Making Assumptions

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Know or Willing to Learn

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Starting this year we have split TOL into two sections.  The basic short question your thinking we have always done, and now the TOL extra.  So go sign up over at http://bridleinfocus.com.

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Hi!

You’ve caught me looking at a book, trying to find a bird, we have a beautiful bird flying around the building and I was wondering what type of bird it is.  This brings me to this month’s Thoughts on Leadership, because there is a lot of difference between wanting to know something and being willing to learn.  Many people have a desire for knowledge, desire for knowing something but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are willing to learn.

Take me for instance, I do enjoy birds and when I see a bird that is interesting, I like to know what type of bird it is.  I have no desire to be an expert on birds.  I have no desire to go bird watching.  I am just really interested in the different types of birds.

This is useful in terms of business these days.  Why do we want to know something?  Is it something that we need an in depth knowledge of, or is it something that we just need to have some general information about?  Would this be useful to us?

Most important from a leader’s point of view is understanding your people.  There are people out there who just want to know.  They are thirsty for knowledge about things, but there are ones that want it for the wrong reasons.  In other words, they are desperate to know anything and everything and they have got to know what is going on and what is happening and all these sort of things, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have a genuine desire to learn.

The desire to learn is what is really key, particularly in certain areas of your business.  For example, you may have a situation where you want somebody to know something specific about the product, the wiling to learn bit is ‘how’ they are able to explain that product to the client.  So, if there if you have somebody who is quite happy to know about the product, but are not willing to learn ‘how’ to sell it to the client, then they are maybe the wrong person for that job.

As a result, the key is really getting to understand that there is a difference between ‘wanting to know something’ and ‘willing to learn’ and both are needed and at times we are going to need to do one or the other.  Have we got the right person for the right situation?

We have just started a business, which is in the sales training arena and it’s about “yes, we can give you the knowledge to things” but taking it that step further and getting you to be able to apply it, that requires you to have a willingness to learn and many people have a desire to know but not necessarily a willingness to learn.

This month I am asking you some simple questions here:

I want you to think about your own people and once you do, look at some of the people you’ve got working for you and ask yourself, “Is this somebody who has a desire to know something or is it somebody who is really willing to learn?”  The depth comes in the willing to learn.  The knowledge is just a veneer, very useful, very important and in some cases – all that’s needed.  However, in other cases, it is the depth that’s needed.  In my case, knowing about the different types of birds, that is great, but the depth would come in actually understanding them, their habits, etc. so that I could have an in depth knowledge of them and I could recognise them when I saw them and realise when they are out of place or where they might be nesting or whatever is required.

Think about it in your business.  What do you want people to know and what do you want them to be able to apply with that knowledge?  When you have those two differentiators then start to ask yourself the question with regards to some of your individuals; ‘Is this somebody who just wants to know or is this somebody who is willing to learn?’  If they only need to know and they are willing to know, well then that is great, you can deal with that.  But if they are somebody who you needed to be able to apply and go a stage further, then they have to have a willingness to learn.  The learning takes them from the knowledge into application.  It is that different.

I hope that has given you something to think about this month, I will go into more detail on the website, if you want to know more but there is something for you to go and think about this month.

I hope you are having a good month and a good year!

See you next month,

Bye for now!

Tapping and Sharing Knowledge

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Starting this year we have split TOL into two sections.  The basic short question your thinking we have always done, and now the TOL extra.  So go sign up over at http://bridleinfocus.com.

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We all attend events.  We sit in an auditorium, we listen to a guest speaker, you listen to the event.  And I do a lot of them; often I do the speaking part.

The question always is ‘what do you take away from it?’  And most of all what do you do as a result?  I find that a lot of people attend, they listen very attentively, they are making all these notes and they put the notes with every intention of doing something but do not follow through.  Worse than that, the organisation does not follow through either.

So, I got to thinking about it in terms of getting the best out of our people.  It’s also them getting the best out of the events and things that they are doing.  Whether it be meetings with clients, whether it be coming to a session such as this or whether it just be a day to day activity, how are you getting them to ensure they are drawing the best out and then using it for the benefit of the organisation?  Do you have, as part of your team meeting, a round robin discussion from everybody?  Who have you met this week?  What work sessions have you been to?  What learning have you undertaken? And how can you share that with other people in the team?

That’s the way learning and development is these days.  It’s about people taking ownership for their own development and it’s also about them sharing that with each other and within the teams that they work.

So, this month I got to thinking and challenge you with a question.

Are your teams;

1. Taking ownership for their development?
2. Are they sharing everything they learn?  And w

When we talk about development, I’m not using the word training deliberately.  I’m not talking about training sessions; I’m talking about development as in; what have you read?  What conversations have you had?  What sessions have you been to?  What online stuff have you been reading and studying?  And is there stuff that you can share with the team?  Because if you’re the leader aren’t encouraging this, proactively with them, then they’re not necessarily going to be doing it on their own accord.

