The Real Source of Personal Change (And the role of the DiSC)

Cleaning out my office a while back - an odd thing in itself - I came across something even more unusual than the thought of me cleaning anything.

It was the original DiSC Behavioral Profile my department and I did back in the late 90s.The chart showed that I was heavy in the “dominance” and “influence” areas with pretty much zilch in the “conscientiousness” and “steadiness” realms. It was apparently a classic “Inspirational Pattern.” This is what it looked like (over on the left).



According to the DiSC material:

• My goal is to control my environment by “consciously attempting to modify the thoughts and actions of others.”
• I’m adept at “identifying and manipulating other’s existing motives and directing the resulting behavior toward a predetermined end.”
• I influence others through charm and intimidation and become manipulative and quarrelsome under pressure.

Tell me something I don’t already know. The need to control things is something I know a lot about.

So why bring up this unpleasant bit of history? Well, it’s surprising how accurately that profile described the “me” of 20 plus years ago. And while there were some things I would have liked to change about my behavior at the time, the truth is that I didn’t change that much after I took the assessment.

Don’t get me wrong; I have changed a lot since then. But what the DiSC program revealed, only started the change in my behavior. I really began to change when my goals changed - for reasons we’ll get to in a minute - and I realized the behavior that had served me in the past was no longer effective.

That’s what this post is about: the difference between identifying behavioral characteristics, which DiSC and similar programs like Myers-Briggs are very good at, and actually doing something about it, i.e. modifying behavior, which is a whole different ball game.

The real value of behavioral profiles systems
Not only was the DiSC system spot-on, it also provided tips on how I can be more effective and showed my staff why I behaved like a crazy person from time to time. That said, I think the real value in the exercise was that, for a day, we all got to be on the same level discovering what each of us was really all about. I remember it being fun and disarming and the increased understanding did help us better communicate and work together as a team.

Even so, though DiSC system told me I could be a control freak under certain conditions, was deeply afraid of “being too soft,” and would be more effective by showing some “genuine sensitivity” from time to time, nothing really changed that much because I had a job to do and that was get results, not get all warm and fuzzy with my inner self.

What it really takes to affect behavioral change
In reality, it took a couple of pretty dramatic personal crises to get me to take a cold hard look in the mirror and decide that I wanted different things out of life. And to achieve them, I would need to spend some quality time actually getting to know others around me and myself and enjoy life. I needed some balance.

An employee who used to work for Intel’s former CEO Andy Grove - a guy who was famously tightly wound - once said that Grove became a much nicer and mellower guy after his run-in with prostate cancer. A manager I used to work for also softened up after a scary medical condition. That’s the sort of thing that motivates change.

You see, DiSC profiles may be eerily accurate, but they’re still pretty limited compared to everything you and I have going on under the hood. That’s because the architecture of the human mind is complicated. It’s actually a lot like an onion.

And just like an onion, you peel a layer, cry, peel another layer, and wail some more. In other words, just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, you go a bit deeper and find out you didn’t know a darn thing. The mind’s tricky like that.

You see, what it all really comes down to, the essence of how you and I behave on a daily basis, is a loop that actually goes something like this:

You can follow the loop for years, even decades, thinking everything’s fine. Then, one day, something happens - a crisis, an epiphany - and you realize that the results of all your efforts weren’t what you expected. So you change your goals and, well, your behavior won’t change overnight, but it’s a start.

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement ? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

The Attitude of A Leader (The Story of Jerry)

 

Jerry was the kind of guy you loved to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When anyone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, “IF I WERE ANY BETTER, I WOULD BE TWINS!”

He was unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason why we waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there listening to the employee and telling them how to look at the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, “I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive, up person all the time. How do you do it?”

Jerry replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, ‘Jerry you have two choices today. You can chose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.’ I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be victim, or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes complaining to me, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can help them create a solution, I choose to help them see the positive side of life.’

“Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” I protested.

