Mind-Sets Trump Skill-Sets–Exhibit ‘A’–Gabby The Bartender

As people get a deeper understanding (and appreciation) of the mind-sets, they inevitably start to see things differently.  Robert Cloutier of San Diego is one such person.  Here’s a note Robert sent to me last week and encouraged me to share:

“I ran into a busy brewery last night (Valentine’s Day) at 9:45 PM and sat at the bar for roughly thirty minutes.  I had one cocktail while I waited for a to-go order.  Luckily, the Lakers versus Clippers game was on the television in front of me, so I got to watch the continued changing of the guard in Los Angeles regarding which basketball team is relevant (look no further than Dwight Howard’s lack of professionalism when searching for reasons for the Lakers broken culture).”

“Once I sat down, the bartender immediately greeted me.  She asked my name and introduced herself as Gabby.  Then, she pointed to the other two bartenders at the other end of the bar and told me their names as well.”

“As I was looking over the menu Gabby offered suggestions and was especially helpful.  I told her I was ready to order, but I actually wasn’t.  As I sat there and stalled, she smiled and told me that she was there all night and that there was no rush.  After I finally decided, she advised me on how to take advantage of the happy hour prices and save a little money.”

“I finally ordered and set my sights back on the basketball game.  However, I couldn’t help but notice that Gabby treated everyone in the same polite manner.  I noticed that Gabby used other patron names in addressing them and treated her coworkers warmly.  In the busy bar atmosphere, there were a few times when she reluctantly had to shout to the other end of the bar for communication.  Even then, she started every sentence with ‘please’ and ended every sentence with a ‘thank you’.”

“She checked on me a few times and each time addressed me by my name.    Once my food came, Gabby came out from behind the bar and put my items in the to-go bag, rather than just handing them to me.  Before she put my food in the bag, she opened up each of the boxes to show me what I had ordered.”

“To say it was busy that night would be a large understatement.  It is one of the few open places on Valentine’s Day in a city of close to 200,000 people—it was a mob scene.  As I watched Gabby move with efficiency and grace, I thought, “there is a total professional.”  As far as mindsets, I saw all of them and was reminded again of what continues to build momentum in my brain—when the mindsets are present, ANY technical competence can be learned.  In other words, I will take Gabby with her professional mindsets and train her from scratch in regards to technical competence over some other person with high technical competence without the professional mindsets.  I was truly inspired watching Gabby behind the bar.  She’s one of the few that really ‘get it’.”

Gabby was obviously amazing…to the degree that Robert (a super busy guy) felt compelled to write about it. The story is especially rich.  What do you take from it?

A Well-Intended, Yet Misguided, Question Professionals Should Stop Asking

You’ve heard it on Oprah, you expect it from psychologists, emphatic managers are sometimes encouraged to ask it.

“How does that make you feel?” It’s an oh-so-common question.  On the surface, the question seems innocuous–even well intended.  Someone has a ‘bad’ experience; empathy gets marched out as an anti-dote.   On the surface, it all makes sense.

But it’s a question that makes my head explode.

Why? Because the implication is that the person has no control over how they feel.  That’s just wrong.  Taken to its logical conclusion, it enables people to abdicate responsibility.  It breeds victimhood.

Events trigger emotions. This is an automatic reaction—or that’s what most people believe. But that’s not really the way it works. Rather, emotions are determined by what we think about the event, not by the event itself. In other words, our interpretation of an event ultimately becomes the precursor to the emotion we experience.

For instance, the mandatory overtime Saturday work-day unexpectedly gets canceled by management. Tom is thrilled (he gets to play golf); while Mary is bummed (she needs the extra money).   Same event— two completely different emotions.  The event/circumstance didn’t make either one of them feel anything.   It was Tom and Mary’s interpretation of the event that ultimately produced the emotion they assigned to it.

Don’t misunderstand, empathy is a very good thing. By all means ask folks how they feel….that will help them.  Just don’t ask them how an event or circumstance made them feel.  Good intent, bad question.

NOTE: this topic is covered in greater detail in chapter eleven of The Power of Professionalism and in chapter six in The Big AHA.  Both reference the terrific work of Professor Seymour Epstein at the University of Massachusetts.

Every Hand Went Up! —Part Two–From Grandpa’s Well Intended Faux Pas

NOTE: This post is Part Two (and a continuation) from ‘Grandpa’s Well Intended Faux Pas’ post on Jan 3rd.

_____________________

The Director asked the students, “how many of you would recommend the approach taken by Rob in the way he instructed your imaging course?” Every hand went up!

At the Southern California vocational school where Rob taught there was a gap in how prepared the students were to enter the working world.  Rob knew it, employers did too. Technically, the students  knew their stuff.  In other words, their skill-sets were fine.  The school had done a good job in training their students to be masters of an ever-increasing complicated technical universe.

Yet, increasingly employers realized the technical alone was insufficient. Purpose and values were  important. So was taking responsibility.  Like the employers, Rob believed that pouring in buckets of knowledge into student’s brain (as important as that was) was proving incomplete—after all, the school wasn’t preparing robots to enter the workforce.  The school, in effect, was preparing technicians to enter the workforce.  And traditionally that had been fine.

But today more was needed. Professionals were needed. Employers didn’t explicitly say so, but when you listened to their needs, professionals (the adjective, not the noun) is precisely what they were looking for.

Rob made the commitment to graduate professionals—not merely technicians. He did this on his own. He is to be commended. The implication? For students to meet the ‘professional’ standard they need both skill-sets and mind-sets.  Thus, he married the mind-sets from The Power of Professionalism with the well-established technical curriculum.  He upped the ante in a big way.

What did the students think?  They whole-heartedly recommended it.  Remember, every hand went up when the Director posed her question.

