Archive for September, 2012

Personnel Assessment For Cultivating Performance Greatness – Building Peak Performance With Benjamin Franklin’s Secret Decision Tools!

Businesses have evolved into many inefficient habit patterns that actually hold back their own individuals and teams from peak performance.

Consider the tasks that you and others may be assigned, may assume or work on daily. If you were to evaluate the depth of skill, knowledge, experience and overall ability one has in connection with the tasks, in many instances there would be a radical adjustment to be made.

Think of it this way. If you started your own business and built a team from scratch, you would evaluate all of the tasks needing to be functionally addressed. With that data clearly defined, and maybe even written out, you would begin finding, interviewing and appropriately assigning the tasks that play to each player’s strength index!

The reality in the work place today is that people enter an organization, are led to their assigned workspaces and associated tasks and told to GO!

I see this every day with my Fortune 500 clients, major associations and government agency clients. Managers inherit personnel and never see beyond the surface level of the players’ abilities. Colleagues sit side-by-side for years – decades – and, in some cases, never learn of the true talent depth of the person next to them. Without that talent base being made public, no one benefits from its richness!

Right player, right task, right time, right development, right success, right performance!

 Cultivating performance greatness from within oneself and from others starts with an introspective look at one’s base talent pool. A quick way of determining this depth is by using the decision model alleged to have been used by the great Benjamin Franklin in pursuit of making decisions. For yourself and for each player on your team, take a simple piece of paper, write the person’s name at the top center of the page and draw a vertical line down the middle of the page from top to bottom. Now:

  1. In the left side, enter descriptors for the said person: Positives, Attributes, Strengths, Skills, Educational Attainments, Certifications, Accomplishments and Things They are Good at Doing!
  2. In the right side, enter all of the descriptors for the said person: Negatives, Detriments, Weaknesses, Specific Lack of Educational Attainments and Things They Stink at Doing!

As a leader, you cannot lead others to greatness if you cannot innately tap into a positive side depth. By weighing the two sides against one another, you should determine the number of entries on a person’s weakness side, and your goal should be to know three to five times more about them on the positive side

To determine the richness of each player that you lead, do this drill for each player on a separate piece of paper or electronic word document. Challenge yourself to greatness by recognizing what others’ greatnesses are. If you are unimpressed with what you know or do not know, let that become the motivator by which you engage each player and ask for their feedback to complete this model.

Individual  success = increased self-esteem = increased motivation = increased passion = increased commitment = increased winners!

To enhance an organization’s performance, routinely list all of the core functions of your organization or business area on separate pieces of paper. Then set those to the side and do the same for each person on your team. With the players’ names and Strength/Weakness Index (Ben Franklin +/- Model) detailed, lay the names on a chart or table, take the stack of functions and place them like your playing cards adjacent to the person best suited for that task, regardless of current positions. When you are done, you will notice where people are overloaded, who needs to be trained for greater performance participation and whether or not you have someone on your team that is a non-performer with no tasks assigned to them. This becomes either a training and development opportunity for the both of your or a termination identifier for that person!

Cultivating performance greatness from all players on a team is the critical factor in the business place today. As the tactical leader, this tool will aid you in determining how best to grow and deploy your people’s assets.

-Dr Jeff Magee
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2012
09/27
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Personnel Assessment For Cultivating Performance Greatness – Building a Performance Template for the Right Stuff?

We have ascended into a strange point in time in the history of the planet in respect to organizational effectiveness.

While most organizations boast they seek greatness in what they produce and from their employees, we have actually arrived at a point in time where minimum effort for maximum paycheck and minimum skill asset for maximum rewards has become the condoned norm!

“Great people ascend to a position to which they are functionally incapable of fulfilling, and they, the organization they represent and the individuals they serve and who serve them all become failed.” Known in management as the ‘Peter Principle,’ this is becoming too often an evolution reality in American businesses.

As a performance advocate, you can build systems that will guide both you and those around you to greatness. By crafting a “Profile” assessment for every function within an organization, for every position one seeks and for every credential differentiator, an organization creates in the marketplace.

To create an objective and thorough assessment instrument or “Profile” of performance greatness in an endeavor, consider these EIGHT Models:

1. The “Player Capability Index©” Makes It Very Clear!

A model or formula that can take the subjectivity out of assessing one’s abilities and capabilities, thus allowing an objective, thoughtful and thorough analysis, can be attained through the “Player Capability Index.” This model serves as a guidepost to questions and observations necessary to see the totality of an individual to be hired, transferred, promoted or trained. Consider:

C (T2+A+P) = R

E2

The ‘R’ represents the ‘Results” necessary or desired from any position/function/candidate. In order to get the desired ‘R,’ it is critical that one understand the depth of the ‘C’ (‘Capabilities’) either a position requires or a candidate possesses. To thoroughly understand from where the ‘C’ comes, look into the parenthesis portion of the formula. For example, if you seek a new job or are unemployed and seeking a position, ‘R’ becomes that new position. By thoroughly analyzing these other letters and the totality of what they mean for you on a piece of paper, you will arrive at what you have to offer, and it will become obvious as to whom in your marketplace would see value in that!

