InnerActive Consulting – Insights » 2008

Abundance or Scarcity – Which Rules Your Thoughts?

Recently I was listening to the various discussions about the economy from political leaders and candidates. As I listened closely – I realized that the major influence upon their positions dealt with Abundance or Scarcity. This was a major issue between candidates and politicians.

Those who have an Abundance mentality used words such as opportunity, expansion of interest, goals and objectives of individuals, and advancing during the crisis. Interesting factor was the belief each person had regarding the potential of success in their plans and actions.

Those with the Scarcity mentality used words such as protect our resources, limited effects, share with everyone, redistribute wealth, and using laws to stop people from doing selective things. Again, their beliefs were just as strong as to the outcomes of their actions and plans – yet with a much difference approach.

A major question to ask is how does this information impact leadership? It is very simple, yet not as easy to understand. Leaders impact their organizations through the use of strategies, goals, focus and budgets. Here is the difference maker: Their individual beliefs regarding Abundance or Scarcity will have a direct bearing on what is emphasized during the leaders time in position and power.

Abundance based Leaders will pursue growth of their organization with aggressive growth oriented policies. They will acquire other companies or units to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. They will tend to hire more people to execute their plans – believing that growth will happen and the people will be needed to succeed. Emphasis is placed upon Sales and Marketing rather than operating efficiency. Customers are catered with more customized products and services. Clearly, new products will create new markets and thus more growth. These leaders use the motto of Sales will cure all problems.

Scarcity based Leaders have a totally different set of policies and practices. They think about limited resources, cutting expenses, layoffs for cost reasons only, closing down divisions, eliminating products / services, getting government to limit their overseas competition – while sending more work overseas due to lower cost of production, and finally, protection from being purchased by the growth companies they compete with on a daily basis. Operations and Finance get the major emphasis of these leaders. They use the motto – we will cut expenses until we are profitable.

As an observer of corporation leadership, I have seen the extremes of each type. The best leaders have a tendency to balance both the need for abundance and understanding the concepts of scarcity. Balance and moderation seem to be the key to real long-term growth and profitability. Which side do you lean? It will have a direct bearing or influence upon your success in the marketplace.

If you want to learn more about the how to balance abundance with scarcity in your leadership practices, call us at 901-757-4434. We have coached leaders, executives, and managers for over a decade with success.

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Posted by Voss Graham on October 31, 2008 at 7:41 am under Leadership, Strategy.
Tags: Abundance, Leadership, Scarcity, Strategies
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Do Your Sale People Really Have a Winner’s Edge?

We know that Super Star Sales People possess something that is unique to them and appears to be lacking in the rest of the sales team. The Super Stars have a winner’s edge that gives them an distinct competitive advantage in the marketplace. They are able to win even when the odds of success are low. How do they do this with such regularity?

What is really happening that places the “winner’s edge” in certain people and not everyone else? It is quite simple if you study this trait – it is a Winning Mindset. Sounds like a “soft skill” issue and trust me – it is. As I stated in a previous blog post – soft skills are hard. The ability to stay positive and optimistic even when staring adversity in the face is an art. Why is it an art? Because of the mental side of the process of winning.

Winner’s have the ability to connect their beliefs, attitudes and behaviors to form a “Winning Mindset.” This connection begins with beliefs. If a sales person truly believes that they have a real solution for a customer and the customer will benefit and receive value from the purchase – then the belief works with the sales person to become successful. If there are disbeliefs regarding solutions, benefit and value – the subconsious mind will actually sabotage the process.

We have had the opportunity to work with several sales teams that have had exhaustive sales training and skills practice. Then during discussions with the sales managers we learn that statements have been made that indicate sabotaging actions by several sales people. How could this be – they had been trained to use very successful sales processes? The issue is self-limiting beliefs are hindering the successful execution of tactics and processes for sales success.

So, how does a sales person identify self-limiting beliefs? How does a sales person change the self-limiting beliefs so they can become more successful? Well, the solution is quite simple if you know the process to continuously improve your mental edge regarding the pathway to consistent sales success. In fact, once the sales person learns and practices using the process – they can positively impact their success at any point in time.