And if you’re wondering why the Director was asking that question, it was because the school’s owner was so impressed by the change in the students she asked the Director to look into expanding the approach to the rest of the school’s population of 1,000 students.  It’s an exciting prospect.

We promise to keep you updated as the story unfolds….

Having A Point of View

In The Power of Professionalism I wrote extensively about the importance of professionals having a point-of-view.  (see chapter eight, mind-set three)

Nilofer Merchant’s recent article—Having A Point of View–nicely compliments the spirit chapter eight.  As she notes, having a point of view ” attracts talent…creates allies…focuses the work.”  All true, plus some.

Check out the article, it’s a good reminder.

Mr. Shanahan–What’s Behind Your Question?

Ask any major league starting pitcher with a high pitch count how he feels in the late innings of a game, and 99 percent of the time he’ll tell you that he feels great. In fact, he probably doesn’t feel great. He’s probably trashed. The pitcher responds the way he thinks he’s supposed to.  After all, he’s a warrior!

This was essentially what Mike Shanahan (football coach of the Washington Redskins) did with quarterback RG3 (rookie phenom Robert Griffin III) on Jan 6th in a playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks. RG3 was clearly hobbled—barely able to defend himself. He was gimping around on the same leg (knee really) that he had severely injured earlier in the year.

‘You OK?'” Shanahan asked.  “And he [RG3] said, `I’m fine.'”   This exchange was late in the game.  At that point, even a grade school kid could tell RG3 wasn’t right. RG3’s response was no surprise—he was responding the way he was expected to. After all, even as a rookie, he was the face of the franchise and its unquestioned leader.

RG3 stayed in the game.  Minutes later he mangled his knee trying to recover a botched snap from center. RG3 was not only out of the game but possibly next season as well due to, among other things, a torn ACL.

Shanahan tempted fate.  He lost.

Shanahan’s assertions that he left RG3 in the game because RG3 said he was fine are ridiculous.  Shanahan has been coaching for—what—a gazillion years? He knew better. He knew that RG3 would say just about anything that would keep him in the game. In other words, RG3 responds the way he thinks he’s supposed to.

Even if the question came to mind, it should have never left Shanahan’s lips. In the end, however, RG3’s answer to Shanahan’s question proved to be the justification Shanahan used to keep RG3 in the game.

Let’s call this what it is, a lapse in judgment—a very costly one.  RG3 shouldn’t have been on the field—even if he’s our best player in the year’s most important game.

The lesson:  We’ll learn far more about ourselves as a result of asking this type of self-validating question than anything the person ever tells us in return.

Monday’s Pleasant Surprise

Trust Across America is an organization dedicated to improving the level of trust within the business sector.  Founder Barbara Kimmel has done a tremendous job growing the influence of the organization.

Earlier today Trust Across America published their top thought leaders for 2013. I’m pleased (and humbled) to have been included. The list has many notable (and impressive) people.

I can only hope this honor helps advance the important work we’re doing here at Wiersma and Associates.

.

 

 

The Key Mind-Set That Translates To Better Sales Performance

Professionals realize (and act like) they’re part of something bigger than themselves (mind-set two)

Mindset #2 often has the biggest impact on results.

An underdeveloped mindset #2 plays havoc on an organization’s culture—and the results that emanate from that culture.

Consider:

***An executive team that is littered with people who have messiah complexes and regularly back-stab each other.

***A department head whose self-aggrandizing style puts the organizations needs secondary to their own.

***A front-line clerk who believes they have a job—but not responsibilities.

For those familiar with The Power of Professionalism, these examples remind us of the debilitating impacts that the lack of mind-set #2 has on an organizations performance. And sometimes when we think culture, we think inside the organization. Yet culture naturally impacts an organization’s outside world as well.

Take the sales function for instance.  An underdeveloped mind-set #2 clearly hurts sales. Sales leadership expert Lisa Earle McLeod’s research has shown that quota- driven sales people sold substantially less than those sales people who wanted to make a real difference with their customers.  The latter group held mind-set #2 in spades, the former group far less so.

McLeod refers to the ‘difference makers’ as ‘selling with noble purpose’.  Her latest book—Selling With Noble Purpose–outlines the specifics.  McLeod’s research turns on its head the belief that money is the primary motivator for top sales performers.  The irony, of course, is that those whose primary motivation  was on making  a real difference with customers made far more money than those whose primary motivation was money.

For sales people the lesson is clear: put the client’s needs first and the money will follow—you needn’t have to choose between the two.  Isn’t that what you’d expect from a professional?

Trouble is “average reps are usually thinking about themselves and closing the deal”…this according to McLeod.  Whatever attention the average rep pays to the client, it isn’t their full attention.  Many of these reps can’t ‘get beyond themselves’. This doesn’t suggest they’re bad people, but it does suggest they’re subject to the whims of human nature—as we all are. Plus, the fact that most sales managers focus almost exclusively on ‘the numbers’ (at the expense of truly understanding—let alone appreciating– customer needs) no doubt contributes to this problem.

These average reps (and often their managers) simply haven’t yet developed a full appreciation of mind-set #2.  Unfortunately results suffer as a result.  It’s just as true with customers as it is inside the walls of the company.

Are You Comfortable In Your Own Skin?

One of the important characteristics that is almost always found in a ‘true professional’ is the degree to which they are ‘comfortable in their own skin’.

In other words, they know who they are and aren’t inappropriately fearful of a new market entrant or feel threatened by the success of others….things like that.

Seth Godin recently published a blog post entitled True Professionals Don’t Fear Amateurs. That post nicely captures a number of important points that are consistent with the premise of being comfortable in one’s own skin. Enjoy.