Can I motivate you?

“My team isn’t motivated. Can you train them to be motivated?”

Yes, I have gotten this request a number of times throughout my career. 

Which leads to the question: can you make people be motivated? 

Can I motivate you?

Sure I can. it's just not going to last very long. It's easy to give a motivational speech, get everyone hyped up, and then send people on their way. Are they still hyped up 3 weeks, 2 weeks, even 1 week later? That type of motivation - a one time “rah-rah, you CAN do anything” - doesn't last very long, it's not enduring. If we want people motivated, we need to realize that motivation comes from within. True long-term motivation is something that comes from within ourselves. As a Leader, if I want my team members and my colleagues to be motivated to perform well, I need to do more. I need to create a motivating environment.

But wait! Didn't I just say that I can't motivate people?  I did. The key is finding out what motivates each of my team members. Everyone's motivation can be different. If I'm going to be an effective and successful leader, I need to take the time and discover my team's motivation triggers. 

Some people are motivated by money. They see money as the ultimate stick by which to measure themselves against other people. Others are motivated by recognition. Positive affirmations are essential to their well-being. Some people are motivated by perks and benefits. Additionally, there may be team members who are motivated by the social aspects of a job such as meeting new people, celebrating occasions, or having an overall “fun” environment. You won’t know, though until you ask.  

I know many leaders will say they don't have time for these types of conversations. my response is that you don't have time not to - you will spend extra time trying to keep people engaged in the workplace while having no idea how to engage them.

Teaching and Leading = Effective Managing for Effective Performance

As a change of pace, I wanted to spend some time talking about training and leadership. Many managers are asked to train others without learning how to train effectively. In order for a training program to be successful you need to understand how adults best learn. You'll need to learn how to lead them into the new behaviors. Anyone who is attentive and willing during class will learn the material. But will they use the new behaviors back on the job? In a manager's role, you'd want to make sure that the time you invest in a learning initiative is time and money well spent.

How do Adults Learn?

Adults learn differently from children. Whereas children can be considered "blank slates", adults bring a wealth of already accumulated knowledge. This is quite helpful to the learning experience and a savvy facilitator will use this to their advantage. Adults also bring different expectations to the learning process. Adults will expect the learning to be a partnership, with the facilitator providing the impetuous and the means for the learning process while the adults expect to be responsible retaining and being able to use the learning. Adults expect to be respected for both their experiences and their opinions.

Adults tend to learn best when they are able to make connections between what they are currently learning and past experiences. They also prefer to be full participants in the learning process.

What is Facilitating?

Facilitating is the art of leadership in group communications. In a training or learning environment, this may mean the facilitator directs the activities and the line of questioning, but allows the learners to come up with the answers themselves. This has several positive effects on the learning experience. First, this interactive environment will be more stimulating for the learner. This increases the likelihood of retention. Second, by requiring the learners produce or generate the information instead of simply hearing it from a "teacher", the learners will develop a stake in the learning process. Learners with a stake in the process will retain more. Third, this allows for more learning by doing, whether looking up information in a manual or on a website and using that information that information in order to process requests.

What's the difference between teaching and facilitating (and why you should care)?

Teaching assumes that the learner knows nothing and the teacher everything. Elementary school, specific tehniqual or Some of the differences between teaching and learning can be summed up in this way.

Traditional Teaching is:
Passive.
Authoritarian.
Delivering information.
Convergence, conformism.
One-way (top-down)

Teaching is delivery-heavy and often requires entertainment to keep attention. On the other hand, if we focus on how to use the expectations and experiences of our learners, we realize that effect learning requires more.


Facilitating is:
Active and dynamic, experiential.
Reaching forward.
Empowering.
Responding to a challenge.
Divergence - going out of the box.
Interactive

Learning through facilitation involves questioning-heavy, inductive/ inferential, hands-on, reflective, interactive. You lead the participants to the desired behaviors.


What does this mean for your training efforts?

In order for your training efforts to be successful, you must be aware of the needs of your learners. Top heavy teaching generally doesn't do well helping adults learn new material or master new behaviors when teaching adults.

Having people participate in the experience will help them better retain the information as well as buy into the experience. Hmm, sounds a lot like a sales situation! It is. Treating your learners as though they are potential customers goes a long way towards getting acceptance of and ultimately mastery of the skills you want them to use.

   

_________________________________________________________

Does this subject strike close to home? If so, you may be interested to learn that I coach managers and small business owners to be more effective and efficient in your own sales and service efforts as well as become better facilitators to improve performance for your staff. After agreeing to your goals, you will work on your skills in a supportive and nurturing environment.

Contact me,  Jo Ann Kirby at 973.709.1252 or email me at info@krgcommuncations.com for more details and next steps.

Did You Learn in Reverse?

No, I''m not talking about taking Algebra 2 before Algebra 1....

