Posted by Editor on March 25, 2011 under Business advice, Business Coach, Business Coaching, Business Help | 
Goal setting is as important in personal life as it is in business. The most common denominator in all the self-help literature and books is the importance of goal setting. We’re told to set long-term goals, short-term goals, lifetime goals and personal goals.
The benefits of Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results orientated, Time-framed (S.M.A.R.T) goals have been written about in books for years.
So, it follows that goal setting is obviously a powerful process.
It is about “eating the elephant, one bite at a time” and of turning vision into achievable, actionable things. It’s the common denominator of successful individuals and businesses.
Despite their obvious value, our experience with goals have shown that some are good at setting goals and sticking to them, achieving great results and others can’t keep a New Year’s resolution to stop smoking for two days in a row.
Failure to set goals can be seen as a fear of failure.
That is, it’s blow to our integrity when we don’t reach our goals. When we make and keep commitments, such as setting and achieving goals, it reflects the amount of trust we have in ourselves. We increase our confidence in ourselves to make and keep commitments to others and ourselves.
However, when we don’t achieve our goals we lose confidence in our ability to make and keep commitments and to trust ourselves.
There are many reasons why we don’t achieve our goals. Sometimes the goals we set are unrealistic. New Year’s resolutions are typical examples. Suddenly, we expect to change the way we eat, or the way we exercise just because the calendar changes. It’s like expecting a child that’s never ridden a bike to suddenly jump on and go, or to run a marathon without months of training. These goals are based on illusion with little regard to natural growth.
You must be able to crawl before you walk.
So, how do we set and achieve goals?
Stephen R. Covey says it best in his book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”
“To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you’re going so that you better understand where you are now and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.”
An example of a S.M.A.R.T. goal might look something like the following:
WHAT
My goal is to maintain a healthy body.
WHY
So that:
I can be fit to do the things I enjoy.
I can be an example to my children in health management.
I can build my personal character strength.
HOW
Good Nutrition. I will increase my intake of fresh fruits and vegetables and decrease my intake of sugar, fats, salt and red meat.
Physical. I will exercise aerobically 3 times a week for 30-minute periods.
Focus. I will be aware of my body and look out for any health problems.
Focusing on the smaller, short-term goals and achieving success will give you the confidence to set other goals. So, remember, set your goals based on the S.M.A.R.T. principle to have the best chance of achieving your goals.
If you are interesting in learning more about goal setting and effective business advice for your company, contact and ActionCOACH near you.
Posted by Editor on March 24, 2011 under Business Coaching |
If you are looking for good business coaching or advice for your company, one of the best places to start is in terms of better communication.
We often refer to the brain as having two hemispheres: the left, largely responsible for logic, and the right, predominately responsible for creativity.
This description fits what we know to be the cortex or new brain; however, there is a third dimension, the hypothalamus or prehistoric brain, which is in fact the brain stem and is solely responsible for instincts.
Bruno Catellani of the Institute of Communication, Management and Sales in Switzerland refers to the prehistoric brain as the “Guard” or “Gatekeeper.”
The “Gatekeeper’s” sole function is to decide whether you are a friend or a foe; it is incapable of thought or rationalization and reacts purely on instinct by how it perceives your approach.
If your initial approach stresses the “Gatekeeper,” it will switch on the fight/flight response and part of this process includes shutting down all other message receptors which means any opportunity you had to communicate has just been totally closed off.
It’s absolutely true that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Building the language of trust is the first step to successful customer service, which translates into building sales.
So, if the “Gatekeeper” doesn’t think, does the initial “Language of Trust” have to be verbal?
No, the first impression you deliver is based on instinct alone.
The signals that you need to give out in the first 10 to 20 seconds are instinctive, i.e. your body language translated by your movements, gestures, facial expression and eye contact are open and relaxed.
Your voice modulation and tone are calm, the speed of your speech is controlled and gentle and finally, you must not invade the customer’s space.
Other factors, which will influence the “Gatekeepers” decision whether you are friend or foe, are: your appearance, clothes, smell, enthusiasm and posture.
Once you’re past this initial first impression you can get on with developing a relationship with your prospect.
Professor Albert Mehrabian of UCLA broke communication down into three “V’s” as follows:
• Verbal: The message itself; i.e. the words you use.
• Vocal: The sound of your voice, intonation, projection, pitch and speed of your voice.
• Visual: The posture and gestures, facial expression and eye movement that people see.