“Yes it is,” Jerry said “Life is about choices. When you cut away the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good or bad mood. If you find yourself with an attitude that is not what you want, you can choose another one. You can’t choose a positive attitude everyday. True. But you do choose some type of attitude everyday.
The bottom line: It’s your choice how to live your life.”

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter I left the restaurant to go to college at an out of state university. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in the restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gun point by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.

I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I’d be twins! Wanna see my scars?” I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place.

“The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door, Jerry replied. “Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.”

“Weren’t you scared, I asked?” “Absolutely,” Jerry replied.

Jerry continued, “The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the operating room I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, ‘He’s a dead man.’ I knew I needed to take action.”
 “What did you do?” I asked.

“Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,” said Jerry. “She asked if I was allergic to anything. ‘Yes,’ I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘BULLETS!!’

 Over their laughter, I told them, “I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.”

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his nurses and doctors, but also, because of his incredible attitude. I learned from him that every day we have a choice to live fully.

Check out a related post: Viktor Frankl and the "Last Human Freedom"

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT
 

Take the Next Step... 

Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement ? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

The Paradoxical Power of Humility

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most people would agree that Jesus Christ was the quintessential example of humility. Robert Matera remarked, "Jesus made Himself of no reputation, he did not show off or come to earth with all His power and glory."

This humble attitude was also embraced by great minds throughout history, from Aristotle to Newton to Einstein to Gandhi. 

Jim Collins in his classic book, Good to Great, introduced the concept of "Level 5 Leadership." Collins found in his research that great companies are led by what he calls "Level 5 Leaders." Level 5 Leaders combine the paradoxical traits of deep humility and fierce resolve. On the humility side, Level 5 Leaders don’t seek success for their own glory; rather, success is necessary so that the team and organization can thrive. They share credit for success, and they’re the first to accept blame for mistakes.

The leadership quality of humility is fraught with paradox. To be a leader one must have confidence, which stands in contrast to humility.  Exercising leadership is an act of confidence that requires faith that you are just the right person to be intervening in that particular moment. It also requires humility to know that you will not succeed unless you genuinely create space for others to lead as well, and especially to know when you are not the right person to intervene. Your healthy measure of humility will enable you to step back so others can step up which makes the whole organization better.

In the world of high finance, Warren Buffet, one of the world's richest men and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, once told shareholders, "We've long felt that the only value of stock forecasters is to make fortune tellers look good. Even now, Charlie [Munger] and I continue to believe that short term market forecasts are poison and should be locked up in a safe place, away from children and also from grown-ups who behave in the market like children."

Buffet and Munger understood that humility is essential to investment success--as it is to so much else in our lives.

In my humble opinion, humility doesn't mean selling yourself short or not exercising your talents to the fullest. It means making an honest appraisal of the limited knowledge, experience and understanding that we all bring to life. 

 
It means having a realistic perspective, understanding that -- whatever our particular talents--we are not the center of the universe (See the Pale Blue Dot speech excerpt below). "We are all worms," Winston Churchill said. "But I do believe I am a glow-worm."
 
Humility is becoming. It wears well. Truly confident people don't need to brag or boast. It's much more attractive for people to discover your many charms.

Secure individuals don't lord their status over others. Even if you are truly one-in-a-million kind of guy or gal, in a world of 7.8 billion people that means there are thousands more just like you.

A companionable friend or dinner guest knows better topics of conversation than just himself. "There are two types of people in this world observed Frederick L. Collins, "Those who come into the room and say, "Well, here I am!' and those who come in and say, 'Ah, there you are!'"

Could anyone really prefer spending time with the former?

A modest attitude also demonstrates maturity. "Let us be humble," said Jawaharlal Nehru. "Let us think that the truth may not perhaps be entirely with us."

Live long enough and you're likely to learn that life is one long lesson in humility. Things don't always turn out like we planned over even imagined.

Our happiness is determined, in large part, by how we handle these inevitable surprises. Because uncertainty will always be with us. Perhaps that is why Pulitzer Prize--winning columnist George Will once described his idea of heaven as "infinite knowing."