We do, however, tend to learn certain communication skills in school in the opposite proportion in which we'll need them in our in adult lives and careers.

Here is a list of how we communicate, by percentage. Interesting, isn't it. Look at the first one:

• Listening... 55%
• Speaking... 23%
• Reading... 13%
• Writing... 9%

Although we'll spend most of our time listening, it's the other three listed above that get the most attention. Think to how much time you spent writing and reading. You spent less time speaking and if you're like many students, you probably weren't listening all that well. Most people aren't taught how to listen. As adults, though, I've found the most successful people in the room will usually also be the best listeners. My husband is fond of saying "Never miss an opportunity not to say something." I'll add to that "because it's hard to speak and LISTEN effectively at the same time". 

How is listening good for business? Here are a few points to ponder.

• Listening Effectively enables you to Reach a Clarity of Understanding and Respond Appropriately.
• It allows you to Enhance Communication and Support Cooperation.
• Effective listening helps to Improve Morale and Increase Job Commitment

.
...and finally it allow you to focus on real Opportunities.

Passionate on Your Road to Success

More on Passion...

What makes you passionate about what you do? What keeps you involved day after day?


For me, it's the knowledge that I've helped someone on the road to success. Whether that success is being better at their roles in a call center, helping an independent sales rep or solo business owner refine their selling technique, working with front line employees in a office to be more effective communicators or mentoring small business owners in their ability to manage, coach and motivate their sales and service staff, it's important to me that I make a difference. For me it's always been about how I can help people succeed.


You may find your passion comes from your core values. Perhaps you sell a product that fills a real need in the marketplace. Perhaps you work with people who give their all and you don't want to let them down. 

If you work in a service capacity, you may find that solving other's problems and making their day a bit better does it for you. 

Everyone finds it easier to succeed when they believe in what they are doing.  Because when we work to help others - no matter how big or small an effort- good things happen all around.

Money Can 't Take the Place of Leadership

It tends to be the assumption: People are motivated by money. 


So, give them the right package and great sales numbers will result. Right? But often it only leaves managers scratching their heads and wondering how to make the package more enticing - to motivate the staff better.


Sadly, that type of thinking usually results in lower sales figures than you'd like and higher costs to your business in the form of higher sales rep turnover.


Compensation, no matter how attractive a package is never a substitute for good sales management. It cannot take the place of strong training and a basic understanding of human behavior.


Often, business owners and managers feel that since people are motivated by money, their employees -whether in sales or service - will do everything (or anything) in order to close the sale. But selling can be very tedious and depending on the product, long and drawn out. It can be hard to keep sight of that end commission while you're getting the run around for the 20th time or having to speak with yet another "decision maker".


It's up to the you - whether manager or owner - to make sure that the employee has all the tools necessary to be successful in the job. It's up to you to make sure that your employee remains motivated. This is particularly true in cases where the compensation is primarily in the form of commissions. See, here's the thing... you may think you've got the best product/service on the market but many are things outside of a sales rep's control.


Sales can be hard on a person, with rejection, customer demands and sales goals to be met. It can be hard to sustain excitement and motivation simply through a compensation plan when the payoff may be far off. Strong managers - strong leaders - make sure that their people have all the tools they need to succeed. They are available to brainstorm solutions, they are pro-active in positively motivating their people and coaching them on a regular basis. They make sure the sales force is given the sales training necessary to be successful.

Yes, a good compensation plan can help turn a hum drum sales force into a supercharged selling machine. But it is only a part of the equation. Compensation isn't a substitute for your leadership. 

Don't Overlook This Investment

I spent part of last week in Miami for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) annual Women's Business Conference. I had great opportunities to network and meet some amazing women business owners. But I have to admit, my real reason for going was it's location: Miami. I always enjoy south Florida and knew I could add a few days in my favorite place - Key West - to the back end of the trip.

So off I went, looking for the warmth of the sun before New Jersey's cooler seasons set in.

Well, WOW. What a great conference. Best investment in myself I've had all year! Lot's of takeaways - and several epiphanies- but one in particular I wanted to share.

It's as important to work on yourself as it is to work on your business.

This can apply whether you work for yourself or others. All too often we get caught up in our to-do lists, our concrete business activities that we forget that the biggest component of any job is our ability to interact with others. This is particularly important to those of us in the sales and service field. We give away so much of our energy, we present so many different faces as needed that we can forgot who we are.

We need to make a habit of setting aside the time perhaps once a month and just review our own personal growth. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• What skill sets do you still need to develop? 
• Have you forgotten ones you used to have? 
• Who are you at work as opposed to at home? 
• Are you happy with the results you are getting at work?

In order to facilitate this process, you might want to keep a journal. I know people who swear by them. You might also seek out books to help aid in your thinking process. Take a webinar or attend a conference as I did. Whatever you do, don't overlook this investment. You must invest in yourself in order to be successful.