The Thomas Gordon Institute added another dimension to this research and came up with:
• Words: Verbal
• Voice: Vocal
• Face: Visual
• Body: Visual
Both institutions measured the effectiveness of each component of communication and the contribution to believability.
Here are the results of their respective research:
UCLA Thomas Gordon
Verbal 7% Words 7%
Vocal 38% Voice 23%
Visual 55% Face 35%
Body 35%
100% 100%
So, the first step in delivering Great Customer Service to Create Great Sales is simply to approach and greet your suspect/prospect with open, friendly body language coupled with soothing, gentle voice modulation.
Our total focus in this step is to get past the ‘Gatekeeper’ so that we develop and build rapport and open the prospect’s message receptors.
The words themselves are not that important, a simple “Hi, how are you today,” is a good ice breaker.
For more information on how ActionCOACH can help guide you to better results in this area in your own business, contact an ActionCOACH Business Coach near you today!
Posted by Editor on under Business Coaching |
UK-based ActionCOACH Business Coach Gary Mullins was recognized with one of the ActionMAN Awards at the 2011 EMEA Conference, which was held at the Skyline Sheraton in London, England.
Mullins is one of the top coaches in the ActionCOACH system and his hard work certainly has not gone unrecognized.
ActionCOACH Founder and Chairman Brad Sugars presented the ActionMAN to Mullins.
“Gary is an incredible coach and very deserving of this award,” Sugars said. “The way he deals with challenges and overcomes them is impressive and I know he has a bright future ahead of him with ActionCOACH.
Mullins was grateful to be honored for his hard work with such a prestigious award.
“This is a valuable award to me and my team, and I thank everyone for their support. This was a great way to end a great year. I’m looking forward to what we will accomplish this year as well,” he said.
ActionCOACH is the world’s number one business coaching and executive coaching firm, with more than 1,000 offices in 32 countries.
To learn more about ActionCOACH, go to actioncoach.com.
Posted by Editor on March 23, 2011 under Business Coaching |
One of the first steps in effective business advice is knowing how you as an owner and your team work and learn.
Knowing how and where people work best can be a powerful and lucrative tool for business owners with a team of people.
Personality profiling is not a new tool by any means, but still one of the best ways and most effective ways to ensure you are able to achieve a close-to-perfect match when selecting new employees and repositioning existing personnel.
At ActionCOACH, we use DISC and VAK to help make decisions about team members and where best to place them. It also helps the team gain a better understanding on how to communicate with each other.
Knowing someone’s personal profile allows for a much better understanding of how the person learns and operates.
DISC
DISC uses the Style Analysis Instrument and was initially designed to assist people achieve a higher degree of success in life and work. Successful people know their strengths and limitations and by realizing their weaknesses, are able to overcome their shortcomings and take full advantage of their strengths.
DISC uncovers insights about four dimensions of normal behavior.
A brief description of the four behaviors is listed below:
“D” Style “I” Style “S” Style “C” Style
Adventuresome Charming Amiable Accurate
Competitive Confident Friendly Analytical
Daring Convincing Good Listener Conscientious
Decisive Enthusiastic Patient Diplomatic
Direct Inspiring Self-starter Trusting
Innovative Optimistic Relaxed Fact-Finder
Persistent Persuasive Sincere High Standards
Problem-Solver Popular Stable Mature
Results-Orientated Sociable Steady Patient
By recognizing your peers and behavioral styles and adapting to them, you’ll increase your understanding, appreciation, and communication with them leading to relationships that are more productive.
VAK
At ActionCOACH, we also use the “Language System Diagnostic Instrument” (LSDI) to analyze a person’s communication and behavior patterns and for determining how to interact with that person in the process of change.
The result of the questionnaire is a clear understanding of where you fit and how we make distinctions concerning our environment.
Both internal and external are represented in terms of three sensory systems: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.
People who rely on their visual systems appear to run movies in their heads when remembering or storing information.
If people are primarily auditory, i.e. taking information through sounds, remembering may be like replaying a tape recorder, with original tones and dialogue. People who are primarily kinesthetic respond to internal bodily feeling or tactile sense.
They remember bodily sensations in recalling experiences.
This knowledge provides an amazing insight into the people we work with or for; however, we must be cautious not to “box” people or become complacent about ourselves because we are not naturally suited to a particular task.
For more information on DISC and VAK, or business coaching, contact an ActionCOACH near you today.