Recognizing the limits of our knowledge is invaluable, whether we're analyzing problems, figuring out relationships--or even puzzling over the big existential questions. Why are we here? Where did we come from? What is it all about?

Scientists, philosophers, and theologians have struggled with these for thousands of years. And still wrestle with them today.

As Nobel Prize-winning particle physicist Leon Lederman wryly observed, "the universe is the answer. What we still don't know is the question."

 

Carl Sagan was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, poet and science communicator. In his famous Pale Blue Dot speech given at Cornell University in 1994, Sagan asserted,

 

"It It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of the pale blue dot which shows the Earth as a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena.

 

The ceaseless canvas of the universe - adorned with hundreds of billions of galaxies, distant planets and brilliant stars - provides the ultimate lesson in humility. 

 

To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known."

Click here to see a 3-minute video of Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot presentation.

Click here to learn more about "Level 5 Leadership." (3-min read.)

 

Stay hungry and humble,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant

SMART DEVELOPMENT

Take the Next Step... 

Interested in learning how to develop your organization's culture, employee engagement and leadership capability? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please contact: 

Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, title companies, wealth management firms, third-party maintenance companies, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth. 

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Magic Mirror Neurons: Using brain science to create positive relationships

 

 

 

 

 

If you really want to create  positive relationships at work then tap into what nature has already given us – our brains!

Brain Science

There are mirror neurons in our brains that mimic what they “see”. For example, if you are with a group of people and one person starts to yawn over and over again, within a matter of minutes, others in the group will do the same. Before you know it and without control, the entire group will be yawning!

Understanding this science can also help you create a positive work environment even in the crustiest place. All it takes is for one person (you) to start a positive behavior, consistently, over and over again for that behavior to spread to others.

Here are few examples of behaviors you can start today to make positive connections with others:

Smile

When you walk into your place of work, make it a point to say good morning (if it’s morning) with a smile.

Never underestimate the power of a simple smile. When your brain “sees” a smile, it can’t help but to smile in return. Smiling sends happy chemical messages throughout your brain. Over time, the more you smile, the more others smile, and the happier you and they are!
Joke

Tell a “joke of the day”. You don’t have to be a comedian to tell a joke. There are a lot of websites and “apps” that send you jokes. Even if the joke makes one person laugh, others will laugh too!

Fake it till you make it

Act “as if” you are the happy person. Do this even if you’re not. Why? Because brain science tells us that if we pretend to be happy, our brain starts to think we are and can become happy. Over time, you will BE happier and so will the rest of your co-workers!

Celebrate

Celebrate everything. Birthdays, accomplishments, Fridays, Mondays, etc. Find a reason to celebrate even the mundane activities.

Compliment a co-worker

Find one reason to compliment someone at work. Be specific and be positive. Example: “Brian. Thank you for volunteering and taking on more work when your plate was already full. You never shirk from responsibility or hard work." Not only does this make Brian feel good, but complimenting someone makes YOU feel good too!

Remember, you can make meaningful connections with others by tapping into the positive power of mirror neurons. Try these examples as your own science experiment. 

Check out a related post: Ignite Customer and Employee Engagement with Positive Energy  (You'll love the analogy of the personal energy thermostat)

Stay curious and hungry,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant

SMART DEVELOPMENT

Take the Next Step... 

Interested in learning how to develop your organization's culture, employee engagement and leadership capability? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please contact: 

Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, title companies, wealth management firms, third-party maintenance companies, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth. 

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

 

 

How Strategic Conversation Creates Culture and Drives Business Results

 

Strategic conversation is to communication what oxygen is to air. But as important as communication is to the success of the company, there’s a common mindset that communication is a nice-to-have skill but not as necessary as the hard skills.

This mindset leads to loss of talent, lowered productivity, unhealthy cultures while pointing blame at the economy, millennials, or the bad attitudes of the employees.

Today’s leader must live in a both-and mindset. Hard skills, check. Critical communication skills, check.

In my latest e-book, I make the case that today’s leaders cannot survive on hard skills alone. Instead, it’s the mandatory hard skill knowledge in concert with improving strategic communication skills that provide the necessary formula for leaders to shift culture and drive results.

