egyii blog

 Scenario

In today’s world, everyone is looking for the right “fix” for their business. Some examples of the fixes are:

The release of new products to fit the ‘mould” for today

Making price adjustments

Re-skilling the workforce to face today’s scenario

Or doing absolutely nothing…

All of these options have short to long term effects. So which option do we choose to make the most impact? Well doing absolutely nothing certainly stands on it own, so a combination of the others does makes the most sense.

But, if you were to prioritize, which one should be emphasized? I believe it should be your people, your front line. As your greatest asset, your client facing people can make the most memorable short, medium and long term impact in businesses.

So, from here on in, we will focus on your people.

This then leads to two big questions. Do we look at “short term” solutions and possibly sacrifice long term results? Or do we look at “medium to long term solutions” and sacrifice short term results?

These questions are not necessary. Why? Let’s build solutions for short, medium and long term results.

The Ultimate Problem

The problem is making the right decision in order to make the highest impact, and too many companies take the wrong perspective and make the wrong decision. What people think is the right decision for the solution is actually the short term, quick fix solution. Why are people choosing this route? Because it is the “easiest” option to implement and it is one that typically can be measured, so it appeases both management and shareholders as it (supposedly) brings in results now.

How are these employee based solutions implemented? Through:

Product and technical training

A new sales process or re-enforcement of an old process

Setting financial goals and measuring the behavioral targets to meet those goals (often done by micro managing)

But is the the best for the client? The one who is suffering the most? The one who actually pays the bills?

No.

Suggested Solutions

Financial organizations are “talking” trust, customer experience, customer centricity, client relationships and loyalty as the key solutions for the client, and therefore the solutions to many of the business problems. But very little is actually being done in these areas. It is all a lot of talk – blah blah blah marketing. Why? Because these require “soft skills” and are not “sexy.” Most businesses reach for “sexy” measurable fixes.

But because they are not “sexy” and mot measured, does this mean that you don’t get results?

No.

Let’s look at the facts. And let’s look at it holistically – in other words a programme that brings results across the  board.

Firstly, I suggest we take a realistic approach and look at how to deliver the right results. As Anthony Tjan, MD of The Cue Ball Group,  states “We too often focus on the desired financial performance target, rather than the inputs that drive those numbers…financial performance is a result, a by-product, a consequence of something else.”  Anthony  has written a very interesting approach to business results in his recent article in Harvard Business Publishing “The Fallacy of Financial Metrics.”

And now, let’s look at a few of the short, medium and long term results from implementing a few people focused programmes..

Loyalty. Loyalty programmes, which are a by product of client realtionships and customer expereince programmes, are very difficult to measure. The means of measurement would be similar to measuring soft skills training, in other words look at the numbers, the results. But numbers can be affected by too many variables (market swings, new product releases,  a change of the weather, Etc).

Frederick Reichold, who has made his entire 30+ year career studying customer loyalty, has measured loyalty and states in his book “The Ultimate Question,” that “A 5 percent increase in retention can equal to a twenty-five to one hundred percent increase in profitability.” Wow. What if the financial organizations had retianed more clients?

As for trust, trust is a hot topic now, from Harvard Business Review to Steven MR Covey. How do you measure trust? Again, very difficult but similar to how you would measure soft skills training and loyalty.

I recently asked Charles H. Green, of Trusted Advisor Associates and co-author of The Trusted Advisor (and a leader in the filed of trust and business) about how to respond to the constant request for short term solutions for immediate results. He responded by saying ” Short term results come from long term management. The best short term performance comes not from managing short term, but managing long term.” Enough said.

So, in summary, let’s re-adjust our attitude and look at employee/client focused programmes that can and do give a holistic solution- short, medium and long term. Although they may not be sexy, and can’t be measured with hard numbers, your greatest asset, your client facing people, can make the most memorable short, medium and long term impact in businesses by delivering upon these programmes. 

Let’s look at why the current economic fiasco happened in the first place. Wasn’t it a result of the push for immediate results? And what are we going to do, repeat what we have just done?

So forget the measurement. Focus on the client. Go with your gut.

For an abbreviated version, please see and download the following: Sizing Up Short to Long Term…

 Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

What do we mean by ‘downturn’? What do we mean by ‘economic crisis’?  

The meaning we attach to words such as these, and hence to events that happen to us, is a very personal thing.

I may see the ‘downturn’ as something absolutely devastating to me personally, to my finances and to the happiness of my family. My morale will be sure to be rock bottom. On the other hand, you may see the downturn as an opportunity to cut out bad spending habits and save more of your income.

