There is ALWAYS time to UNDERSTAND!
Make it your first action.
UNDERSTANDING comes from doing the work….and having VERY clear 2-Way conversations. From a motivation of CARING, we take the great amount of time and preparation needed to dig into the PROCESS of UNDERSTANDING. The outcome is less important than the process. Through the well-developed process, we co-create outcomes that matter. You don’t start with a focus on the outcome. In fact, you don’t really even go there. Our process of research, inquiry, exploration, and co-creation of excellence is where we spend our precious time. Process matters the most!.
A T-Shirt was recently seen with the following on it…
PROCESS > OUTCOME
Meaning, the process is greater than the outcome. And in this respect, this was being worn by and reflecting the attitude of a HIGHLY trained life and death-focused individual. No small point considering the stakes that were at play.
In our engineering world of semiconductors, there are many brilliant people that have spoken to the process first perspective. One of the most prominent is W. Edmonds Deming. One of his quotes is “we must work on our process, not the outcome of our processes.” His most telling statement is “if you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you are doing?”
From another sage, Dr. Eric Thomas comes the sentiment, “Fall in love with the process, and the results will come!”
Process is greater than outcome, and the process of UNDERSTANDING is a specific process that can be outlined, executed, embraced, and loved.
Next week we will dig into a specific UNDERSTANDING process that will demonstrate the power of the SME (Subject Matter Expert) in the process of serving a client. There is a direct correlation between the amount of SME time that you spend with a client (or teammate) that will determine the outcome's success. PROCESS of SME utilization! And we all have them at our disposal for co-creating excellence.
So, in the meantime… think about what you are doing and see if you can describe your actions with the following leading words…. What I am doing is the PROCESS OF….
OK, LET’S ROLL! (the process of getting going NOW!)
Happy New Year to all! Let’s work on optimizing 2022 for the very best process and outcomes that we can co-create!
It's time to apply our CARING….
From the realm of CUSP, we have spent some time on the motivation factor of it all CARING. Because we CARE, we do the work! Because we CARE, we choose to take the next steps in serving those that we do. CARING is our motivation for taking the rest of the time to co-create the outcomes that make a difference for people.
The work starts with UNDERSTANDING! It is the process of research, discovery, deep conversations, and much time spent looking with a fresh eye at all of our assumptions and data that represent the people that we are working to serve. UNDERSTANDING comes over much time and many cycles of PLAN/DO/REVIEW. UNDERSTANDING, like every other element of CUSP is not a point in the process. It is a stage of thinking that goes on during the entire engagement that you will have with an individual.
It is at this point that we need to be really clear about the CUSP cycle. While we start with CARING and move on to UNDERSTANDING, and then to the rest, the reality is that we never leave any single element and go on. CUSP is a matrix of engagement and NOT a serial string of events or conversations or happenings.
Specialization in each element is needed, and yet we will likely be executing all 4 elements of CUSP at any one time. A deep understanding of the outcomes desired is difficult. Many times the biggest challenge exists in helping a client (or anyone) fully understand their own personal or corporate change process, hurdles, and participants, and getting them to develop their own understanding and execution. And the deeper challenge to this is the only way to move to action is that THEY must WANT to make the move. We cannot want it for them, THEY must have the “WANT”.
From a tactical perspective, the art of the conversation is critical. We won’t get anywhere if we can’t engage with true listening. There are experts in that art so I will leave you in their hands. Do not ignore this as the art of the conversation is key to any true communication.
There are two elements of great conversations. They are the aspect of conversational layering and the basics of a 2-Way conversation. Both of these tools bring different understandings and approaches. They both require the creation of curiosity to be of significant value. The creation of curiosity as the genesis of understanding through great conversations is the summary of where we will take this as we dig in further to the current topic in the next few weeks.
AND let me close this with one of the greatest quotes of all time in this arena. From Steven Covey…”Seek first to understand….before being understood.” No better advice ever in this complex time regardless of what you are doing or who you are talking with. It is a really difficult challenge for those of us in “sales” as we have been told for years to “tell them all about our great stuff”. Sadly, it does not work that way, and it never has!
CARE greatly,
UNDERSTAND deeply,
SERVE endlessly, with
PURPOSE
This works!
OK, LET’S ROLL!
Mitch
To the WW Client Engagement team;
Why do I care how much YOU care?
That was the question I ended with last week!
This may be my shortest blog ever…the answer is not too complex.
I care how much you care because I believe that we ALL can make a difference in the lives of those that we serve around us every day. And the mind shift to making that difference begins simply with CARING about others deeply, sincerely, openly, and completely. Caring and acting on it will be the greatest shift that you will ever make. AND that will change the world! One CARING act at a time with our clients, our family, our friends, and our teammates!
That is my WHY! The how is embedded in SHIFTABILITY!
Look out world, here we come! CARING about others.
OK, LET’S ROLL!
Next week we start on the UNDERSTANDING rungs of the ladder.
Mitch
TIME for CARING!
WHY do I CARE?
Caring has been the subject of my thinking and writing for quite a while now. It goes back to understanding what truly motivates people and what motivates me. Somewhere along the line of working with thousands of “sales” people across every continent (well, not counting our penguin colleagues in Antarctica!), the singular point of CARING became clear as the genesis of all great outcomes especially in the art of serving others.
