Steven Covey in his 1990 bestseller “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” devotes a number of pages of his book to discussing the 5 Dimensions of Win/Win. His premise is that thinking Win/Win is the habit of interpersonal leadership. This is a key point in that many of us are small business owners or sole proprietors and do not have the luxury of delegating the Win/Win of our business to someone else. We need to be sure we can master the Win/Win philosophy or we will not be able to enjoy the success we aspire to.
These dimensions include: Character, Relationships, Agreements, Supportive Systems and Process. Thinking Win/Win begins with character and this will be the focus of this article and I will leave you to get the book and read about the remaining four dimensions. Why is character of interest to me? It is what I can control or influence the most. It is the foundation and cornerstone of Win/Win.
Covey defines character as having three traits essential to a Win/Win paradigm. These are Integrity, Maturity and what he calls Abundance Mentality (there is plenty for everyone). We know these traits and often recognize them in others that we find are easy to work with, are trustworthy and provide a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when a project is completed – Win/Win.
A penetrating question is do they have the same feeling toward us? How do we score ourselves in the fundamental character traits for Win/Win.
Character Traits
Integrity: Integrity is the value we place on ourselves. A primary measure of integrity is how good are we at honoring promises and commitments not only to ourselves but also to others? Is this trait important to you? Do you find it easy to work with someone who cannot fulfill what they have promised others? Do you find it easier to work with someone who you know will go the extra mile to make sure they deliver and support you?
Maturity: Maturity covers a lot of ground but deals with our ability to express our feelings and convictions with consideration for the feelings and convictions of others. We often find ourselves in urgent (confrontive) situations where it is necessary to communicate a difficult subject and we have choices in how we accomplish it. Are we overbearing and inconsiderate in our goal of completing the task or do we address the feelings of the other person and help them see our point of view. How do we react when we are taken to task on a matter and the other person tramples all over our feelings and convictions? Are we motivated to work toward a winning relationship? Are we more motivated by someone dealing with confrontation emotionally or in a mature manner that balances nice and tough? Do you deal with others in this type of circumstance as adults or as children?
Abundance Mentality: How do we share credit or recognition, power or profit? We all know what it is like to work with someone who “steals” the credit or “grabs” the power in order to make them look good. These people tend to be insecure and have low personal wealth. On the other hand people who have high self worth and security tend to be very interested in the welfare of those around them. It is much easier to work with someone that is not always looking for ways to make them look good and willing to share the credit and recognition with you and others.
Character is the cornerstone of the 5 dimensions of Win/Win. Some of us come by the three traits of character naturally. Others of us need to consistently work at it to overcome negative behavior.
So . . . how did you score yourself? What are you going to work on? If you are not sure of how you are really doing seek out a mentor (someone with integrity, maturity and an abundance mentality) who can offer you perspective on your character. You may this difficult and tough to do to be transparent and vulnerable but it is better getting feedback from someone you trust than through lost business or lost accounts. Seek out those in your workplace that seem to have the Win/Win profile and go to school on them on how they develop their positive character work traits. You might be surprised at how hard they work at it.
Remember Win/Win begins with your character!
Showing posts with label style. Show all posts
Showing posts with label style. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Style: Is it Important?
Is your professional style important? Style is defined as the way you make decisions or solve problems, resolve conflict and relate to others – peers, subordinates, superiors, customers, etc. Your style can be a make-or-break factor to your success. It is the primary factor that influences the experience someone has when they come in contact with you. In these days of customer experience awareness, style has never been more important.
During the late 80’s and into the ‘90’s through Y2K the technology industry was in high demand for technology professionals and in many cases a pulse was a primary condition of employment. This resulted in organizations with a diverse mix of individuals who expected everyone to accept them as they were – appearance, working habits, attitude, etc. Since the technology feeding frenzy was so great companies and customers overlooked the idiosyncrasies of many of these “professionals” as the price to achieve an objective in a crisis.
As the demand/supply curve came into balance it became necessary for technology professionals to consider how they influenced the customer experience by not just delivering a successful project on time and with in budget but to also successfully demonstrate interpersonal behavior that was harmonious with management and employees. We went so far as to publish a style guide for our on site consultants as to how to deal with key style factors. The following is a few of the more dramatic style factors:
The results of this effort were impressive as we saw increased customer satisfaction, trust and confidence in our consulting team, extended project work, engaging with more sophisticated and higher value accounts from referrals and most significantly, increased work satisfaction on the part of the technology consultants.
