InnerActive Consulting – Insights » 2009

Awareness is the Starting Point of New Learning

I recently learned the importance of Awareness to learning new things. Add a touch of emotional context or personal experience and the learning accelerates. How do I know this to be true. Because of an experience I have had during the month of April.

First, prior to this year, South Africa was just a spot on the world map to me. I had never experienced anything regarding the country and particularly it’s history. And, I am certain that their were TV shows about South Africa and it’s history as well as magazine articles focused on it’s current and past history. But, with no personal involvement it did not register with me.

Second, this month I made a trip to Cape Town, South Africa for the Global Speakers Summit. This was the starting point for awaking my world as to what South Africa was all about – and importance of Nelsen Mandela to the world. My experiences in Cape Town were outstanding.This led to a new understanding of the importance of South Africa and the influence of one man – Nelsen Mandela. A true leader of men, who dealt with more adversity that anyone – yet, survived the ordeal to emerge as a great leader of people.

Third, since going to Cape Town my awareness of South Africa has increased dramatically. And, due to this factor, I am aware of the numerous articles about South Africa, the current election status, the election of a new leader, and a history channel biography on Nelsen Mandela. The cable show detailed the life history of Nelsen Mandela and filled in the blanks that were missing after my trip to Cape Town.

Finally, why would this be important to YOU. Good question with a good answer. There are four key learning points from this story:

Awareness – is the starting point of new learning. You suddenly become sensitive to new information and experiences you have encountered. Personalized knowledge also leads to the internalization of information which creates new wisdom in your thoughts and actions.
Adversity – is something that the great leaders learn to deal with during their earlier years. How to overcome the external issues and conditions by remaining true to your internal values and principles. Mandela experienced more adversity than anyone, yet, remained true to his principles of fair play and equal rights. He envisioned a true democracy for South Africa where all people (white and black) were equal and no one had absolute power over others.
Leadership – is a trait that is earned using personal strength rather than a position or title. True leadership is about having principles that are based upon doing the right things all the time. This focus on the higher good for the country, organization or group is more important than personal gain.
Learning – is the pathway to new wisdom. Thinking or reflective thought is the key to future growth for an individual or leader. New knowledge leads to an expansion of ideas, thoughts, and most importantly – understanding. Life is a continuous learning process. Take time to study, read and discuss new ideas or information.

Use your life experiences to expand your world view and understanding of your role in life. Great leaders have experienced great adversity at some point in their life and have learned from the experience. Taking complete responsibility for their thoughts and actions, true leaders remain humble and focused upon the greater good of the whole. If more leaders had this trait, we would be a better world.

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Posted by Voss Graham on April 30, 2009 at 5:25 am under Leadership.
Tags: adversity, Awareness, Continuous learning, Defining Leadership, Leadership, Nelson Mandela
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Do YOU Have a Public Image?

How We Either Survive or Succeed with Adaptive Behavior

Like President Obama, most of us have various roles in our lives in which we do have a public image. At the current moment, you may be in any combination of roles, such as a spouse, parent, executive, volunteer, student or mentor. In each role your adaptive behavioral style will likely change to fit the situation and its demands. Still, you will consistently maintain the same natural behavioral style, or the real you.

Adapting to Survive or Succeed?

While your natural behavioral style is your true identity, it is not always the behavior we create for others to see. In fact, our adaptive behavior is more observable because we will often make changes to either survive or succeed. Whether the change is dramatic or slight, knowing why the change is occurring is important. Most often, those changing to survive will tend to follow rules and regulations. On the other hand, those changing to succeed will tend to adapt to the behaviors called for by the environment.

Your Public Image at Work

Think of situations where you have to be more conscious of adapting your behavioral style on the job. Maybe it is when you speak publically, are faced with quick decisions or have to comply with strict rules. Do you feel stressed, exhausted and uncomfortable?

It is important to understand how your natural and adaptive behavioral styles are affecting your work. A simple assessment and review of your personal results is a great step toward harnessing your natural behavioral styles for improved communication, productivity, teamwork and overall enjoyment on the job. Then, you can uncover even more about your personal strengths by assessing personal motivators, skills and emotional intelligence.

