July 2019 - Meaning2Work

Strong Teams Value Relationships Over Results

What is the perfect team? Is there such a thing? At an instant, most of us can offer a championship sports team as an example. We can easily point out how each teammate played their role to perfection and sacrificed self-interest for the greater good.

Still, can it be that simple? In real life, don’t we have to look out for number one? Every company is looking to form a group of players who have complimentary skills. What about complimentary relationships? When examining successful teams, we need to look past results and resumes and consider social bonds.

Interestingly, for as often as we portray them as exemplary, one would expect championship sports teams to stay together. Instead, the players are usually off to bigger and better contracts within a year or two. While sports analogies have their value, they don’t go far enough to explain how we can build and keep strong teams in our lives.

To enhance the quality of teams in everyday life, consider the following factors:

Humility

In sales, people both work on teams and are compared individually. These rankings dictate not only income but long term employability. In the face of this tension, are the members of your team able to give each other credit for good results in person and in meetings? A strong teammate will congratulate another on an accomplishment, not stew in silent jealousy.

In addition, when it comes to receiving accolades, how willing are your team members to credit others and acknowledge luck? Rarely do good ideas surface in a vacuum. We’re often inspired by the words of others, sometimes without realizing it. And, like it or not, we know luck, bad and good, is inseparable from sales. Therefore, we’d always do well to acknowledge it, so our teammates can see we’re human and derive inspiration (not shame) from our success.

Personal Connection

It’s a misconception to think the best teams, being so engaged, only talk about work. It’s simply not true. The best teams I’ve been on have real conversations about a variety of topics. Our relationships became friendships, and bonds of trust were formed. This enabled us to have more productive and powerful conversations.

Better communication empowers people to come up with better ideas. Conversely, energy spent on guarding ones own interests comes at the expense of problem solving. Stress and fear inhibit the creative process. We can’t solve problems when we’re afraid of saying the wrong thing at all times.

Change Management

When teams are humble and closely connected, they become more able to handle serious change. When people can express honest opinions within a team about a change, they can safely “bounce” thoughts off each other. Therefore, each member gets to both share their own feelings and hear a non-judgemental outsider’s opinion. Crucially, this allows the team members to change their own beliefs without the burden of pride holding them back.

Through exposure to differing perspectives, members of strong teams are more confident to take action. After all, what do they have to lose? They know their teammates are there to support them. On weaker teams, denial of a change can fester and block progress. Consequently, once again, self-preservation can siphon away the energy needed for success.

Admittedly, it’s hard to argue with success – unless one counters with sustained success. We all can be lucky once, just not repeatedly. Therefore, we’d all do well to recognize and appreciate the humility and personal connection of strong teams when we find them. Otherwise, we risk seeing last year’s world champs crumble at the slightest obstacle.

Sincerely,
Meaning2work.com

Perfection: A Distinctly Human Flaw

Perfection city grid — Photo by Max Bottinger via Unsplash.com

It’s so obvious. Who wouldn’t want the perfect house, career, or family? I’ll take all three please! Life, however, wasn’t always centered around the relentless pursuit of perfection. By life, I mean life on earth before before humans. Back then, nothing was perfect.

In fact, for the approximate 13.8 Billion years before humans existed, the Universe did just fine with no obvious plan or design. Evolution itself is based on mutations, or mistakes. As the theory goes, the animals with the right deformities adapted to their environments and survived while the unlucky others died off.

Nature is flawed, unpredictable, and even chaotic. It doesn’t care about precision, order, or neatness. You and I, in everyday life, not only accept but occasionally celebrate this fact. For example, no two sunsets are alike, yet each is stunning in its own way. Thus, we feel compelled to photograph them.

Ironically, what we’ve come to appreciate in nature, we seek to eradicate in ourselves. Some of us doggedly hunt down our faults while others cover them up with pride. Either way, the reason we want perfection so badly is because we think we’ve seen it before. And, we are wrong.

Human-Derived Perfection: Symmetry

Consider the most beautiful plants, animals, and even people you’ve ever seen. They probably all have at least one thing in common, symmetry. Simultaneously it captivates and calms us. Take any photo or work of art and cut it in half, and you’re typically left with two balanced pieces. That’s symmetry and we love it – mostly.

For example, think of the people you see in fashion ads. Their faces are usually quite symmetrical. However, wouldn’t the faces of mannequins be even more so? Sounds creepy, I know. Perhaps it’s the imperfections that bring a human face to life?