I have applied this experience in a number of companies that I have consulted with. One of the more significant examples of how style affected an organization was with a private school, which was concerned about the ability of the school to have a consistent interaction with parents – the customer – particularly by the younger generation teachers. The problem was more complex than just a couple of teachers as the communication to the parent that impacted their expectations of what was to happen in the classroom was affected by the formal literature provided the parent, the teacher manual for the teachers and daily communication – teacher-to-student, teacher-to-parent, admin-to-teacher and admin-to-parent.
It was easy for the parent to become confused over the “style” of the school particularly when it came to problem resolution whether it started with the teacher or admin. This was compounded when the teacher (often a younger generation teacher) would receive the parent concern in a defensive way, which escalated the attitude of the parent to a crisis level. The bottom line result was a poor customer experience for the parent, which reflected on the school reputation and brand.
The correction to this style conflict:
The results were reduced parental conflict and improved relations with their customer and improved teacher morale. The style of the organization and individuals was adjusted so that communication was consistent and problem resolution was dealt with in a low to no conflict manner.
Take a look at your style, the style of your organization to see if you have areas that can be improved to enhance customer experience, improve morale and lead you to higher value business. Style is important!
During the late 80’s and into the ‘90’s through Y2K the technology industry was in high demand for technology professionals and in many cases a pulse was a primary condition of employment. This resulted in organizations with a diverse mix of individuals who expected everyone to accept them as they were – appearance, working habits, attitude, etc. Since the technology feeding frenzy was so great companies and customers overlooked the idiosyncrasies of many of these “professionals” as the price to achieve an objective in a crisis.
As the demand/supply curve came into balance it became necessary for technology professionals to consider how they influenced the customer experience by not just delivering a successful project on time and with in budget but to also successfully demonstrate interpersonal behavior that was harmonious with management and employees. We went so far as to publish a style guide for our on site consultants as to how to deal with key style factors. The following is a few of the more dramatic style factors:
- Improving appearance (including of all things personal hygiene).
- How they initiated proactive contact and communication with customer management and team members.
- Improving their listening skills to detect customer concern or misunderstandings.
- Resolve conflict in a timely manner without becoming personally involved.
- Taking responsibility for customer satisfaction.
The results of this effort were impressive as we saw increased customer satisfaction, trust and confidence in our consulting team, extended project work, engaging with more sophisticated and higher value accounts from referrals and most significantly, increased work satisfaction on the part of the technology consultants.
I have applied this experience in a number of companies that I have consulted with. One of the more significant examples of how style affected an organization was with a private school, which was concerned about the ability of the school to have a consistent interaction with parents – the customer – particularly by the younger generation teachers. The problem was more complex than just a couple of teachers as the communication to the parent that impacted their expectations of what was to happen in the classroom was affected by the formal literature provided the parent, the teacher manual for the teachers and daily communication – teacher-to-student, teacher-to-parent, admin-to-teacher and admin-to-parent.
It was easy for the parent to become confused over the “style” of the school particularly when it came to problem resolution whether it started with the teacher or admin. This was compounded when the teacher (often a younger generation teacher) would receive the parent concern in a defensive way, which escalated the attitude of the parent to a crisis level. The bottom line result was a poor customer experience for the parent, which reflected on the school reputation and brand.
The correction to this style conflict:
- School administration needed to reconcile the inconsistencies in the communication of expectations to parent, teacher and student.
- Administration and teachers needed to visit this subject on a regular basis so that all knew what to do when an incident occurred so that they could execute in a predictable and consistent manner.
- The teacher was often the first to receive the parent concern and they need to hear the parent out (listen) before coming (or jumping) to a conclusion as to what action to take to resolve the problem.
- The teachers needed to accept that resolving parent concern was part of their job and to not take it negatively or personally that the parent was complaining to them and to handle it as part of what they did as a teacher.
The results were reduced parental conflict and improved relations with their customer and improved teacher morale. The style of the organization and individuals was adjusted so that communication was consistent and problem resolution was dealt with in a low to no conflict manner.
Take a look at your style, the style of your organization to see if you have areas that can be improved to enhance customer experience, improve morale and lead you to higher value business. Style is important!
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