If you want to learn more about this unique solution to adding a “Winner’s Mindset” contact Robin Graham at our offices in Memphis, TN. The phone number is 901-757-4434. Take action today and insure your ability to win tomorrow.

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Posted by Voss Graham on October 30, 2008 at 7:48 am under Sales.
Tags: Sales, sales success, Winner's edge, winning mindsets
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Concentration and Focus for Strategic Advantage

While studing the great leaders of the military and products that have become industry leaders, I have found one common trait in their successes. They both use the concept of Concentration of Forces and the Focus necessary for their success in action.

Concentration of Forces has been used by military strategies since biblical times. The Romans used it, the Germans used it Europe during WWII and the US forces used it on D-Day and in both Iraq wars. So what are we talking about? Concentration of Forces in war time is a natural thing (if you believe war is a natural thing?) and is used with great success.

So how does this work? The military planners start figuring out how to mass a superior force that can overcome any type of resistance in the target area. They look for an area that they can attack, where a smaller enemy force is located, and an area that can be use logistics to keep the advance going without issues. They take the time to figure out all the details, to get local information about the enemy and conditions within the territory. They look for potential choke points that would slow down the advance once it is started. And, they train the specialist required for the strategy to work.

History has shown us all the tactics, planning sessions and actual results from this historical battles. Battles where smaller -yet concentrated – forces handily defeat larger armies. Battles where the favored or larger forces are handly defeated due to the speed and efficiency of the concentrated force.

So, how does this information help you the leader of an organization? Well, the two most important areas of opportunity include 1.) New product launches and 2.) Market Share growth or protection in a selected territory.

New product launches are the most common use of Concentration and Focus Strategies. The tactics are somewhat different depending upon the market share or rank on your company. If you are the market leader in an industry, then your concentration of forces will be focused upon an national roundout of the new product. One coordinated effort by the sales and marketing teams launched upon the world at the same time. Meetings are held to discuss the new product, tactics are devised to introduce them to key accounts, projections are built off these tactics and the supply chains prepare for a maximum effort of shipping and delivery. One of the key missions of the large company to set the stage for this new product or service using solution based teaser ads or talk. The larger company or market leader in a product or service line, will use every resource in their arsenal or tool box for this global or national rollout.

The smaller or niche company will use the Concentration of force tactic in a selected territory or industry niche. They will train their sales people and support people for the targeted rollout. Teaching the team how to win with this new product or service. They learn the advantages being offered to their customers. They will also focus upon the key accounts (like a selected beach head in war) that make a difference in the marketplace due to influence or volume of usage. The key is to distract the larger competitor into another area with a quick assault on new business while preparing for the major assault on the selectied accounts or territory. Then, all at once a coordinated and concentrated drive for new business and selling the new product takes place. Getting a foothold in major accounts is a major win – particularly with a new product that is not being offered by anyone else to date. Beware of the tactic used by the major competitors of discounting a new product by telling customers “that we have that opinion now (usually a false answer – offering a generic product instead.) or if you will wait, we have that planned for release on such and such date!” These are standard counter attackes to smaller niche companies that enter the territory of the market share leaders.

I will discuss the Marketshare strategies on a later blog post. Marketshare is a critical issue in business and needs its own space and explanation. If you are dealing with strategic issues and need someone to assist your organization in establishing a winning and growth oriented strategy – then contact our office at 901-757-4434 and ask for Voss.

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Posted by Voss Graham on October 29, 2008 at 7:44 am under Leadership, Strategy.
Tags: Concentration of force, Leadership, new product launch, Strategy
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How to Overcome Arrogance.

Overcoming arrogance can be a very difficult task for many people. This is due to their high need for structure and order in their lives. Sometimes this trait shows up in a very strong religious attitude or need. Again, the structure and order placed upon individuals by some religious groups can be strong and binding to the individuals involved. Now, this is not a slam on religious groups, it is a tendency that we have found with leaders that are very arrogant in their approach to leadership and decision making.