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Posted by J Block on April 29, 2009 at 5:22 am under Using Assessments.
Tags: Behavioral Styles, Job Matching, Public Image, Surviving
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Are You Listening? It’s a Core Skill.

Listening a core skill. Do you listen to people? More importantly, do you really hear what they are saying?

My experience says that most people are not really listening to what is being said without some type of filter system. Yes, a filter system is what I said. There are four types of filter systems being used by individuals as part of their natural behavioral style.

The four filtering systems are: Continue reading ‘Are You Listening? It’s a Core Skill.’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on April 28, 2009 at 5:30 am under Effective Communication.
Tags: Effective Communication, Listening filter systems, Listening skills, natural strengths and weaknesses, Questioning skills
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Stress Can be a Positive Thing

Every time I tell a coaching client that stress can be a positive thing, I get strange looks from my client. Then we discuss the meaning of the statement and they usually agree that stress is a positive thing.

Okay, so you have not moved from the dark side. Still believing that all stress is negative? Ah, grasshopper, listen and learn.

How does stress move from the dark side of negative thinking to becoming a positive good thing to have around? It’s really quite simple. When you have goals and deadlines for the goals – that you want and your established. That’s how. Goal directed stress is a positive enforcement of personal accountability. It is the need to accomplish your goal with no excuses allowed.

Practice the art of thinking about what you want in life. Then, set goals – with deadlines – and begin the process of achievement. It feels great to accomplish things and gives you the confidence necessary to set higher goals that get you to the next level of success. All the things that you want out of life can be achieved – one step at a time.

If you are not certain about how to set and achieve goals, then check into our “Phoenix Seminar.” This three day personal development journey is made for those who want more out of life. It takes courage to attend this three day workshop as you will learn techniques and skills for taking back control of your life and achieving at a higher level than you thought you could. Go to our Phoenix Seminar website to learn more, watch a couple of videos, and then make a decision to take back control of your life today.

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Posted by Voss Graham on April 24, 2009 at 5:06 am under Personal Development.
Tags: Achieving Goals, Goals, Personal Accountability, Personal Development, Phoenix Seminar, Positive Stress
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What Role does Accountability Have in Your Life?

What role does accountability have in your life? This is an important question to ponder and reflect upon. Accountability is has a major role in your success and personal self-esteem. Yet, it seems to be the most misunderstood term for most people.

So, what is accountability and particularly personal accountability? Continue reading ‘What Role does Accountability Have in Your Life?’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on April 23, 2009 at 5:33 am under Personal Development.
Tags: Accountability, leadership traits, No excuses, Personal strengths, Using Assessments
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Only Change Will Get You to the Next Level

This past week I was with speakers and business consultants from all over the world at the Global Speakers Summit in Cape Town, South Africa. One thing that stood out over the five days I was there is that nothing – and I mean nothing – happens by remaining the same. Standing still while others keep moving will not help your cause or life for that matter.

“If you do not change, you stay the same!”

This statement says it all. If you do not change, you will stay the same. Even if you want more out of life, it requires a leap of faith to modify the Status Que. There are some things that you can do to make the change more beneficial.

And, it starts by knowing what you want out of life. Focus and passion only come to those that know what you want out of life.

You need to sit down and write out a list of things you want. This sheet will become your master list for life change. Review it each week and think about what is the most important thing for me to do this week. This focus on achieving that step during the week. As you continue to take steps you will improve and the change in your life will be positive.

We will explore additional ways for you to make a difference. It all starts with you making a decision to get what you want and to make a difference.

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Posted by Voss Graham on April 22, 2009 at 5:42 am under Personal Development.
Tags: Focused change, Personal Development, personal growth
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Getting the Officials to Close the Deal Now.

