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“Great discoveries and improvement invariably involve the cooperation of many minds. I may be given credit for having blazed the trail, but when I look at the subsequent developments I feel the credit is due to others rather than to myself.”
Alexander Graham Bell (1847 – 1922)
Scientist, inventor, engineer, and innovator; credited with inventing the telephone
Short on ideas? In need of a big breakthrough, or even a small one? Feeling overwhelmed by a million projects, none of them creating the progress you’d hoped for?
I recommend the following steps to clear your head and get fresh ideas growing and break the vicious cycle of busy-work that doesn’t seem to move you ahead:
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About the Author
Alex Hiam (www.alexhiam.com) is the author of more than 20 popular books on business, including Business Innovation For Dummies
, Marketing For Dummies
, and Marketing Kit for Dummies
. A lecturer at the business school at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, he has consulted with many Fortune 500 firms and large U.S. government agencies.
StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag articles on the StrategyDriven website.
Special Edition 39a – An Interview with Sharon Drew Morgen, author of Dirty Little Secrets, part 1 of 2 explores a new decision facilitation model that helps buyers (and those seeking change) manage the behind-the-scenes decision issues they have to handle privately before they get internal agreement to make a purchase. Sharon Drew also explains why the traditional sales model – that only handles needs assessment and solution placement – creates overly long sales cycles and loses such a high percentage of sales. During our discussion, she shares with us her insights and illustrative examples regarding:
why the typical sales model is broken and the problems it causesAdditional Information
In addition to the invaluable insights Sharon Drew shares in Dirty Little Secrets and this special edition podcast are the resources accessible from her websites, www.NewSalesParadigm.com and www.BuyingFacilitation.com. Sharon Drew’s book, Dirty Little Secrets, can be purchased by clicking here.
COMING SOON!
Look for our upcoming six-part StrategyDriven Podcast series on Making Change Work. These insightful podcasts will help you and your team understand the steps to gaining the buy-in and committed effort needed to implement change successfully. We’ll cover topics including:
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About the Author
Sharon Drew Morgen, author of Dirty Little Secrets, is the Founder of Morgen Facilitations, a sales training, consulting, and decision facilitation firm. Sharon Drew is the visionary and thought leader behind Buying Facilitation®, the new sales paradigm that focuses on helping buyers manage their behind-the-scenes, offline, buying decisions. She has served many well known companies including: KPMG, Unisys, IBM, Wachovia, and Bose. Sharon Drew is the author of The New York Times Business Bestseller, Selling with Integrity
, and the new bestseller, Dirty Little Secrets, as well as five other books and hundreds of articles that explain different aspects of the decision facilitation model that teaches buyers how to buy. To read Sharon Drew’s complete biography, click here.
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There is no doubt that leaders of organizations have enormous influence on how often, how intense, and what impact conflict has on their business. Organizations can not avoid conflict: how it occurs is the question. There is constructive and destructive conflict that can occur. Constructive conflict allows the participants to disagree, perhaps argue, without losing sight of organizational goals. Destructive conflict occurs when the conflict is personal, thus causing individual goals to override those of the organization. Destructive conflict stops the open flow of communication, and ultimately affects the bottom line.
Leaders are human, so some leaders are comfortable with conflict, while others are not. Some leaders enjoy conflict, and actually set coworkers against each other to see who comes out on top. For those leaders that are not comfortable with conflict, their organizations usually have cultures that reflect their discomfort – difficult messages are not delivered, thus lowering the quality of communication and productivity. Disputants speak about their conflict with everyone else, but not the person they are in conflict with!
Managers that are comfortable with conflict usually allow it to occur and encourage creative problem-solving. They know that conflict will occur: they also know it needs to be resolved in order to have a healthy organization.
Think of your favorite retail establishment. Why do you like it? Are you treated well, is there a positive interaction with salespeople? That goes directly to the manager and how he/she treats conflict, among other things. Amiable, disciplined managers know how to have an emotionally intelligent team that is creative, collaborative, and communicative.
Leaders who lead through intimidation or autocratic rule usually have organizations that incorporate shouting matches, blaming, and responsibility avoidance. Internal competition becomes so intense that it hurts overall organization results. Very few leaders like to admit that is their style, but if your organization has these symptoms, you really need to take a look at how you are leading.
What can be done to ensure that the relationship between leadership and conflict results in more collaborative problem-solving? Here are a few suggestions:
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About the Author
Dr. Diane Katz has worked with organizations, professionals for over 40 years. With a Masters Degree in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in Conflict Resolution from Union Institute, she has applied her education to organizations large and small.
Diane has spoken to groups across the United States in over 20 cities, reaching thousands of professionals. She has spoken about decision-making, conflict resolution, organization development, and professional development. She thoroughly engages her audiences with intelligence and wit.
Dr. Katz started her consulting company, The Working Circle, in 1995. The Working Circle provides organizational development, human resources, teambuilding, training and coaching to organizations of all sizes, having served over 150 organizations. Some of her company’s clients have included Pricewaterhouse Coopers, The University of Arizona, Raytheon Missile Systems, U.S. Border Patrol, Westin La Paloma Resort, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, DR Horton Homebuilders, YWCA of Southern Arizona, and the Pima County Attorney.
Everyone has a collection of thoughts that are almost automatically acted upon under a given set of circumstances or in response to a specific type of event. Reflective of our beliefs and values, these actions occur naturally as if by reflex. Sometimes these thoughts and behaviors are so shaped by our values we don’t give a ‘second thought’ to acting on them; in fact, we may unconsciously believe others who generally share our convictions will act similarly. We believe ‘it goes without saying’ that these actions will occur.
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