeking information from a lot of different sources, you will get much better information than you would if you focused all of your energy on only one source.
• Overestimating the value of information received from others. People have a tendency to overestimate the value of certain individuals in our society and underestimate the value of others. For instance, experts, authority figures, parents, high status groups, people who seem to have it all together, and people we respect have a way of swaying our opinion based simply on the fact that we believe they know more than we do. When you find yourself doing this, ask yourself: Do they know as much about this problem as I do? Are their values the same as mine? Have they had any personal experiences with a problem like mine? In other words, keep their opinions in perspective.
• Underestimating the value of information received from others. Whether we realize it or not, we also have a tendency to discount information we receive from individuals such as children, low status groups, women (yes, believe it!), the elderly, homemakers, blue-collar workers, artists, etc. This is unfortunate since a lot of times these groups can paint a good picture of the “other side” of your problem. In other words, these groups may use entirely different values and perceptions in their answers to your questions. The result is a bigger picture perspective of what the issues really are. Just make a note that if you find yourself discounting the information you receive from anyone, make sure you ask yourself “why“.
• Only hearing what you want to hear or seeing what you want to see. Try this exercise. Ask a friend to look around them and make note of everything that is green. Now, have them close their eyes. Once their eyes are closed, ask them to tell you what around them is red. Almost everyone you ask will not be able to tell you what was red because they were focusing on what was green. Our perceptions work the same way. If we have expectations or biases that we are not aware of, we tend to see what we want to see. Likewise, if someone tries to tell us something we do not want to hear, we simply do not hear them. This is a common mistake that many people make. The key is to be aware of your own prejudices and expectations while at the same time staying open to everything that comes your way.
• Not listening to your feelings or gut reactions. Have you ever made a decision only to have it be followed by a major stomach ache or headache? This is your body talking to you. Our brains are constantly taking in more information than we can consciously process. All of this extra information gets buried in our subconscious. Although we may not be able to retrieve this information, our body stores it for us until it is needed. In moments when we need to make a decision, our bodies provide clues to the answer through feelings or gut reactions. Unfortunately, our society teaches us to ignore these feelings. But by tuning into your intuition, you will find that you will make much better decisions in the long run.

 (Source: Bacal & Associates)

GOOD NEWS: KAIROS PERFORMANCE LEARNING is hosting a public workshop on “Managing & Making Decisions to be held from April 28-29, 2010 at the G-Hotel in Penang, Malaysia. (Please see the brochure on the website). Seize the early bird workshop offer before March 28, 2010.

March 16, 2010

Knowing how to manage your boss without committing career suicide is essential in your organization.

Jean Kelly suggests the following:

No matter where you work, you report to someone—maybe even to two or three bosses. Whether you think your boss is brilliant or a bore, the fact is that you have to manage the relationship with your boss if you want to advance your career.

Realize that you are more dependent on your boss than your boss is on you, because your boss holds the key to your short-term future. Not only can your boss release you at any time, especially in today’s economy, but your boss can also unconsciously ostracize you by not keeping you in the communication loop and by giving all the desirable projects to others. When your boss senses that communication between the two of you is not going well and situations have not been resolved, he or she will simply go work with your co-workers rather than you.

Therefore, if you don’t manage the relationship with your boss, you won’t last long in your particular position—either you’ll get fired or you’ll quit. Granted, if you work for a large company, you might be able to transfer to a different boss; but even then, if you still don’t know how to manage a boss, you could end up repeating the same scenario with your new supervisor.

So before you let a little mismanagement on your part disrupt your career, take some time to learn the keys of ‘boss management.’ The following suggestions will get you started on the right path and contribute to a more harmonious work day.

Find out from your boss what ‘good’ looks like and all who are involved in measuring ‘good.’

Whether you report to one person or four different bosses, you need to make sure you’re meeting everyone’s expectations. After all, what seems good to you may only be mediocre to your boss. Therefore, find out what ‘good’ looks like to each boss you report to. You could simply ask, ‘What does ‘good’ look like on this project?’ Or, ‘If this went exactly like you wanted it to go and it turned out perfect, what would have to happen between now and that time?’ As an added benefit, you might even get an idea of the scope of how big that project really is. Sometimes bosses don’t tell you much and you have to pull it out of them. If you do this simple step upfront and find out what the expectations are on the project and the timelines, you save a lot of time in the end.

Ask your boss what kind of follow up he or she wants and what your boss has to have for his or her comfort level.

Many times bosses expect people to be mind readers, simply because they’re busy and can’t always go over all the details of a project. As such, your boss might forget to tell you such things as a firm deadline or a required step. And since everyone operates from their own set of realities, the possibility of miscommunication is high. That’s why you need to take the initiative to set expectations for every project your boss assigns you. You need to find out: ‘What is the deadline? What are my resources? What checkpoints or milestones do we want to establish, if any? What step or contact person is absolutely critical to this project?’

Just as you set expectations when dealing with clients and co-workers, you need to manage the relationship and set expectations with your boss every time.

Examine your boss’ style and adjust to that style.

 Peter Drucker said there are two key leadership styles: readers and listeners. Which is your boss? The readers want data before you talk with them. The listeners want to talk before they read. For example, a CEO has a controller who is good with the numbers. He gives his boss elaborate and spectacular reports…but that’s not what she wants. Every time he gives her a report, she pushes the report aside and starts talking with him. She’s not a reader; she’s a listener. All she wants to know is the bottom line: ‘Are we in trouble or not?’ So this controller is spending precious time producing materials his boss doesn’t want. Conversely, if your boss is a reader, you’re not going to get a good decision from that person in a quick hallway conversation. Readers can’t make fast decisions on complex issues without data. So unless it’s an easy question, they need to think things over and analyze them. And while there are many personality types in the workplace, if you can make this one distinction between the readers and the listeners, you’ll go far with managing your boss.

Muster up the courage to tell your boss when you feel you haven’t been fully heard.
Communication has to go both ways for success. If your boss upsets you or misunderstands you, you have to speak up1not from the head, but from the heart. One way to do that is with an ‘I’ message. For example, ‘I was really upset and hurt by what you said. I interpreted it as __________. Did you mean it that way?’ Most people want to be heard, yet most don’t get heard by their boss. Therefore, it’s your responsibility to say when you’re not feeling heard. If you’re leery of speaking up to your boss, first try this approach on your family members. Practice it in a safe environment before trying it on your boss.

Become aware of other managers’ styles, especially when they have a stake in the outcome of your project.

Keeping up with the expectations and styles of multiple bosses can be a fine balancing act. The only way to wade through it all is if you can keep in mind the one thing that matters most to each of the stakeholders you have to please. It’s too overwhelming to have five stakeholders and think through five requirements for each. So either ask each person what is most important to him/her, or figure out what you have observed in each person’s behavior that you can attend to.

Manage Up

The good news is that no matter how well or poorly you have managed your boss’s relationship in the past, you can recraft your relationship on every new project. Ideally, you want to create a relationship where talking from the heart is the norm, as then confrontation on serious issues won’t be difficult. In the end, it’s really about understanding your boss. When you teach your boss how to work with you and hone great communication skills with him or her, your work life will be happier and much more productive.