In the e-book, we discuss:

• The mindset that stunts leadership growth.
• How unconscious conclusions drives decision-making.
• Why conversations with customers may be slowing your business.
• How language mirrors culture.
• Why mission and values are not enough to change culture.
• Why keeping the peace often comes with an even bigger price tag.
  
• The most important skill to controlling the conversations' direction.
• Why radical listening improves leadership performance.
  

In short: conversation creates culture and drives business results. The leader who is strong in hard skills but not improving in communication and conversation struggle the same way human beings struggle to breathe air with low levels of oxygen.

Top leaders must constantly work with people who communicate  poorly;  are emotionally immature, and  who are very short sighted, impatient,  angry, self-serving and less than articulate. It makes sense for top leaders to develop both the hard skills and critical skills to achieve results. Hard skills without the strategic communication skill is like air without oxygen.

Click here to download the e-book.

To your greater success and well-being,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement ? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees or a SMART Development consultant please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, energy storage and facilities management, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.
 

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Discovering Your Blind Spots Will Elevate Your Leadership Impact: Here's How

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discover the elephant in your life.

Our blind spots create lots of problems. What we see clouds our judgment; what we don’t see bias our behaviors.

Leonardo da Vinci said, “The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.”

Six men in a village went to observe an elephant. It was their first time — all of them were blind.

“It’s a pillar.” said the man who touched the elephant’s leg.

“No, it’s like a rope.” — said other after touching the tail.

The blind men began to argue; everyone believed he was right. After observing the elephant, the rest thought that it was either a snake, spear, hand fan, or branch.

A wise man who was passing by calmly explained: “You are all right. Everyone noticed something different because each of you touched a different part; the elephant has all the features you all said.”

Our reality is like the elephant in this Indian parable: everyone observes parts of it. That’s why others can see aspects of yourself that you are missing.

The problem with blind spots is that you don’t know what you don’t know.

To get the whole picture of who you are, you need to consider other people’s perspectives, not just yours.

What Are Blind Spots? The Elephant in Your Life

“What the human being is best at doing is interpreting all new information so that their prior conclusions remain intact.” — Warren Buffet

Your blind spots might not be noticeable, but they are anything but small.

Carl Sagan said: “The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”

Wrong perceptions can lead to misinterpretations. Your assessment of your behaviors is limited by what you don’t know. However, your blind spots are always visible to others.

What you don’t know you don’t know gets you into trouble.

 Donald Rumsfeld famously said in classic doublespeak, "there are 'known knowns,' 'known unknowns,' and 'unknown unknowns.' The first two are easy: you have clarity on both what you know and on what you need to find out.

The “unknown unknowns” are your blind spots. It’s hard to acknowledge that, regardless of how well you believe you know yourself, you are clueless about some of your traits. Increasing self-awareness is critical to see your whole picture. Not realizing what you don’t know drives confusion.

Delusion creates delusion: that’s why we keep lying to ourselves.

Your blind spots are the inner-space from where you operate. Some call it the “inner bias;” deep inside, you might refuse to acknowledge what you don’t like (but know) about yourself.

For example, people often think they’re talking to each other when they’re talking past each other. The more we talk, the better we feel. This blind spot is created by reward hormones that are released when our bodies feel great. That’s why we keep talking without noticing that others get frustrated when we interrupt them.

Address the elephant in your life. Challenge the notion that you know yourself well. There’s always room for surprises.

Not All Blind Spots Are The Same

    “Getting rid of a delusion makes us wiser than getting hold of a truth.” — Ludwig Borne

Most blind spots are based on assumptions.

We believe that we know ourselves better than we actually do. We overrate or underestimate others. We miss understanding the impact we have on other people, or the one others have on us.

Understanding the four main types of blind spots will accelerate your discovery journey.

1. Knowledge blindness

This cognitive bias occurs when people of low ability suffer from ‘illusory superiority.’ The Dunning-Kruger effect is the inability to evaluate our own competence objectively— think of a test, sports match, or interview. We mistakenly assess our cognitive ability as more fabulous than it actually is.

