Posted by November 19, 2016.
onNo, we are not here today to discuss how to “eliminate” those hard to reach audiences. Quite the contrary! We want to give you a taste of how to utilize the data from our Profile Leadership tools to OPTIMIZE your interactions with those audiences such as employees, people you’re interviewing or your sales team. This is one aspect of the RED Zone which are the three areas of your business (Recruiting, Execution and Development) where you get the highest rate of return for your change efforts.
There are 3 definitions that are important:
- Self-Awareness – aware of ones traits, feelings and behaviors AND the IMPACT those factors have on our audience.
- Execution – to carry out, complete, perform, do or accomplish. OPTIMAL execution refers to getting things done with ANY audience by “mitigating tension” with that audience.
- Comfort Zone – is a situation where a person feels secure, comfortable or in control. It is where we NATURALLY want to go when we feel pressure or stress.
Before one can execute, they must assess. Assessments offered by Profiles Incorporated provide information to the “Executioner” that is consistent, in-depth, and objective. Leaders and managers can then rely less on gut instinct and make smarter people decisions. One such assessment is the Profiles Sales Assessment. It is designed to evaluate an individual relative to the qualities required to perform successfully in a specific sales role and predicts on-the-job performance. Let’s look at an example. Click here to see a Profiles Sales Assessment Concurrent Performance Model Overview of a real life 12 person team. The leaders’ scores are highlighted in yellow. Once we have assessment data for a group or team we can integrate it into a 1 page overview like this. As you can see, the leader and the team have a wide range of results. If everyone works in their comfort zones, this broad difference in perspective will create a great deal of tension resulting in less efficient and less effective individual and team execution. Have you ever been in a situation where it felt like “pulling teeth” to get your goals accomplished? The primary reason for this feeling is a significant difference in behavior perspective with your audience. A report like this provides a ROADMAP on how to stretch outside your comfort zone to mitigate tension with your audience.
A good example of how to use this report to optimally execute and create a tension free environment for your audience is to focus on the Sociability behavior section. The leader has a score of 3 which means the leader is comfortable getting right down to business and focusing on the tasks at hand. The leader prefers not to exchange a great deal of pleasantries or small talk. 7 members of this leader’s team have a score of 7 or higher. This means these people are comfortable being very outgoing and exchanging a number of pleasantries and engaging in small talk. Ifeveryone stays in their comfort zone,the leader will be thinking “don’t you all understand how busy I am? I don’t have a lot of time to waste on small talk. Let’s get down to the tasks at hand.” The team members are thinking “doesn’t my boss care about me, my family or the things I am interested in?” Clearly, this will create tension! Once everyone knows why this tension is happening the leader can now stretch outside their comfort zone and encourage small talk and pleasantry exchange to create a more positive environment for the more social team members. The team members understand the leader prefers a more “get down to business” style and curtails their small talk and pleasantry exchange to create a more positive environment for the leader. This results in a much more efficient and effective approach for all concerned. Optimum execution!
The reason these positive interactions are important is because, according to research detailed in our case study, Creating a Team Building Culture, a team is more productive when they’re engaged. It goes on to identify that in order for employees to remain engaged and productive they must have:
- a work culture that is fundamentally stimulating
- a return on the investment they are making in the company
- leadership from people they can respect
Watch for future blog posts where we will focus on the various sections of this Profiles Sales Assessment Concurrent Performance Model Overview.
Ask us about our individual and team consulting services where we will guide you through the results of your assessments, highlight opportunities for cohesion or conflict and help you become an OPTIMAL EXECUTION MACHINE!
For more information on How to Execute with ANY Audience, click here to read every blog post in this series.