The fourth strategy is to get the officials to call the game early and close the deal now. Using a football game analogy, this is the same strategy that football teams take to kill the clock by having the quarterback take a knee and have the clock expire. Another analogy is the 10-run rule in softball whereby the official calls the game over since one team is leading by more than 10 runs after a certain number of innings have been played. Continue reading ‘Getting the Officials to Close the Deal Now.’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on April 21, 2009 at 5:16 am under Sales.
Tags: B2B selling, Closing the Sale, Sales, Tactics and Strategies to closing the deal
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How to “Burn the Clock Faster” to Close the Sale

Okay, the third strategy to closing the deal when you are ahead is based upon learning how to burn the clock as fast as you can to close the deal. This means you remain in contact with your customer and influencers and coaches during the end stage of the sales process.

Be available to answer questions. Treat each question like it could be a deal-breaker, because it could be a deal-breaker if you ignore it. The key here is to listen to every question, listen to what is said, listen for what is not said that should have been said based upon your experience. Ask clarifying questions to gain a true understanding of issues or concerns held by your customer. Continue reading ‘How to “Burn the Clock Faster” to Close the Sale’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on April 20, 2009 at 5:47 am under Sales.
Tags: B2B selling, Close the sale, Sales, Tactics and Strategies to closing the deal, win-win, winning mindsets
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Using the Same Plan to Close the Sale

The second strategy for the sales person who is ahead in the sales process is to continue to use the same game plan that got them to this point – all the way to the end. In fact, this plan will work most of the time unless the sales person gets too aggressive with certain people in the customer’s organization. Aggressive or assertive styles will get you ahead in many situations, this style will become too risky in the end game of selling.

The key for a sales person’s success is to continue to focus on the goal of the customer winning. This focus on the customer rather than on you – will allow for continuity of actions. These actions should always be focused on the customer’s improvement and growth. Focus and clarity of actions will keep you error-free during the end game of the sales process. Continue reading ‘Using the Same Plan to Close the Sale’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on April 17, 2009 at 5:26 am under Sales.
Tags: B2B selling, Closing the Sale, Sales, Tactics and Strategies to closing the deal
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Closing the Sale When You Lead – Do Nothing Strategy

You are ahead in the sales game. The first strategy is to do nothing. Here the sales person is counting on the system to take care of him or her. This is a high risk approach that assumes your competition will take no action to overtake you. This is what we call an errant assumption. Meaning that incorrect assumptions lead to all bad decisions.

Your competition will be working harder than ever to find any opening to delay the decision, or reopen the sales process with new specifications, new information, or new situations that will change the playing field dynamics.

Losing sales people use the “do nothing” strategy too often. This is a passive approach is caused by several factors. One, they have low self-esteem and sometimes feel they are unworthy of success. They actually feel the only reason they are in front is luck! And since they believe in bad luck, they are now waiting for the proverbial “other shoe to fall” canceling the order.

The second reason is one of arrogance. This deadly attitude can cause a sale to fall apart at the last moment. When a sales person shows arrogance to either the competition or their customer, the ball is set in motion for an upset. When the customer senses this attitude, their trust level drops and uncertainty enters the game.

The most common tactic used by the customer when arrogance is recognized is the sudden stall in the sales process. The clearest signal is missed deadlines at critical closing milestones. Other people begin to enter the playing field for the sale, usually for the first time, and the sales person takes no action to meet these people or learn about any new issues or concerns. Then, someone else wins the sale!. It happens because the sales person lost focus at a critical juncture of the sales game.

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Posted by Voss Graham on April 16, 2009 at 5:40 am under Sales.
Tags: B2B selling, Closing the Sale, Tactics and Strategies to closing the deal
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Archive for April, 2009

Awareness is the Starting Point of New Learning

Do YOU Have a Public Image?

Are You Listening? It’s a Core Skill.

Stress Can be a Positive Thing

What Role does Accountability Have in Your Life?

Only Change Will Get You to the Next Level

Getting the Officials to Close the Deal Now.

How to “Burn the Clock Faster” to Close the Sale

Using the Same Plan to Close the Sale

Closing the Sale When You Lead – Do Nothing Strategy

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