Knowledge blindness makes you feel overconfident until others prove you wrong.

2. Beliefs blindness

Of the many types of faulty thinking, confirmation bias is the most deceiving. Your brain mostly registers the information and evidence that supports your core beliefs. If you think that climate change is for real, you will either discard or ignore any information that doesn’t match what you think. Beliefs encourage you to take sides, rather than to ‘see’ what you are missing, as I wrote here.

Your beliefs are a tainted lens: they cloud everything you see.

3. Emotional Blindness

Emotions can cloud your perception — both what you feel about what you are afraid of feeling. If you hate your boss, you will never learn anything from her/him. What you feel expresses a part of yourself, but they don’t have to define who you are or your behaviors. You are not your emotions.

Your emotions make you focus on one aspect of reality.

4. Thoughts blindness

There’s nothing wrong with thinking. The issue emerges when you look ‘from’ your thoughts — they cloud your judgment. Believing that you are always right is living in denial. Being judgmental about yourself plays the same deceiving effect.

Your thoughts can eat you alive if you don’t stop them from taking over.

When you overestimate your abilities or only pay attention to the information that matches your beliefs, you become a victim of your blind spots. If your emotions or thoughts take over, you can’t address the elephant in your life — you don’t know what you don’t know.

Open The Window, Set Your Blind Spots Free

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” — Marcel Proust

Realizing what you don’t know requires both self-discovery and external feedback.

Your blind spots lie at the intersection of how you perceive yourself and how others perceive you. That’s precisely what ‘The Johari Window’ helps uncover. This tool was developed by Psychologists Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham to help you understand what you are unaware of.

Don’t let the simplicity of this model deceive you. I’ve applied it various times when coaching teams to increase both self and team awareness. The Johari Window exercise is potent — it uncovers the gap between the team’s realities and everyone’s assumptions.

 

ARENA: Traits and behaviors that both yourself and others are aware of. It includes anything about yourself that you are willing to share. This area drives clarity and builds trust.

MASK: Aspects about yourself that you are aware of but might not want others to know. It can also include traits that you are not sharing with others without you being aware of. What you show to others is a mask that hides your authentic being.

BLIND SPOTS: What others perceive, but you don’t. Important to note: not valuing your strengths can also be a blind spot. Feedback from others can make you more aware of your negative traits but also of the positive ones you are missing.

UNCONSCIOUS: What’s unknown to both you and anyone else.

Though this matrix has four quadrants, the size of each is not necessarily equal. The openness of each window pane will vary depending on:

    How much you share with other people
    How well others (try to) know you
    How well you know yourself

You can expand your “Arena” area by:

    Disclosing more about yourself, thus reducing the “Mask” area
    Uncovering more about your “Unconscious” area
    Becoming aware of your “Blind” area

Others’ feedback is the most powerful way to discover your blind spots.

Do you get defensive when someone asks you something personal? Do you tend to interrupt people before they have finished making their point? Are emotions clouding your ability to make decisions? Do you regularly get caught by self-criticism?

Sometimes you don’t realize your behaviors unless someone tells you.

You can also uncover your blind spots through a shared discovery — question your assumptions and invite others to do the same. Challenge how well you know yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Simple Exercise to Uncover Your Blind Spots

    “Appearance blinds, whereas words reveal.” — Oscar Wilde

1. Write five words that describe you. 
2. Ask nine people to do the same (3 family members, 3 co-workers, and 3 friends). 
3. Compare the answers with your own assessment:
   

• What are the similarities? What are the differences?

• What are the things that you like about yourself, but others don’t notice?

• Is there something that you like about yourself that others hate?

• How do opinions from family and co-workers differ from each other? What does that tell you about how you behave in different environments?

• What surprised you about everyone’s feedback? Why?
  

Your blind spots are the elephant in your life. You know it is in the room, but you prefer not to confront or talk about it.