It became crystal clear for me and I memorialized that perspective with a tattoo on my calf nearly 20 years ago. Since then I have gone on to add more to that art gallery, but the first one set the standard. Born in the year of the dragon in 1952 I have always been enthralled by that “mythical” being. Representing the spiritual part of the balance of being, yin-yang, the dragon became my symbolic commitment to caring. Above the large, colorful dragon that is tattooed on my right calf are the three words that guide me daily…MAKE A DIFFERENCE. My objective there is each and every day I will make a difference for someone! Stranger, family, teammate…every day, somehow, some way. WHY, because I CARE to make a difference.
My singular focus of caring is simple sounding and extremely difficult to DO! Stepping back from concept to look at HOW we demonstrate that we care is where the work begins.
I have said it before and I will say it again… other people do NOT care how much you know until they KNOW how much you care, and it must be extremely obvious that you care from the heart and soul and it is not a “tactic” that you are executing.
How do you demonstrate truthful caring? It’s actually pretty easy. You show you care by seeking deeply to understand others. Understand because you choose to co-create greatness when you get the understanding going. You seek out knowledge about others, their challenges, their desires, their goals, the outcomes that they are driving for. It’s not simply information that you seek, it's back to the big “U” word…UNDERSTANDING. You look for as much clarity and completeness of the search that you can possibly create. It’s not just asking questions. That can be too mechanical. It's looking at the “why” of what is desired. The “why” is the motivating drive behind the “what” that is being looked for. It’s a dialog, not a series of Q&A. It’s actually a very contextually specific dialog based on the nature of the conversation itself. You don’t go talking about plumbing with an electrical contractor. Well, of course, you can, but you won’t likely be creating any substantial value for either of you.
This all takes preparation, study, self-reflection, and time. To open up the door for an insightful discussion you must start the ball rolling with delivering insights that create curiosity, that opens up the mini invite to further the conversation and your understanding.
You all have examples of what this conversation can look like. In my technology space here is one…
…talking with Bonnie, an engineering manager of a network equipment manufacturer…
Bonnie, our global client base of over 125,000 tells us that one of the biggest challenges that they face today in the area of new product development is that a majority of their R&D engineers have been shifted over to re-engineering older products for manufacturability. Many of them have told us that as much as 75% of those critical new product resources have been redirected. That must put a BIG dent in the introduction of new products for them. Are you experiencing something like that in your world? (assuming a yes answer)…wow, tell me how that is impacting you and your team.
Insight, curiosity, inquiry… open the conversation door. Continue digging deeper into the PERSONAL impact that it is having on her and her team. How about the impact on the corporation. Keep digging… because you care to understand and then serve.
Take time to create your own caring understanding thinking, then put it to work…because you care.
Why do I care how much you care? More on that next week.
OK, LET’s ROLL! Digging deeper into it all!
Mitch
To Care, or not to Care, that is the question!
Or is it?
The real question is first WHY should I care?
We’ll get to that.
Let’s start with a bit of a reframe. The list of all of the leading “sales processes” discussed earlier all have a common theme…selling.
Here is where we take a totally different tack and think of things “different”.
In our book SHIFTABILITY we talked deeply about the need to make a change. Since the publishing of that book just a few years ago, the world has changed multiple times over and continues on an almost daily evolution of nearly everything. The question is asked…the world has changed…have you? And if we are going to keep up with a highly dynamic environment we also must evolve…quickly, and put ourselves into a constant state of effective evolution.
Making a change in ourselves requires that we take several steps. We start with changing our thinking, how we see the world. This leads to changing our beliefs, what was true once is no longer. This takes us to changing our actions, doing things that we had not done before. Which all can lead to changing outcomes to make a difference in the world.
(the book SHIFTABILITY outlines the specific work needed to make this all happen, and remember all the proceeds go to CHARITYWATER.org)
If it is your desire to make a difference in the world then CUSP is your “process”.
As was said just a bit ago, the greatest sales “process” ever… is actually…
STOP SELLING…NOW!
START SERVING NOW!
Because the key to making the shift is understanding that all of what we DO is actually a HUMAN process, NOT any sort of selling process, so STOP selling and get to serving.
(“SSN” is the three-letter acronym that sums up the entire methodology. Simple, powerful, and tough to do well.)
The genesis for effective change and growth through serving is CARING! It is the motivator for taking the time to do all else that is needed to help those we serve to accomplish what THEY want to accomplish. The focus is external and simple. We care! We think that way. We create plans that way. We communicate that way. It is not just what we do, it is who we ARE. We ARE people that care about those that we serve because it comes naturally to us as part of our inner beliefs. We acknowledge that attribute openly and we seek feedback on the execution of our belief. A challenge to you…have extreme courage, ask those around you if you come across like a caring person. Dig into their response and look for ways to learn about enhancing this aspect of ourselves.
I know from my own experience that this is the normal perspective that most people involved in client engagement all share. We have asked hundreds of folks over the last many years why they get up each day to tackle the endeavor of serving clients and the response it best summarizes as they like to “help people”. They care!
There is an old quote that comes into play here. It has to do with the people you serve and your business relationship with them. Your credibility with a client is important to you and instrumental to them and how they will view your engagement with them. The source for this quote seems to have multiple possibilities. The quote is, “people do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Acknowledged caring is the first block in the foundation.
We will look more at what CARING looks like in action next…
OK, LET’s ROLL!… and keep the caring coming!
Mitch