The Value of Association

As professionals, regardless of our industry or function, it's important to keep up to date on trends and new ideas - new ways of thinking and new technologies to help us in our work.

To that end, membership in professional organizations enable us to maintain our professional standing, We learn new things, we meet new people. We expand our horizons.

I've made it a point to belong to several - The American Society for Training and Development since much of my work is training; The American Association of Inside Sales Professionals because inside sales and service are my areas of expertise (and I want to keep it that way!).

I also belong to NAWBO, the National Association of Women Business Owners which supports and encourages business ownership among women. It's a great resource and a welcoming environment. In fact, I have the pleasure of attending NAWBO's Women's Business Conference this week in Miami. It's a good opportunity to network, to keep my business skills up to date, and to continue to ensure that I keep growing as a business owner.

What organizations do you belong to? Choose one and use it to help you grow!

3 Reasons to Network

Labor Day is past and the fall Social Whirl  is nearly upon us. For many business people, it signals a last opportunity for networking (and creating business opportunities for themselves) before the end of the year. So, we network. Lots of meetings - if you want  to you could attend a different event for each meal every day of the week. Not necessarily the best strategy for gaining new business, but you could do it - and that's the subject for a different blog post!

I was recently asked about my reasons for attending business networking events. I realized that it comes down to three reasons:

• To meet people who I can directly do business with (buyer/seller relationship)
• To meet people I can partner with (services I don't provide but could recommend to my clients)
• To get my name and business out there (word of mouth advertising)

Let's look at each one:

To meet people who I can directly do business with (buyer/seller relationship)

This is the primary reason people attend networking events. It's the brass ring, the gold medal - add your cliché here. Unfortunately, many people feel that unless they walk into a room full of obvious potential prospects, they've wasted their time and money. Also, don't be concerned if you see the same people on a constant basis. That's good. You want to be able to build relationships over time. Many people will not spend money on specific products or services unless they feel comfortable with you - the more money involved, the higher the comfort level must be. Talking over lunch or dinner is a great way to get to know people.


To meet people I can partner with (services I don't provide but could recommend to my clients)

I can't do it all - and I won't do it all if I can't do it well. I owe my clients and prospective clients that. As a result, there are related aspects to my work that people will ask me if I can make a referral. When I can't do the work myself, I like to feel comfortable knowing I can suggest alternatives. This makes me a resource. It also enhances a person's comfort level when they realize that I only do work that's a good fit for me, assuring them that any work I do will be in my area of expertise and therefore a great experience with the outcomes they are looking for. I love meeting people who have businesses that are complimentary to mine.


To get my name and business out there (word of mouth advertising)

I find that I get as much business from 3rd party referrals as from directly making contact with qualified prospects. Just because the person you're talking with doesn't need your services doesn't mean he won't be speaking with an associate or colleague in the future and mention your name. I've met people and had opportunities come my way that I might never have heard of through my direct efforts.


So, networking offers much on many levels. At the very least, it's great for solo- preneurs to get out and continue to hone their skills. At it's ultimate it's a great way to expend your own personal network - and grow your business.

Create a Culture for Sales and Service Success

You have within your power the ability to foster positive changes.

In order to succeed in business, you need to create a culture in your organization that reflects this. This is important even if you have a staff of three: me, myself and I. Here are some steps that add up to winning bid!

Communicate optimism
Convey a positive demeanor with everyone you come in contact with. Be friendly and upbeat. Don't dwell on the negatives. You'll only come across as an "energy suck".

Don't blame the competition
No one can steal business from you - you lose it yourself. Find out why.

Identify simple improvements
They're usually the inexpensive ones, the easiest to implement and the ones that can make the biggest difference. Think of the household that saves money on its budget, not by eliminating the big things, but by saving pennies here and there. They add up and are usually small enough to feel painless. Take the same approach with your business.

Grow or Die
Just like a plant, a business that isn't growing is dying. Even in a down economy, brainstorm and strategize to increase your market share. Recessions don't last forever. Be prepared to take advantage of any and all opportunities that come your way.

Communicate, communicate
Communication within your organization is important; so are the communication skills of the front line employee who works directly with the clients/potential clients. There are many things in business we can't control but we can control how we act and react to others. Make sure everyone has the interpersonal tools necessary to effectively sell and service customers as well as the skills to effectively work well with others within the organization.

Never say can't
Remember: Yes, you can!

You become what you think.... Napoleon Hill

Always looking to save money

Spending time looking for more affordable website and shopping cart solutions. It's important to review cash outflows regularly and see if you can be more efficient with your resources. It isn't always necessary to spend a fortune to get the results you want.

In these challenging ecomonic times, it is incumbent upon all of us to use our skills to be as effective, efficient and profitable as possible. OK, we should always be doing that (because it's just good business) but when times are tough it's impertative.