Even when nature presents us with what looks to be perfection, it’s an illusion. For example, the horizon at the beach fools our eye into seeing a straight line. Someone might even say that symmetrical division of Earth and sky is symmetrical. Logically we know, however, that what we’re really seeing is an amalgam of thousands, if not millions, of distant undulating waves.

Human-derived perfection: Certainty

We don’t just imagine perfection in what we see, we also project it onto situations of cause and effect. In the business world, we look to high-achieving employees as models of flawless execution. In doing so, we fail to take into account the myriad of random circumstances that allow a given employee’s labor to come to fruition. Therefore, what we really celebrate is a perfect outcome, not a perfect performance.

Still, we fool ourselves into thinking certainty exists. If we just follow the right rules, we’re guaranteed to get the desired outcome. It’s comforting to have a plan. Otherwise, we can feel lost in the wilderness of random chance.

Like the humanizing flaws on a model’s face, the mistakes and uncertainty we face are what makes life fresh and real. We say we want the steps to success when, in reality, if life was that predictable, it would bore us to death!

Randomness and the perfect snowflake

Perfection randomness — Photo by Darius Cotoi via Unsplash.com

If there was such a thing as a perfect snowflake design, wouldn’t nature have figured it out by now? Nature’s strategy, if it has one, is complete randomness. Plants, animals, people, we all enter the world in near-limitless variation.

Our response is to resist randomness with things like gridded streets and manicured lawns. We simplify and shape nature’s complexity down to the simple designs we understand. And we harness natural resources to perform the narrow tasks required to continue our pursuit of perfection.

Self-Acceptance vs. Self-Improvement

Perhaps much of what we consider to be flaws are just variation. Our genes are like a hand of poker and our traits the individual cards. Some cards are weak and some strong; that is, if you choose to accept the rules of the game. Therefore, your so-called weaknesses could stem, not from you but from the game you choose to play.

A lot of us say we only want to improve while secretly coveting perfection. We claim to seek growth when, in reality, we have some arbitrary goal we’ve set as the only path to happiness. Therefore, we continue on, seeking to eliminate imperfections, in ourselves, in others, and in the world.

Failure for the win!

Meanwhile, mistakes have spawned some of the greatest discoveries (penicillin, the microwave, the inkjet printer to name a few). Maybe we should continually seek to improve but not always to dictate the direction of our improvement. And, maybe we can be open to the idea that flaws and mistakes may bring good news.

We like to say “to err is human,” when in reality errors exist all around us in nature. A better saying might be “to perfect is human.” As for the Universe, it’s doing just fine with chaos and disorder. It was here long before us and is likely to remain long after we’re gone.

Sincerely,

Meaning2work.com

Gratitude: How to Use Nothing to Find Value in Everything

Gratitude: the gift of first sight. — Photo by Pete Wright via Unsplash.com.

Out of nothing..

There I sat in my used 2015 Volkswagen Passat at a traffic light. It was a nice car, black and shiny in the Summer sun despite it’s 120,000 miles. Waiting for the signal, I did one of the most unavoidable things a driver can do, and glanced over at the car next to me. There sat a blue-eyed boy, about eleven or twelve years old maybe, with a summer buzz cut. Our eyes would’ve met sooner if he wasn’t staring down at my car.

Within a second he glanced up at me with a look of approval. It seemed he was just impressed enough to show it on his face. Not to oversell it, this was more of a “nice house” than a “huge chocolate bar” look. Then the light turned green, and we both pulled away.

Something vs. Nothing

That boy’s expression, however, stayed with me. It was as if he saw a car like mine for the first time and had no frame of reference. While you and I know there are much nicer cars, to him it could have been the prototypical vehicle, a one of kind. For all I know, he might have spent his life in the country where pick-ups are much more common than sedans.

To someone who doesn’t drive, a car must be a thing of wonder and mystery. I imagine power in both the machine itself and the freedom it promises must be quite impressive to someone who’s spent his entire life strapped in and restrained.

The gift of first sight

This scenario, in my opinion, exemplifies an ability children have and most adults have lost. They can see things for the first time. As a result, their perception of many things is a comparison, not to anything before, but to nothing. First, there was an empty lane. Then, bam, there was a shiny black car.