The first thing that a person needs to understand is that openness is a critical factor for managing the level of arrogance a person has. It is hard to be open to new ideas, new thoughts and all types of information and be locked in a “I already know that” attitude. The fact that a person is open to all opinions shows a flexibility of thougth that the arrogant person does not have. In fact, the arrogant person has a locked in opinion regarding everything in their world. If they have no opinion on something, then to this person, that others opinions is of NO INTEREST to them.

After being open, comes flexibility or adaptability of action and thougth. Progressive and effective leaders appear to be flexible in their decisions – especially decisions that impact others. The adaptive nature of leaders shows the ability to adapt to new information or circumstances. This is in sharp contrast to the arrogent leader that tends to ignore new information or circumstances. Taking a position of “that will never work! or we tried it before and it didn’t work then and it will not work now!” Beware of this type of thought or talk. Become open to new information and then think about ways you could use that information to be more effective.

Finally, reduce or eliminate judgment from your thought process. Okay, someone is thinking that leaders have to judge things everyday in order to make the right decisions. I agree with this statement with one major modification. Make your judgments or decisions based upon at least three different methods or solutions. This forces the use of openness and adaptive thinking. Too often, arrogant leaders have already made their decision or judgment without checking for new information that could change the best solution answer. In other words, take the time to look at alternative solutions to every problem – particularly major problems – and resist the temptation to use a preconceived idea or decisions.

If you are having issues with arrogance, have been told by others that you are arrogant, call us at 901-757-4434. We have coached several leaders into becoming more effective by becoming more open, adaptive and less judgemental. We can assist you in becoming a better leader.

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Posted by Voss Graham on October 28, 2008 at 7:31 am under Coaching, Leadership.
Tags: adaptive thinking, how to control arrogance, Leadership, openness
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Arrogance, the Killer of Innovation and Improvement

Arrogance is major problem with some leaders. It is the toxic attitude that kills new ideas or improvements to old methods. This liability to leadership effectiveness has its roots in a fixation of thought. Plus, we find an additional attitude of selfishness in the “I know more than you, so don’t dare question my authority!”

The level of arrogance is controlled by the overall need to have position power rather than personal power. Thus, a lack of true effectiveness rules the day of the arrogant leader. It is as if they can not get out of their own way with others and situations.

Today’s economic crisis is in part due to the arrogant leaders of the financial industry. We find that several of the key leaders use only their position to lead others down a pathway. A pathway that is closer to the past than the future, thus a continued reliance upon tactics, strategies and methodologies that clearly do not work for change or improvement.

Another way of thinking about the effects of arrogance is the how much selfishness gets into the actions of these leaders. When someone thinks they are better, smarter or wiser than everyone else, they begin to do things that protect their status, rather than improve the overall good of the organization. Again, we find these attitude in all levels of an organization. When we find these people, we find the source of poor and selfish decision making.

Examples of these poor decisions include a lack of change of products for a competitive advantage (See IBM and the Power PC chip for printers and the personal computer); military advisors that thought poorly of a scientist-engineer who invented major improvements for tanks and was ignored (See the Russian army that incorporated his improvements into their battle tanks that beat the Germans in WWII.); the Financial bean counter who think that cutting cost is the only way to improve or sell a product (See entire industries become commodized or shipped overseas due to lack of understanding the total or big picture of economics); and finally look at our educational systems that continue to use the methods and classroom of the early 19th century to educate people for the 21st Century. Arrogance is alive and well in every part of professional, private and public sectors of business and the social sectors of life.

You can overcome the arrogance factor. Read our post on Tuesday for the answers.

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Posted by Voss Graham on October 27, 2008 at 7:01 am under Leadership, Personal Development.
Tags: Arrogance, Issues of arrogance, Leadership, Personal leadership
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Feeling Stressed?

With the current events, news and financial concerns, are you feeling your stress level increase?

It may show up in having a ‘shorter fuse’ and getting upset easier…

Or perhaps the inability to sleep through the night including waking up and feeling like you hardly slept…

Or experiencing being tired all the time and drained of energy…

There are many ways that we experience stress and yet our bodies respond in the same way as if we were being chased by the hungry tiger.

However, some people are moving through this same time and they are being happy and experiencing peace and calm… HOW CAN THEY DO THAT?

