Making Winning Easier

Chatting with a friend whose children had played water polo in high school, the conversation moved to coaches. We have both watched matches where the coach has shouted abuse at the players all match long. This seems to be very common in at least boy’s water polo. Surprisingly the teams often still do pretty well. And the boys are prepared to suck it up and accept it for the honour of playing for the team.

Both of my friend’s children are really strong players so they played first team pretty much throughout high school. The teams they played for were in the top rankings of SA schools’ teams. The difference is in how they get there and how they experience the sport. And in those years the girls’ team took home more big trophies than the boys’ team did.

My friend’s son is also an observer and a thinker. In previous years he’d watched his older sister and her team mates have a ball in and out of the pool – work hard and play hard. He saw how they knew each other, respected each other and played as a team. Their coach created an environment in which they could learn, grow, have fun and win.

He contrasted this with how his team were treated - shouted and sworn at, insulted and degraded, and he decided it was no longer worth it. He demoted himself to the second team and played his last school season for the sheer fun of it.

His sister on the other hand played for both school and province through to the end of matric. And then went on to play at university and to contribute as a coach at a local high school.

In our working world leader-managers create the environment and culture – from the top downwards. Many companies don’t really appreciate their staff. They consider them a rather costly and difficult resource. Communication isn’t great and systems and processes not all that enabling. But the work mostly does get done. So one might ask why things should be any different.

If the leader-managers create an environment of trust and respect, with great communication, a sense of belonging and systems that enable, then the work gets done better and easier. People respond to the environment with energy, show initiative, reduce wastage, care for customers and take responsibility for doing their job the very best that they can.

And more of the great players stay to be part of the team.

And the team has what it needs to win the bigger trophies.

In a crisis you need that foundation

On the Sunday evening after New Year my husband and I felt like a meal out. I am always looking for new places to try so had a list ready with three close to us. The first was closed for the festive season but we found the second open and buzzing with about half the tables occupied.

After placing our order we realised that the majority of those at the tables were in fact waiting for take away orders. They seemed to be getting quite agitated. My husband had a view into the kitchen and could see the manager, perspiring heavily, trying to get the orders flowing.

As time went on there were more and more complaints which were met with apologies and excuses of being busy. As the wait for food got longer the waiters disappeared, to avoid dealing with the conflict. We eventually received our order, out of the blue, an hour later. The Thai food was lovely but the evening hadn’t been a good one.

By this time things had quietened down, all the take away people had left and the seated diners had been served. The young manager came out from the kitchen and started visiting each of the remaining tables. We could hear the conversations as he got closer to us. He profusely apologised to each one explaining it was busy and he couldn’t be everywhere so had prioritised being in the kitchen.

When he got to us I thanked him for his apology and suggested he needed to find an experienced restaurant manager to help him get on track. I pointed out that in fact the restaurant wasn’t really full when things started to fall apart. Blaming it on a busy night was ignoring the true problem. There simply wasn’t the correct foundation in place to cope with a reasonable amount of business.

The key components of leader-management had not been put into place:
• Implement systems & processes – who does what, where, when and how - roles, responsibilities, skills & procedures
• Develop a strong work culture – we work together for a common purpose even when the going gets tough and without supervision
• Connect effectively with people – we are loyal & supportive, communicate well and are comfortable to use our initiative

Because the manager hadn’t created that foundation, when the “crisis” came he had no team, he was on his own. As an individual he was willing, polite, hard working, responsible. All great qualities. But as a manager he was lost.
Where does the blame lie? Is it the young manager’s fault? I don’t think so. The responsibility lies with the restaurant owner. He or she hired someone with a good attitude but without the necessary skills and experience. Now they need to bring in support to teach him. And after a bit of theory most of that teaching needs to be on the job mentoring – understanding how to translate theory into practise.

Do you have situations like this in your workplace? How can you make it more effective and profitable, and still have fun?

Music for the soul

I stumbled across this most unusual TED video this morning and played it in the background. What a beautiful interlude.

Natalie Merchant is a free spirit. Listen to the end to see how an artist who is so comfortable with herself handles a techie audience.

Natalie Merchant sings old poems to life

Sell Like a Doctor

The best sales line in the world is this:

"Please confirm that I understand your business correctly..." [Depending on the type of business you are in, you can change the word "business" to something more pertinent like: requirements, situation, problem, etc.]

These are not my own words. They come from an e-mail written by Scott Cundill (http://www.majesticway.net/). I thought he was so on the money that I asked his permission to share this with acknowledgement.

I often find myself saying to clients "This is how I understand what you have told me. Please stop me if I am getting it wrong ...".