Like the characters in The Polar Express, who as they grew older, lost the ability to hear Santa’s bell, we adults lose the opportunity to experience new things. We instead relate everything to something existing in our memory banks. Even mankind’s most recent space explorations get compared to Sci-Fi movies. And, naturally, we compare everything new to everything old.

Gratitude: Somthing vs. Nothing — Photo by Mark Eder via Unsplash.com

Compare everything to nothing

What if adults could somehow again experience newness? Not only do I think it’s possible, all it takes is a conscious comparison of everything to nothing. For example, that miserably slow computer on your desk, how could your perform what it does without it? And that tired old car? Surely it beats the heck out of walking twenty miles to work. The comparisons remind us what it might’ve been like before we had something.

Of course, novelty isn’t limited to physical possessions. Last night’s poor dining experience could have been spent eating crackers on the couch. Think about your shitty jobs of the past. What if, in place of your struggle, you were unemployed the entire time? We’re much less likely to resent past tribulations after we’ve overcome them.

More importantly, what if we extend this type of comparison to people? Our family, friends, colleagues, what if we didn’t have them? I don’t suggest thinking about death, but something almost as sad. What if you never knew them at all? Think of each individual person and imagine if they had never been in your life. What an empty world!

Gratitude, the ideal treatment

Admittedly, it’s a hard perspective to take. Our minds are conditioned to compare everything to the past. Perhaps we’ve evolved to be that way. All I know is that I’ve heard from many authors the same message: gratitude is so powerful, it literally crowds out negative emotions. In fact, we physically cannot experience both gratefulness and depression at the same time.

Yes, being told to have gratitude can be annoying. It’s also useless. We need to seek gratitude on our own. No one can force it upon us. All I know is that whenever I’ve taken a moment to be grateful to have more than nothing, I’ve always felt better. Why not give it a try?

Sincerely,

Meaning2work.com

In Sales, “Playing The Game” Means "You Lose!"