Their perception or mindset is different. They have shifted their perception from seeing the doom and gloom to focusing on what they define as important to them …

Knowing there is a purpose in everything …

Or, trusting their ability to survive and thrive …

Or, taking responsibility for their next step, seeing opportunities and taking action to achieve it.

Here is an example from a recent client:

“I now feel as if I’ve gained a partner from within and this new, or renewed, partnership has given me an unexpected calm and peace deep inside. From my perspective the results can only be positive in all areas of my life.”

Find out how to experience more peace and calm in your life by contacting Robin at 901.757.4434.

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Posted by Robin Graham on October 23, 2008 at 5:36 pm under Managing Beliefs, Personal Development.
Tags: getting upset, inability to sleep, peace, stress, stressed
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DISC validity – Do You Know its Importance?

People have a tendency to treat assessments as a commodity item. They feel that all DISC reports are equal and there is no difference between the different vendors of DISC. Well, this is not an accurate statement or belief.

Let me explain the differences based upon validity factors.

Since most DISC assessments come from similar origins of research they appear at first glance to be the same and therefore the results are the same. Yet, when you truly look under the hood of the assessment – you can find major differences.

Our Strategic Partner for assessments (TTI Performance Systems) takes great pride in their commitment to research, study and validate their assessments to a very high standard. Due to their high standards, they continuously update and check their validity of their assessments. Several years ago they discovered that some of the constructive language used in the assessments were no longer valid at their standards.

After two years of hard research and testing, a new standard was placed in effect that actually increased the validity percentages in all elements of DISC. This created a higher acceptance and accuracy level for our clients.

So what is the secret? It’s due to the shift in culture and demographics. The x and y generations have had an effect upon the validity scores. Since the vast majority of DISC assessments are based on older norms (mid to late 20th century) the boomers influenced the validity standards. Therefore, unless your workforce is all boomer aged – there are probabilities that some of the assessments are lacking in accuracy for the younger people in your organization.

What we recommend is to ask about the norms of the assessment. You can even ask for a validity statement or report. When reviewing this information, check the following: Is it from an independent source or inhouse? Do they provide the statistical results of the studies? What year did the studies occur? (Anything before 2000 maybe loaded with Boomer Bias)

Remember that many assessments used in the field have no validation or research to back up their accuracy. Beware of the cheap “knock offs” that have “borrowed” the research of others and have little investment in the accuracy of their assessments. This is a major problem in the world of assessments and many people are fooled or influenced by the low prices offered.

If you would like to see a validation report on our DISC assessment, please contact us at 901-757-4434. We look forward to serving you with up-to-date, state of the art assessment reports.

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Posted by Voss Graham on October 23, 2008 at 11:27 am under Using Assessments.
Tags: DISC, validity of assessments
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Adversity is a Good Thing – Believe it!

Adversity is a good thing for people. It provides an opportunity for the development of character and a solution orientated thinking. Now, this was not the way I felt about things early in my career. In fact, I, like most people felt that adversity was a bad thing and usually lead to higher levels of conflict with others.

However, as I experienced more events – including numerous periods of adversity – I learned that events come and go. How we deal with the adversity is the key element to our future growth. In fact, character growth has a direct relationship with great leadership.

Great leadership is tracked by how well a leader handles situations and events – negative or positive. This characteristic came to light as I experienced situations as a turnaround advisor during early 1980′s and found leaders facing total loss of their business. The ability to commit and focus upon getting the company back in good condition was a limiting factor with the leaders. Some leaders learned how to deal with the adversity, accept responsibility for their part of the situation and then focus on the correction process. Others were into the blame game – it was not their fault – it was their customers, their employees, the government, the stars and planets, etc.

One thing is certain, great leaders learn to deal with adversity and look for advantages and opportunities to improve and grow. As we deal with the current economic crisis, it is time to allow our character to strengthen. Keep integrity at the top of the priority list. Take responsibility for all your actions. Use positive self-talk to reinforce your mental edge to deal with difficult times. Encourage others to continue to focus upon performance levels and things will work out in the long term.

Finally, enjoy life to the fullest and live with purpose of thought and actions. Situations and events come to strengthen our resolve and help us to build our character to a higher level.