Self-awareness is a never-ending journey. When you believe you truly know yourself, you become blind — as it happened to the villagers. Observing one part doesn’t mean that you understand the whole ‘animal.’

Your emotions, thoughts, beliefs, and what you know can get you into trouble. Use feedback — both solicited and unexpected — to challenge your assumptions.

Address the elephant in your life; discover your blind spots.

Check out a related post: The Leadership "Super Skill" of the 21st Century

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

Take the Next Step... 

Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement ? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please contact: 

Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth. 

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

How you can perform like an Olympic-level sales pro

 

Are you watching the Olympics?
I am always amazed at the level of mastery these athletes have attained. In all of their sports (even ones I've never heard of.)

They make things look easy.

But getting to that point was anything but.
There are lots of similarities between them and the highest performing sales pros.

It's putting in the work, for sure.

And the top, highest level sales pros prepare in an area that most do not.
It's not only preparing and practicing to achieve the response we want, but being totally prepared for what we'd rather not hear.

The word "no" can be a tough pill to swallow.

In selling, when you're trying to meet a quota, squeeze in an extra deal before the end of the month, or get your bonus, the word "no" is too often interpreted as a sign to run for the hills when, in fact, it should be the exact opposite.

A sales objection is an explicit expression by a buyer that a barrier exists between the current situation and what needs to be satisfied before buying from you. Beyond that, it's an indication that the buyer is engaged, which sure beats apathy.

However, you still have work to do.

When a buyer indicates that he is not ready to buy, don't get discouraged. Use the following 4 steps to overcome sales objections and move closer to the sale.

1.Listen Fully to the Objection 
Your first reaction when you hear an objection may be to jump right in and respond immediately. Resist this temptation. When you react too quickly, you risk making assumptions about the objection. Take the time to listen to the objection fully.

Do not react defensively. Train yourself to ignore any negative emotions you may be feeling, and stay focused on what the buyer is saying and the business problem you are helping to solve. Listen with the intent of fully understanding the buyer's concerns without bias or anticipation, and allow your body language and verbal confirmations to communicate to the buyer that you are listening intently.

2.Understand the Objection Completely 
Many objections hide underlying issues that the buyer can't or isn't ready to articulate. Often the true issue isn't what the buyer first tells you. It's your job to get to the heart of the objection, and then fully understand it and its true source.

To do this, you must ask permission from the buyer to understand and explore the issue. Once explored, restate the concern as you understand it. Sometimes when you restate the objection, the buyer sees the issue more fully, and you get closer to the true source of the objection as a result. Even after the buyer confirms you understand perfectly, ask "What else?" and "Why" questions for clarification. Often it is the answer to that last "What else?" that contains the biggest barrier to moving the sale forward.

3.Respond Properly 
After you're confident you've uncovered all objections, address the most important objection first. Once you work through the greatest barrier to moving forward, other concerns may no longer matter or feel as important to the buyer.

You should do your best to resolve their issue right away. The more you can resolve issues in real time, the greater chance you have of moving the sale forward. If you need more information to resolve a specific concern, you may have to look something up. Don't wing it—buyers can sense that and it creates distrust. Long-winded responses can seem insincere, so keep your responses clear and to the point.

4.Confirm You've Satisfied the Objection 
Once you've responded to the buyer's objections, check if you've satisfied all of their concerns. Just because they nodded during your response doesn't mean they agreed with everything you said. Ask if the buyer is happy with your solution and explain your solution further if necessary. Some objections require a process to overcome, not just a quick answer.

If the customer isn't ready, don't try to force a commitment. Be sure not to accept a lukewarm "yes" for an answer though, either. Many buyers will accept a solution in the moment, but once you're out of sight or off the phone, the objection still remains.

When faced with sales objections, don't lose sight of your goal. Use the steps above to Listen, Understand, Respond and Confirm, and you will strengthen your relationships with buyers, overcome obstacles in the buying process, and move closer to the sale.

To your greater success,

Peter C. Mclees, Sales Coach and Trainer
Smart Development
petercmclees@gmail.com
Mobile: 323-854-1713

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