How?

Everyone is human; therefore, most people desire a human connection. The question is “how?” That is where the chicken and the smile theory comes in.

The Chicken.

Throughout my world travels, I often find myself in remote villages. In these villages, the common creature (other than the human), is the chicken. Chickens have their universal language; the cluck. The only language I can speak is in these villages is “chicken.” Cluck. Cluck. So in order to connect, I act like a chicken and cluck…not to connect with the chickens, but with the villagers. They love it. They smile and gather around. I have connected.

So, the point is, there is a way to connect. You just need to find that means of connecting (and it may be a bit risky- but worth the try!). It could be with a topic: sports, news, family. Or something you may have in common. Or it could be some sort of gesture.

The Smile.

The smile is my favourite gesture. It is the universal means of communication and connecting. It is amazing what happens when you smile.

Relationships start with a connect. Keep in mind that everyone differs in the way they connect, so you may need to be sensitive. And if one thing doesn’t work, try a smiling, to connect the dots, to start your relationships. It rarely fails.

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

A brief overview of the challenging current selling and buying environment and how to deal with it. For presentation download: Trust-based™ Selling and Business Development

Please send an email to: trip.allen@egyii.com if you are interested in the article, Trust: The Core Concepts, which covers the 3 models that will help you develop trustworthiness and the article Can Trust be Taught?

For more information on the Marketing Institute of Singapore, please click here MIS.

Thank you for attending.

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

What then transpires due to these and other challenges? Cliques are formed, feuds happen and morale is down. This then results in lower performance levels, a lack of productivity, and general negativity which, ultimately, causes the teams to fall apart.

How to keep teams intact? Trust. Trust is the backbone to teamwork.

..the most critical, foundational building block of a team is trust. Without trust most teams are really disparate collections of individuals called groups. The element that creates or erodes trust is your individual behaviour. Charles H. Green, Trusted Advisor Associates

Business team leaders therefore need to build trust, by behaving in a trustworthy manner. The team members won’t trust them for the sake of trusting. It is too risky. Therefore, the team leaders need to lead and exhibit the traits and characteristics that create trustworthiness. It is up to the leaders to drive two of the following Trust Principles:*

Collaboration: To work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavour. (Merriam-Webster)

A few examples:

Team leaders need to demonstrate trustworthiness by constantly involving the team member. Don’t speculate about what your team is thinking – ask them.

Value meetings over phone calls and phone calls over emails. Make it personal.

Practice putting all issues on the table for joint discussion.

Transparency: The art of being transparent. Transparent: 1) free from pretense or deceit: frank 2) easily detected or seen through: obvious 3) readily understood 4) characterized by visibility or accessibility of information especially concerning business practices. (Merriam-Webster)

Nothing destroys trust faster than the team leader who appears to be withholding information or trying to control the team member. Be willing to be open about your practices.

Most organizations recognize that trust is an important consideration in their company’s success, but many employees don’t feel it is being nurtured internally. The main culprit? Top management… Charles H. Green, Trusted Advisor Associates

Trust drives relationships which drives teamwork, therefore team leaders need to set the example and drive trusted relationships… to keep the teams together.

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

*The Four Trust Principles, Charlies H. Green, Trusted Advisor Associates

The leaders who work most effectively have trained themselves not to think “I.” They think “we;” and they think “team.” They understand that their job is to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it. But “we” get the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done. Peter Drucker.

For presentation download: The Unparalleled Power of Trust.

Please send me an email to: trip.allen@egyii.com if you are interested in the article, Trust: The Core Concepts, which covers the 3 models that will help you develop trustworthiness.

Thank you for attending.

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

So how do you measure the ROI on personal relationships?

And why invest in personal relationships?

Personal relationships drive business, no doubt. Personal relationships are also one of the most powerful tools in the executive’s tool kit, although executives rarely admit it, because it is soft and tough to measure.

You can see a direct affect on business, but from a metrics perspective, it may be difficult. But, we all know that it works. It works because companies do invest in means of building personal relationships. They invest a large amount in personal entertaining- dinners, drinks, sports games, etc. All for building personal relationships.

So why not invest more on skills and mindsets to cement those ever-so-powerful personal relationships?

As my third grade teacher, Mrs. Drake, used to say, “Sometimes I wonder.”

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

Marketing Institute of Singapore (MIS) Keynote July 2, 2010

Buyers of complex services and products today are wiser and smarter than ever before.  Gone are the days of product pushing, old sales techniques and not connecting at a high level with the buyers.  What do buyers really want?