Are you playing the game?
Do you ignore the inept policies, bad managerial decisions, and unrealistic expectations that come with your sales job in hopes for a brighter future? Do you instead do EXACTLY what you’re told in the manner you’re told to do it? Do you tell management what they want to hear, not how you really feel?
Why We Do It:
You look good to your manager.
You get favored treatment.
You have job security.
You see no other alternative, except the shame of undperformance.
Why We Shouldn’t Do It:
1. You look good only if your numbers are good.
Most of us are only two bad quarters away from a performance improvement plan. Following company protocols rarely, if ever, saves anyone with weak sales results.
2. You take incomplete or bad advice.
If making the sale was as simple as following the 5 step strategy you learned in training, you wouldn’t have a job. A high school kid would be doing it. There is always more to do and learn than management tells you.
3. You often don’t improve your skills.
Doing only what your told is a convenient excuse for not trying anything new. It’s been years since your boss has really sold anything. Have the courage to expand your abilities by talking to customers, reading books etc.
4. You are vulnerable to the next market change.
Selling by the book may pay handsomely now, but when your market changes, you’ll be behind the reps who were thinking ahead.
5. You annoy your customers.
Your customers pay for the value that you and your product bring them. Even the ones that like you have limited patience. Don’t waste their time with anything that doesn’t meet their needs even if it makes the boss happy.
6. You perpetuate the very conditions you complain about.
Can you lose weight without diet or excercise? If you don’t at least TRY to change your company for the better, nothing will happen! The pharmaceutical industry is a great example. For years, many doctors have often not allowed sales reps to talk to them. To make their sales call metrics, pharma reps have, for years, simply put fake calls into their CRM systems. The result? Unrealistic call metrics never go away!
Modern research supports not playing the game as well. For a more in-depth analysis, read on:
Sales is a world of accountability gone wild. When they say “Sell!”, we say “How Much!” Yet we are only as good as our latest sales report. Again, regardless past achievements , most of us are only two bad quarters away from a performance plan. You tell yourself you seek challenge, achievement, and money but more so, you fear failure.
In her book, “Leading Professionals: Power, Politics and Prima Donnas”, Professor Laura Empson says that many companies look for employees they describe as “insecure overachievers”. These employees hide their insecurity behind a tremendous work ethic. Many salespeople suffer from what I call the Oxygen Mask Problem. “Please put your own mask on before attending to children” We’ve all heard the safety message when flying. The Insecure Overachiever does the opposite. He or she thinks that taking care of everyone else will ultimately result in taking care of herself. Except the world doesn’t work that way, especially in sales.
Playing The Game
Playing the game in a sales job means blindly following a set of rules with the hope that your career will be taken care of. As an official game player, you may see others who don’t follow suit as irresponsible or reckless. Ironically, it’s you that is not facing up to reality.
Sales people complain about everything from unfair pay, to manufacturing delays, to the color choices for their next company car. Some complaints are frivolous. Some are not. Either way, when at the next company meeting, a manager asks for feedback, you, the good rule-follower, remain hidden in the crowd refusing to speak up. Then, at the hotel bar later that evening, you unleash your complaints on whomever will commiserate. Congratulations! Send me your jersey size because you are officially playing the game!
You tell yourself there are valid reasons for doing this. It’s what everybody else does. It avoids getting you noticed for being a complainer. It puts you on your boss’s good side. Playing the game paves the way to your next promotion. It’s the best thing to do for you and your family. When the opportunity comes to act independently or speak up you turn it down. Ironically, in an effort to avoid betraying the system, you betray yourself.
Take A Time Out
Change is scary isn’t it? The system you hate is still one you know. Why take a chance when things can get worse? “I’ll just put my head down, do my job, and wait until things get better,” you may think. Unfortunately, things don’t usually get better on their own. Some have thought, “I’ll change the system by first rising through the ranks and then working to make a difference.”
Eric Barker, author of the popular motivational book “Barking Up the Wrong Tree” calls this sequencing. It’s the belief that you can plan your life in large chunks. Life often intervenes with family issues, health isssues, and anything else to send your dreams up in smoke. After downing the huge dose of conformity it takes to be promoted, you will you have the willpower to think of the less fortunate souls you left behind? There’s a reason newly minted sales managers are know for playing by the book. They are pre-selected based on their willingness to do so.
So, am I saying you should flip off the boss at the next meeting or conduct a Ghandi-style hunger strike until conditions improve? Absolutely not! Let’s revisit some reasons not to play the game and explore some ideas of what to do instead.
Reason One: Your Boss Is Human.
Sales people, like craftsmen, see their skills grow with experience. Unlike craftsmen, the material they work with, their customers, change constantly and have a mind of their own. Chances are, the customers and situations your boss dealt with, as a salesperson, are not the same as yours are now. High performing salespeople don’t even make the best managers, according to a large study published by the National Bureau of Economic research entitled, “Promotions and the Peter Principle“. The sales advice your boss gives you has it’s limits. The more experience you have in sales, the less valuable this advice is. Lower your ROI expectations on what your boss tells you.
Reason Two: You are being judged on your results, NOT on how well you follow rules.
What you do means more than a number on a spreadsheet. Like it or not, this is still the way most salespeople are evaluated. Whether or not you agree with the system is irrelevant. Most managers are playing their own version of the game and you have to live with it. In reality, how much you sell trumps everything else. A stellar record with turning in reports and kissing up to the boss rarely saves anyone with low sales numbers.
Reason Three: Remaining silent helps no one.
The Bystander Effect, coined by researchers John M. Farley and Bibb Latané in the 1960’s, is a phenomenon in which witnesses to emergencies are less likely to help a victim when in a crowd. Sound crazy? It’s not when you consider that each individual expects someone else to help out. Ignoring serious problems doesn’t solve them. It’s like telling your 13-year-old to skip all the difficult problems on his Math final. Not bringing up a legitimate concern to management can do a disservice to your real boss – the customer. Don’t forget, he or she makes the buying decision, not your manager. For a more thorough discussion of this point, check out my post “Think BACk: Free Will Is A Bitch!” Speaking of customers, how often do they change their buying habits without you or another salesperson supplying them with a reason? Serious problems don’t solve themselves. YOU need to speak up. It’s that simple.
What you can do about it.
Take responsibility of your own happiness. To address problems you can’t solve on your own, you have three options: bring the issues to the attention of someone who can solve them, decide not to let them bother you any longer, or seek out a better job.
Be thoughtful in the way you present your concerns. Do not make your complaint personal or deliberately insulting. Explain the ramifications of the problem as you see it. How does the problem hinder the sales process or your customer’s business? Finally, be prepared for any response. If you’re miserable and your company shows no signs of improving, look for a better opportunity. The same holds true if your company ignores problems and sacrifices the business you worked hard to win.
Be brave enough to demonstrate how much you care about your company. It’s unlikely you’re alone in noticing what needs improving. You might gain more respect from your peers for doing it.
Regards,
Meaning2work