So, the question, what are you doing about getting your team to think about taking ownership for their development and then sharing with each other?  Development in the widest sense of the word.

I hope you’re having a good month.  See you again next month.  Bye for now.

On Exhibition

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Hello, and welcome to this months Thoughts on Leadership’

At some stage in our lives we all attend tradeshows/exhibition.  When you enter them you can see that people have gone to a great deal of effort to put on a great show.  After all, it is an exhibition; it’s an exhibition of us, come look at us; look at the best of what we can be.  There is a tremendous amount of money and effort that gets put into all of this, for a two/three/four day show, and in reality, we are on show/exhibition every day

Our organisations/companies are being exhibited to our clients, either positively or negatively, everyday.  Whilst, there is a lot of effort going into these two/three/four day events, what is happening every day?   Is there the same amount of money, time or energy being put into how we are exhibiting ourselves on a daily basis.  Do we consider how our people are exhibiting themselves in the way they behave?

When you go to an exhibition, people dress well, people look good, people smile, people – if you’ve ever been to one you all know what I mean – you end up the day with your cheeks been sore because you smiled so much.  Yet we can go into an organisation and people are sat there, looking miserable, it’s hard work to speak to you whereas at the show, it’s out there doing it.

So the question I want to ask you this month is:

Are you thinking about exhibitions as just tradeshows and events, or do you see exhibitions as what we do all day, every day as an organisation?  If you are thinking that way, then what are you doing about getting your people to think like that?  To get into their mind, this is an exhibition, we are on show.  Everything we do is about exhibiting our brand, our products, our philosophy, whatever it is that our business is about.

I want you to really think about; how does your customer see you?  How does your customer see you day-by-day when they visit you?  Not just the times that they visit you on a tradeshow or when they see you first, because it’s being many times I’ve gone to a tradeshow stand and been really impressed and then called the person afterwards and found the real company — the company that doesn’t answer their phone, the company that doesn’t respond very well.  The company where the people don’t smile, they don’t reply, they don’t follow-up.  If you think about it, when you spend all that money on an exhibition, the important part is then following up, if you want to get a return on that money.  It is not just taking all those cards, putting them all in a file and doing nothing with them, you have to do the follow up, you have to follow through and part of that follow through is what you are doing day-by-day in your organisation.

So my question this month:  Is exhibition what you do purely at a tradeshow, or is exhibition what you do every day in your organisation, and if so are your people understanding that?  Are your people rising to that occasion?  In other words, do they appreciate that it’s about the show; it’s about an exhibition every day.

I hope that’s been helpful to you.

I look forward to see you again next month!

Bye for now!

Paul

Dealing with Difficult People

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The other day, I got asked an interesting question: “how do you deal with people who are basically stupid?  It’s just difficult, they are just being obnoxious with you and they are being troublesome.”

I got to thinking about that.  Well, how do you deal with somebody like that?  I actually think the biggest thing is, keep your cool.

The mindset you have is going to dominate the situation, not them.  The moment they dominate the situation and your mindset, then you have got a problem.

So, here’s my suggestion, first of all, you have to come from a premise that everybody means well.  Maybe not the way I approach things, maybe not the way you approach things but it’s the way they have approached it and there is some reason for that behaviour.  If you can understand what that behaviour problem is or whatever, then you can deal with it.

So, if the person’s intention is good, but they are just handling it wrong, then the questions are going to get a lot easier.  It’s right, okay, what was driving this?  How do you now respond to it?  Is there something else that is really the issue?  Can we get around it?  Have you got all of the facts?

This person knows something that you don’t know, often I find that people who know something that you do not know or, they think you do not know and that’s why they are so desperate to make their point to you.

So, they make their point, you listen, ask the right questions and then you are left with a situation.  Is this what I have to deal with?  Can I just politely say “thank you” and move on?  Or are they part of the decision-making process in which case I have to win them over?  If they are not part of the decision making process, do not get bogged down, just move on.  Say, “thank you very much” then get out of the way from it.

But if they are part of the decision-making process, well then you have to take it to the next level.  Start looking at what you can do to get them to see it differently and start asking them questions to make them think a little bit differently about the situation.

The questions I am going to ask you this month:

What is it that you can do yourself when dealing with this situation that stops you getting angry, getting annoyed, getting worked up and giving them the ownership for the situation, because they have basically compressed your mind with the way that they behave?

What can you do about it?  I used to do exercises; I used to start taking deep breaths, or just go off and do something else just to get away from it for a while.  Whatever it takes, have you got a strategy?  What is your strategy?  And then practice it if it’s not quite the right strategy; tweak it, until you find the right one.

We are always going to have these problems; the making of us is how we deal with them.

I hope this has been helpful.

See you next month!

Bye now

Paul

Learning and Teaching

My apologises for the previous update to Thoughts on Leadership.  For some reason we posted up last months information.  Also remember our new site Bridle Infocus

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Paul