Discover SG Partners latest blog articles. Learn from a wide range of topics including sales, leadership, emotional intelligence and sales team recruitment. The best information you'll read today.
It's always risky to oversimplify something as complex as sales management. On the other hand, it can be a great way to cut through and achieve meaningful self-awareness.
Read MoreIt's always risky to oversimplify something as complex as sales management. On the other hand, it can be a great way to cut through and achieve meaningful self-awareness.
Read MoreWhy your best sales people maybe leaving you
I have been recruiting for clients sales team members for 13 years or more and there is the one constant I see and hear from great candidates.
As an employer you have a belief why your employees leave. In this post I share what the constants are
Read MoreI’m sure you’ve had the experience when you are talking with someone and no matter how hard you tried, they didn’t understand what you were saying.
Ray Birdwhistell from the University of Pennsylvania suggested that words comprise only 7% of our communication.
This seems even more valid when the discussion becomes emotionally charged.
Let’s assume for a moment that this is true. What happens to the other 93%?
What people are not usually aware of is the impact of their words, and other unconscious factors have on the recipient’s mind.
If I were to say to you “The parrot bit Jane” to process this in your mind, you might have created a picture of a parrot biting Jane.
Maybe even the squawk of the parrot before the biting, and possibly Jane’s cry from the pain.
You might have experienced certain feelings yourself as you imagine the discomfort of the bite.
If you change just two of the words around ‘Jane bit the bird’ the internal representation or experience you have now is entirely different.
If just a few words make that much difference, now reconsider that words are only 7% of the communication. Does it now make sense why communication can so easily be misunderstood?
Often, we are pretty lazy. We usually just conclude:
“They are stupid. They are inflexible. They just don’t listen.”
It’s possible we are right, sometimes, but this kind of labelling won’t help you communicate. It stops your mind from looking for an alternate way of getting your meaning across.
The key is to change the way you approach communication.
Accept that everyone is unique and that this is a great thing. It’s your responsibility to find out how a person experiences the world and then communicate with them accordingly.
There are many ways to do that we talk about in our training and coaching programs. Learn more on how we can help here.
Ultimately there is a consistent list of traits. I would like to discuss one of those.
It's amazing over the years with the engagements I have had with business leaders how this one trait can make, or break an organisation’s forward momentum.
As a leader are you responsible for making all the decisions? - heck no. Yes, you are ultimately responsible for the decision made with your company, yet not responsible for making all of them. In fact, a great leader is the “Custodian of Decision Making”.
As the custodian, what are the guidelines/practices you set your people up with, so they are capable or making consistently great decisions?
So, the challenge for the growth of the organisation is for the leader to understand they are not required to make all the decision (control freaks out there - you are the problem).
The other challenge is having people around you who can make decisions.
There are those amongst us that struggle making decisions, they have a framework that delays them, and they are unconscious about their biases.
Get your leaders together and discuss decision making - their own way of making decisions - get them to be self-aware.
Get your leaders to tease out the guidelines and best practice for making timely decisions.
Have an authority matrix around decisions making.
Go forward and support your leadership team in making great decisions.
Empathy is one of the key components that make up emotional intelligence. It is the ability to identify emotions and share perspectives with other people (MindTools).
Watch Brené Brown talk more on Empathy:
Showing empathy is just as an important skill in a professional context as it is in personal situations. It will assist you to develop trust, approachability and to connect with others easier.
To be truly empathetic you must actively think beyond yourself. While empathy training may teach you how to slow down and actively listen before responding, it is not going to work unless you are willing to change.
It takes a certain level of vulnerability to be able to empathise with someone and what they appear to be going through.
“I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.”
While empathy is something that may well be hardwired into the brain, some people are more naturally empathetic than others.
It is one thing to recognise what another person is feeling, but another entirely to understand why they are feeling a particular way and what can be said or done to help them.
As a leader, it is important people feel listened to, valued, and visible to have an engaged workforce. There is a strong relationship between emotional intelligence, leadership, and sales effectiveness.
This is where SG Partners comes in. We recognise that one area of your emotional intelligence impacts others, and you may not always be aware of this yourself. We help our many clients identify these gaps and blind spots, so you know what needs improvement.
“Leadership is about empathy. It is about having the ability to relate to and connect with people for the purpose of inspiring and empowering their lives.”
Decision making matters when it comes to team development and performance. SG Partners helps leaders improve their emotional intelligence. Read this to find out more.
Read MoreWhy is that people think they like change but don't? Learn the 5 tips to encourage brain change and create growth.
Read MoreHere are the top 7 leadership tips every leader should know.
Read MoreLast week, the SG Partners team attended a Patrick Lencioni webinar. He discussed a wide variety of topics for how leaders can adjust, adapt and progress during these challenging times.
Read MoreDo you know the meaning of building rapport? Learn from a sales person, sales leader and sales leadership coach in recent LinkedIn question and answer post.
Read MoreCan you quantify how much revenue is lost because your growth team is limited by what they don’t know or understand?
Read MoreCan your sales team understand your organisation’s common language?
Read MoreWhen people try to take on a new habit or change something, they are usually highly motivated for a while. The challenge is they haven't changed yet!
Read MoreDuring a training session recently with several senior leaders, I noticed how easily they talked themselves in circles and subsequently got frustrated with each other.
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