If you need a coach during this period of time, contact us at 901-757-4434. We can assist you in focusing on the future and how to get the results you want. It’s time to focus on your future.

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Posted by Voss Graham on October 22, 2008 at 10:26 am under Coaching, Leadership, Personal Development.
Tags: adversity, Coaching, coaching purpose
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Soft Skills are Hard

Soft skills are hard for the corporate world – really they are hard for most people. Why? Because the soft skills are less tangible regarding results. This factor allows for some managers and executives to devalue the worth of the soft skills.

Often we are told by managers in corporate environments that they do not want anything that is soft. They want hard, tangible skills for their people. Again, Why? Because they feel (actually they think rather than feel) that the so called “hard skill” training and development will ensure success and results.

How incorrect is this? Big time! Soft skills rule in the success and high performance avenues. The research that has been conducted on high performers – shows that the hard skills knowledge has no bearing on the results – yet, there is a direct relationship to the soft skills.

Let me use a sports analogy to show the difference. As some of you know I am a dedicated fan of college football. Therefore, I watch a large number of teams each weekend during the season. Three factors show up – 1. The best programs are at the top of the rankings every year. 2. Any team can win on any given weekend – no matter who is the competitor. and 3. The best coaches appear to really work the mental side of winning games – the soft skills side of the equation.

Now looking at the three factors a little closer, the winning programs do appear to get the best available talent every year. Yet, no one seems to dominate their league anymore. This is due to the limits placed upon all teams regarding number of players they can have on the team. Therefore some good players go to competitors.

The second factor shows that this balancing effect of player limits has improved the talent levels of every team. This shows up on game days where the favorites are defeated. How often has a team from the top five been defeated this year? No team is guaranteed a victory for just showing up. This is hard for a large number of fans to accept, yet it is a reality.

The third factor – the one dealing with the soft skills or mental edge – appears to be the difference maker. The top coaches are masters of using psychology to get their players ready for every game – not just the big ones. The best motivators get their players to win the games they are supposed to win and play the entire game against good competition. This is the source of the winning edge – the ability to deal with adversity and not panic, the ability to expect to win, to visualize the final score, to have the faith in your teammates that everyone will do their part to seal the victory. This is the world of soft skills.

Organizations should understand this important factor and get their staffs on the winning side of the mental game. Hard skills are important – yet, the soft skills ensure the proper use of the hard skills to win. If you believe that there is a need for more soft skill training in your organization – call us at 901-757-4434. We offer several processes for establishing the winning attitudes for your team. We also have assessments that can check the soft skill potential of the players.

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Posted by Voss Graham on October 21, 2008 at 2:57 pm under Leadership, Team Building.
Tags: assessments, Soft skills, training
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Getting Smart with Performance Appraisals

The process of performance appraisals appears to be one of the most hated (strong term I know) processes used in corporate cicles today. Executives and Managers do not like the results or the time taken to actually do a performance evaluation. Employees feel that most of the time the system used is short changing their value to the organization. In some cases employees feel that the appraisal is just plain wrong!

So what happened to this process that made it such a negative discussion point? I believe there are three points that have created this negative influence.

First, the performance evaluation process was linked to the pay system and has become a tool for managers to justify raises or no raises. This element combined with the infamous “bell curve” that forces a certain percentage of “poor” performers – even if a manager or department has learned the fine art of hiring high performers. This combination of factors alone create the most significant negative influence for the process. Continue reading ‘Getting Smart with Performance Appraisals’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on October 15, 2008 at 7:29 am under Hiring, Selection and Retention, Leadership, Personal Development.
Tags: performance appraisals, standards of performance
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Archive for October, 2008

Abundance or Scarcity – Which Rules Your Thoughts?

Do Your Sale People Really Have a Winner’s Edge?

Concentration and Focus for Strategic Advantage

How to Overcome Arrogance.

Arrogance, the Killer of Innovation and Improvement

Feeling Stressed?

DISC validity – Do You Know its Importance?

Adversity is a Good Thing – Believe it!

Soft Skills are Hard

Getting Smart with Performance Appraisals

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