There once was a young boy who spent countless childhood hours bedridden. Severe asthma limited his ability to play like other kids, and as he lay in bed struggling to breathe, he was afraid to go to sleep for fear he would not wake up. His younger brother, Elliott, became his protection against neighborhood bullies. Yet he was determined to become strong mentally and physically. His desire to become self-sufficient fortified him through a daily exercise routine and hours of weight lifting. He became an avid reader and absorbed books on every conceivable subject. Later, as a Harvard student, he became known for his energy and enthusiasm. Eventually, he became quite widely known by everyone and his name is forever written in the history books. His name was Theodore Roosevelt.
When you put things into perspective, given that most of us are struggling with day-to-day issues that are not life threatening -- unlike the challenges young Teddy Roosevelt faced -- it becomes clear that determination is a key ingredient in how far we go in life and the legacy we leave behind.
I hope all of you have an Excellent day.
Dan Gunter
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Monday, August 17, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
The Root of Persuasion
Recently I've been engaged in a lot of think about how you really get others to consider your way of thinking. Sometimes you just want them to understand WHY you feel a certain way. At other times, it might be critical to steer them to change their ways of doing things.
We all know that forcing, cajoling, and using "carrot and stick" approaches won't work. At best, that yields temporary compliance. Before long, they revert back to the same, ineffective, obstructive, or possibly destructive thought and behavior patterns and the cycle starts all over again. So what can we do to actually persuade others to really "buy into" different ideas and techniques in ways that will produce lasting change and better results?
Everything I've reviewed that seems to be even remotely credible or feasible has one common denominator -- one factor that is missing in all the "techniques" that are quite obviously bogus: the common (and quite likely THE KEY FACTOR) is HONESTY.
Don't focus all your effort on creating a sales pitch for your ideas. Don't make up horror stories and threaten employees. And don't count on prizes and monetary awards alone. Instead, put your heart into it. Get real with those you are trying to convince. If you are sharing ideas based on your own experience -- especially if that experience was a time when you seriously screwed something up and paid dearly for it -- humble yourself and share that experience, including the painful details. People have a surprising way of suddenly listening to the things you share when they sense you have put pride, rank, and other factors aside and simply "opened up" to them.
I once watched the ongoing destruction of a workplace team at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. The people on the team had reached the point that no matter what the retail manager told them, they automatically assumed that the manager's motives were never "good customer service," or "the right thing to do." Instead, they always suspected that this manager had ulterior motives of her own. The manager would tell all her employees things like "We're way off our sales targets and the company is threating to..." and spin tales of horror. Next thing they'd know, this same manager would be gone for a few days on little "vacation" or "getaway." What the employees finally discovered was that the manager was winning these trips -- they were her prizes for sales contests. What do you think eventually happened? Sales DID fall below goals. Consistently. The employees, who were being threatened into achieving goals for the manager's benefit while not being rewarded themselves (and being subjected to further threats) quit performing. The problem was two-fold: the people actually DOING the work weren't the ones being rewarded; even worse; the manager lost credibility with her employees. Had she been truthful with them about why she was pushing to make those sales AND taken steps to in return reward the team for a job well done, she would have stood a chance at sustaining high sales numbers and high customer service levels.
In summary, if you want to be persuasive, don't be deceptive. Lead from the heart and with honesty and openness.
"To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful." -- Edward R. Murrow.
Have a fantastic day!
Dan Gunter
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We all know that forcing, cajoling, and using "carrot and stick" approaches won't work. At best, that yields temporary compliance. Before long, they revert back to the same, ineffective, obstructive, or possibly destructive thought and behavior patterns and the cycle starts all over again. So what can we do to actually persuade others to really "buy into" different ideas and techniques in ways that will produce lasting change and better results?
Everything I've reviewed that seems to be even remotely credible or feasible has one common denominator -- one factor that is missing in all the "techniques" that are quite obviously bogus: the common (and quite likely THE KEY FACTOR) is HONESTY.
Don't focus all your effort on creating a sales pitch for your ideas. Don't make up horror stories and threaten employees. And don't count on prizes and monetary awards alone. Instead, put your heart into it. Get real with those you are trying to convince. If you are sharing ideas based on your own experience -- especially if that experience was a time when you seriously screwed something up and paid dearly for it -- humble yourself and share that experience, including the painful details. People have a surprising way of suddenly listening to the things you share when they sense you have put pride, rank, and other factors aside and simply "opened up" to them.
I once watched the ongoing destruction of a workplace team at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. The people on the team had reached the point that no matter what the retail manager told them, they automatically assumed that the manager's motives were never "good customer service," or "the right thing to do." Instead, they always suspected that this manager had ulterior motives of her own. The manager would tell all her employees things like "We're way off our sales targets and the company is threating to..." and spin tales of horror. Next thing they'd know, this same manager would be gone for a few days on little "vacation" or "getaway." What the employees finally discovered was that the manager was winning these trips -- they were her prizes for sales contests. What do you think eventually happened? Sales DID fall below goals. Consistently. The employees, who were being threatened into achieving goals for the manager's benefit while not being rewarded themselves (and being subjected to further threats) quit performing. The problem was two-fold: the people actually DOING the work weren't the ones being rewarded; even worse; the manager lost credibility with her employees. Had she been truthful with them about why she was pushing to make those sales AND taken steps to in return reward the team for a job well done, she would have stood a chance at sustaining high sales numbers and high customer service levels.
In summary, if you want to be persuasive, don't be deceptive. Lead from the heart and with honesty and openness.
"To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful." -- Edward R. Murrow.
Have a fantastic day!
Dan Gunter
share on: facebook
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