I am an optometrist by training so I know how to take a case history, diagnose and prescribe. I even believe that sales is about meeting a need. However I am not sure that I have really been following the method so I was greatful for Scott's reminder. I hope it helps some of you.

Scott continues
Never, ever begin a sale by blindly listing all the services you offer and then hoping like hell that the client just happens to want one of them. Does a doctor sit back and tell you all the treatments he can offer before he knows what's wrong with you? Of course not!

Think like a doctor!

Diagnose the situation by consulting with the patient, not selling to them. Get them talking about their business or issue - that's what they are passionate about!

• Don't start with an introduction about who you are and where you come from
• Don't use PowerPoint unless you absolutely have to (and only at the end)
• Don't demo a product until you know what problem it will fix!
• Listen, listen, listen... don't talk, talk, talk! (and coming from me, that's a BIG statement!)

Next time you meet with a prospect, try using this killer line. I guarantee you'll see a wonderful change!

Grow Through Speaking

"we shall fight on the beaches,

we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender"

Those were powerful words. Words spoken by Winston Churchill in 1940. Words that pulled a nation together.


The words themselves are important but if they had been delivered differently would they have been effective? Would they have been remembered?

Imagine


Ghhh we shall UM fight on the beaches,
actually we shall fight on the landing grounds,
um um we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight you know in the hills;
and we shall I mean never surrender

It just doesn’t work, does it?


Being able to speak well is one of the most powerful life skills we can have.


Earlier this year I was at the elections for the new school governing body at King Edward VII school. A Mr Owusu was standing but he could not be at the meeting so he sent his 18 year old son to represent him. Owusu junior walked up to the lectern with confidence and clearly explained what his father could offer the school. He spoke well and with confidence. And he got his father elected.


Why? Because his speaking impressed us. Rightly or wrongly first impressions count and if you speak well the impression is that you are intelligent, capable, confident. And we assumed his father must be the same.


Speaking well opens doors of opportunity.


Where do we need to make good impressions ?- job interviews, dating, meeting new clients or the boss.

We all want something from our lives – it maybe money, position, good relationships, the opportunity to give. Certain skills and qualities make these easier to achieve. Apart from speaking what are some of the others?


Two big ones that come to mind are communication and confidence. Communication is not only speaking but listening as well.

We all feel quite confident about walking don’t we? Why? Because we know we have the skill to walk and because we have had positive experience of doing it. The same is true of gaining confidence in anything in life. Learn the basic skill and put it into practise. The more times it works the more confident you will feel.

Where do we learn these skills and gain this confidence? Well Owusu junior was in the school debating club and public speaking society . He was the deputy head boy of 2008 and he was the Mayor on the junior city council.


If we didn’t learn it at school what can we do?
We can join the local Toastmasters International club.


Toastmaster’s prepared speeches and table topics (impromptu speaking) are the debating society and public speaking club. Being on the committee is a chance to be the deputy head boy and being the area or divisional governor is being the junior mayor.


The TMI system has been designed to build the skills of communication and leadership and it gives people a safe space in which to practise so they have positive experiences and gain confidence. This then rubs off into other areas of their lives.


Many of us will rarely do prepared speaking in our daily lives but we all do much impromptu speaking. We introduce ourselves to people, we talk to clients, we talk to the manager or boss, we receive poor service from a company and we approach management to get it resolved or perhaps we get interviewed on the radio.


How do we develop impromptu speaking skills? Through prepared speaking. Think how say a tennis player becomes skilled at match play. They practise set shots over and over and then they practise them as a variety and then they use them as required in the game – spontaneously. The routine practise is used so that the skill is available for the spontaneous need.


The other half of TMI is leadership development.


In a business good leadership takes a company from good to great. But it is not only at work that we need leadership. Communities need leaders. Families need leaders. And we need to lead ourselves – organise ourselves, be punctual, take decisions, be accountable – so we can succeed for ourselves.


In Toastmasters this is learnt from the speaking projects and from the meeting roles.

When one puts leadership and communication together you can achieve most things.
You can inspire your team at work to put in a little more effort
you can help your teenager understand and enjoy their schoolwork
or you can persuade the bank to refund you the interest they over charged.

The TMI system is designed to give members the opportunity to develop these communication and leadership skills. But perhaps the greatest benefit of working the TMI system is the sense of achievement you feel for achieving your own personal goal. Whether that be to complete an Advanced Communicator gold or just to be able to stand up in front of people without your knees knocking. Or maybe it is to be the Club Secretary or the next District Governor.

So whether you want to inspire a nation or just your little girl; lead an army into battle or your team to an increased turnover; work the toastmaster system and it will work for you.

For information on your nearest club - phone or e-mail as per the moving banner at the top of this site