Proactive Offers

June 26, 2017

Proactive offers embody the spirit of customer service and strengthen your ability to build relationships. Proactively taking care of business relationships is a skill that can increase business, enhance your ability to get things done and help you build a reputation as a visionary. Non-proactive behavior is one of the biggest complaints of customers, employers and employees alike.

Proactive people demonstrate an ability to systematically gather and assess information and then offer to act upon it in a way that benefits their relationships. The following flow outlines how to make a powerful pro-active offer:

Create Relationship and Trust By Being Interested

Using inquiry and reflection, elicit all relevant information (the current situation, people involved, outstanding commitments, organizational dynamics, etc.)

Listen for the openings

Ask questions and listen carefully for openings in the conversation.
Unexpected openings may present themselves in the conversation. These openings may reveal more potent offers for you to make.
Many times we overlook new openings because we are only thinking about what we want to offer. You may already know what offer you want to make but if you make an offer without first creating an opening, success will be limited.
Ask the person the following questions to help find the opening:What needs to happen that is not happening?
What vision or desired outcome do you have that you want help with?

Desired Results

Inquire into what would be the benefits if the needs were met.
Elicit specific, measurable results.

Negative Consequences

Identify what glitches would happen if needs were not met.
Get clear what is at stake if nothing happens.

Making the Offer

Once you have inquired and feel that you are in relationship simply offer what you have to offer. The offer should come out of the fl ow of the conversation. Every offer should be time bound and specific if your intention is to build partnership and trust pro-actively.

Commitment to Cultural Transformation

Jul 01, 2017

Roundstone International

I’ve been thinking about the power of cultural transformation. When we first discussed highlighting this subject, I wasn’t sure how we would talk about it. It is impossible to pin down cultural transformation to a simple formula or a series of events that “work” every time. But we realized we could offer stories from real people who are successfully transforming the culture of their companies from an unconscious win/lose mindset to that of partnership. Partnership can and does produce extraordinary results.

We’ve put together several stories about the kind of leadership it takes to create lasting change. Cultural transformation requires real leaders throughout a company. It includes union and hourly employees, administrative and salaried, managers and non-managers. And it requires people who have the courage and tenacity to stand against the entrenched attitudes and behaviors of the past. As you will see with Sylvain-Yves Longval, the mill manager of a 350-person mill outside of Houston, Texas, transforming a workplace culture takes a tireless commitment, a pure intention that says “We can do it.”

We live in a time when change is imperative to the survival of organizations. In order to thrive in a healthy and productive manner, each and every one of us needs to be willing to deal with our own personal set of limitations and beliefs. Organizational transformation gives us a unique opportunity to do just that. After all, most of us do not choose the people we work with or the design of the organization. But we can make it more of what we know is possible and create more freedom and joy for ourselves and those around us.

There is no straight line from point A, old culture, to point B, new culture. Culture change is a messy, time-consuming and energy-draining endeavor. It is also invigorating, exciting and endlessly rewarding.

When you read these stories, I hope you feel inspired by the commitment human beings have to making things better.

Further Resources:
Interviews: Transformational Leadership
Spotlight On: Tom Hengelsberg, Architect, Truex, Cullins & Partners, Burlington, VT
Bob Collez, Mill Manager, Augusta Newsprint, Alabama, GA

culture-change

Proactive Offers

Commitment to Cultural Transformation

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