For more see MIS Keynote July 2, 2010.

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

What is this? Suggestions on building powerful business relationships from the get-go?

Nope.

These are tips for hostage negotiators. Hostage negotiators have an insane job which is to save the life of a hostage from an irrational hostage taker.

Wow.

Sales people and executives also have tough jobs- winning over both internal and external clients. Similar to the hostage negotiator, but one makes the difference between life and death.

So why can’t executives and sales people consistently exhibit these traits? Shouldn’t they do it naturally- like the hostage negotiator?

The problem is focus. Lack of focus. Business people are too focused on the business, themselves, their numbers, the outcomes, the sale, Etc. This is detrimental. It does not build the relationship needed to be successful.

Think about it. The hostage negotiator HAS to be focused. It is a matter of life and death.

So, sales people and executives have to think like the hostage negotiator. Think of it as a matter of life and death- not for the hostage in this instance, but for themselves.

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore.

Gen Y.

Smart.

Technically astute.

Global.

Diverse.

Distracted.

Interesting…..

Ready? Equipped? Are they prepared to face the tough world ahead?

Recent studies by Trusted Advisor Associates shows that when it comes to what many consider to be the most powerful tool in your business and personal tool kit, (relationships) they are not prepared. Let’s look at the four levels of internal and external business relationships:

Expertise based

Needs based

Relationship based

…and trusted advisor based

Being a trusted advisor is the highest level one can attain, and, of course, the most valuable.

The studies show that as age increases, the level of trustworthiness increases. There is approximately an 18% difference in trustworthiness between the ages of 20 to 70. The downfall to lacking trustworthiness and struggling in relationships for younger workers, most likely,  is a lack of life and business and life experience. Can trustworthiness be accelerated in an individual?

Accelerating them ahead

“Going against conventional wisdom: trust CAN be taught. Some business leaders make the case that to improve performance, people and businesses should leverage their strengths rather than concentrating on fixing their weaknesses. This makes a great deal of sense in areas of skills mastery. But when it comes to trust, the opposite is demonstrably true. By focusing on their weaknesses, individuals can make disproportionately large and rapid improvements in their trustworthiness, because improving weaknesses has the effect of lowering standard deviation, thereby increasing perceived integrity. By becoming aware of an imbalance in their trustworthiness strategies, individuals can strengthen their overall trustworthiness. By focusing on even minor improvements in their weak components, they can see a major impact on their overall ability to build trust.” (From “Think More Expertise Will Make You More Trusted? Think Again” by Trusted Advisor Associates)

Is your new workforce ready for the onslaught? Probably not. It may be time to address the imbalance.

(For more on the Trusted Advisor Associates study, see What Really Builds Trust. And, for an interesting snippet of Gen Y see We are Gen Y)

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

One of the most important understandings of Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) is that ‘the map is not the territory’. We take in information from around us through our senses, in particular our sight, hearing and feelings. We then interpret this information in our own individual way, depending on a whole host of things such as our beliefs, experiences, upbringing, culture etc.

In other words, we create our own individual map of reality – and this is always going to be different from what is  actually ‘out there’ i.e. the ‘territory’. Not only that, every person’s map will be different from everyone else’s.

To be great communicators, then, we must be great observers. Only when we have taken the trouble to stand back and notice how another person is communicating can we begin to understand their map. How do they express themselves? What kinds of key words and phrases do they use? What do their gestures and facial expression tell us? What are they saying with their tone of voice?

A final word: just being aware that other people’s maps are different from our own is a simple step towards communication excellence, as this creates tolerance and a desire to investigate and understand. This alone can help us to create great performance.

James Irvine, Team Egyii, Singapore

Many reasons for low employee engagement and high employee turnover are given by companies, from unhappiness about having to accept lower pay during the downturn, to high career expectations. These may play a part, but often the perception of employees by management as being less important in creating a competitive advantage than product or service innovation and marketing strategy, is bound to send the wrong signals.

When management and senior leaders recognise that in today’s tough business environment, it is their people who have the potential to create that critical competitive edge that will see companies through this crisis, only then will they change their practices.  Changing practices means honouring the untapped potential in all your people, maintaining training and development initiatives, and creatively coming up with ideas on how to place employees at the centre of your strategic plan.

Only then will businesses find that the tough times can be managed and overcome.

James Irvine, Team Egyii, Singapore