Even if you lose your job, you may see it a great opportunity to re-evaluate your life and start afresh, even if from a lower income base.

The thing to realise is that we have a choice about what meaning we attach to events. We can choose to let the newspapers, our friends or our colleagues influence that meaning, or we can choose to be the masters of our meaning.

If today we allow the newspapers or our colleagues to influence how we see our situation, it is likely we will become depressed. And if we then influence our colleagues with our own depressing viewpoints, our group morale will suffer.

But if we stop and think for ourselves and ignore other people’s opinions, we can choose to interpret the situation in any way we like.

It’s simply not true that because companies are losing sales, we all have to be miserable. Companies losing sales is a fact. But what we do with this fact is just a creation we make in our own minds. We can choose to interpret this fact in a way that makes us feel OK about ourselves, our family, or the world in general.

So, my advice is: don’t get swept up in ‘group think’ which lets your morale sink. Don’t follow everyone else’s interpretation of events. Take control of your own mind and find ways to feel OK – whatever is happening in the world, ‘good’ or ‘bad’ (which, of course, is just someone’s interpretation.)

For leaders, stop a moment and look inward so as to harness your personal resources. Find a new, more positive way to view your company’s situation and help your people attach more useful meanings to the events that confront your organisation.

We are fast realising that self-management is a critical addition to skills enhancement, and if we can learn to tap into our own internal resources, we will be stronger, more confident and more likely to perform at our peak.

James Irvine, Team Egyii, Singapore

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) training has a lot to say about motivation: how we motivate ourselves, and how others are motivated. These motivators are called Metaprograms, and when we understand how they work, we gain enormous power to influence ourselves and others.

In fact, ignorance of Metaprograms can relegate us to the group of chronic underperformers if we are in sales, management, human resources or leadership. Understanding this vital aspect of relationship management gives us one of the keys to performance acceleration and improved personal results.

One Metaprogram is known as ‘toward or away from’, and describes people’s preferences and drives. For example, if John is a ‘toward’ person, then he will be motivated by the prospect of receiving or gaining a benefit, or achieving a future goal which has positive results for him. In other words, you must show him how he can move towards a pleasurable feeling. If you attempt to persuade John by emphasising what he will lose by not doing what you suggest (e.g. buying insurance or investing in your financial product), you will fail to win him over time and time again.

On the other hand, if you attempt to influence him to invest in your financial product by emphasising the possible increase in asset values and income, he will probably sit up and listen to you. So long as you present John with a movement towards some positive future outcome, you will gain his attention and interest.

Turning to the opposite motivation, if John’s friend Judy is an ‘away from’ person, you will stand a greater chance of persuading her if you present her with the lost opportunity of not investing. You will need to show her how much profit she will potentially lose by not investing (“Imagine the increased wealth you would lose by this time next year if you don’t switch from cash to a unit trust”). In other words, she is motivated by avoiding pain. With Judy, no amount of positive messaging will encourage her to invest. She is motivated by the fear of loss, and will do anything to move away from a potentially negative situation.

Of course, ‘towards or away from’ are not the only metaprograms. You can probably identify some other of your motivations if you think about it.  The point is, no amount of skill in active listening or speaking in short, clear sentences is going to help you get the results you want if you don’t first lay the foundation of human understanding. Once this is in place, your relationship skills will come into their own and help you achieve more than you ever thought possible.

If you want to succeed in your career, or you’re a manager who wants to get the best out of your people, the first place to look is inside.

What does this mean? Well, some people such as myself, James Irvine and my partner Trip Allen at http://thethinkingcircle.com believe that it doesn’t matter how many communication or leadership skills you learn – if your beliefs or ability to put yourself in the right frame of mind are working against you, no amount of technique or skills asquisition will work.

If you are really interested in personal development and performance acceleration, start with your private voice i.e. the things you say to yourself all day long. Pay attention to the kinds of messages you are giving yourself, because these messages will directly affect your state (i.e. your mood and thoughts) and therefore your behaviour. In fact NLP teaches us that our internal communication does more for our performance than our external communication, our public voice.

Egyii’s founders know this, because Trip Allen and James Irvine have experienced the powerful impact on their results of even small changes in their beliefs and thoughts. So if you really want that performance acceleration, or you want to differentiate your company through your people’s flexibility, resilience and resourcefulness, then look inside first. You will be amazed at the difference to your leadership capabilities, relational skills and personal results even a small personal change can make.