The ‘T’ represents ‘Training,’ and the number two represents two interpretations of the ‘T.’ The first interpretation is for exploring the depth of the historical or past tense training one possesses. If the answer indicates one does not have the ‘Capabilities’ to deliver the ‘Results’ needed, there would be a need for ‘addition training,’ which is the second interpretation of the ‘T’ to be fulfilled. The ‘T’ will be matched by the ‘A’ of one’s ‘Attitude,’ which will greatly influence how the ‘T’ is used. To further explore the ‘Capability’ level of a candidate, also look at the ‘P,’ which demonstrates the ‘Performance’ of a candidate. All of this insight will be weighted by two interpretations of the ‘E,’ which represents ‘Expectations.’ The ‘E’ represents both the candidate and the organization or position.

In assessing an individual, there are some areas to consider from within each category of this formula. You can examine personal credentials, resumes, job applications, citations, etc. to objectively measure the depth of training, seminars, symposiums, classes, courses, degrees and certifications represented by the ‘T!’ Consider one’s body language, posture, tone of voice, face inflections, etc. in measuring the degree of the ‘A’ they possess or may possess! Review one’s credentials, past employee reviews, letters of reference, citations, etc. to gauge the level of validated ‘P’ they have experienced; this will aid in benchmarking future expectations. Of course, all of this will be weighed by both parties’ ‘E’ factors, so make sure you ask very candid and direct questions to solicit their level of ‘E’ about you, the team and the organization before entering into a potential relationship!

To further enhance the development of an individual or team, management could use this model as an overlay to present positions and forecasted positions. The model would be used to determine (absent of personalities) what the necessary answers would be for each category within the model for a position itself. ‘R’ would be the net task to be handled by any position and, thus, what the critical ingredients would be for a successful candidate within a position.

2. Industry Certification

Benchmark any existing industry certification for your desired performance application. If there are any certifications offered within your organization or industry, get them and craft your actions around those perimeters. If your are building a “Profile” for performance greatness for your organization, use these preexisting criteria as consideration benchmarks in designing your template.

3. HR Assessment Instrument

If your organization has a preexisting human resource-designed and administered assessment instrument for a given position, use that as a benchmark of minimum “Profile” criteria. Performance enthusiasts will use such instruments – and hybrids of them – on a regular basis (weekly or monthly) to continue performance coaching opportunities, regardless if the organization encourages annual or biannual use – which is indicative of nonperformance-oriented managers that have ascended into would-be leadership positions!

4. Success Assessment Bio

Consider the most successful person you “actually” know in the position or endeavor that you seek. From that person, develop an inverted “L-grid.” Write their name across the top, and within the grid start drafting every descriptive characteristic you know of that lead to their perceived greatness. If you can actually interview them, dig deeper and ask questions to determine what they feel are the characteristics, traits, abilities, skills, etc. that have lead to their greatness. Once you have done a brain dump, return to this comprehensive list. On the outside left of the “L-grid,” for each entry you have written, identify an appropriate identifying label or category for that entry. Now, with these entry categories, you have additional data to consider using in your master “Profile” for performance greatness!

5. Core Competencies Assessment

Based upon what you know are the minimum skills necessary to perform in a position and the expected competencies that the end user expects from someone in a position, draft a list to serve as an additional reference point when crafting a powerful performance “Profile” for greatness within a business or for a sought-after position.

6. Competition Assessment

If there is a means to determine the behaviors and competencies that are used by the number one and number two organizations in the industry you seek, use that gained data as a benchmark in crafting your performance “Profile!”

7. Personal Performance Goal Assessment

Focus on your endpoint. Where do you want to go with this performance measurement? Ensure that from the above insight, if any measurement for greatness is omitted, you will need to build that into your “Profile” for sustained greatness.

8. YIELD MANAGEMENT Performance Review©

In YIELD MANAGEMENT: The Leadership Alternative to Performance and Net Profit Improvement© (by Jeffrey Magee and Published by CRC/St. Lucie Press), a leading graduate management text, a powerful template was crafted from the most consistent performance measurement categories from the leading Fortune 500 organizations’ appraisal instruments. The most common descriptions for sub-section measurement categories were General Performance, Job Applications, Adaptability, Interpersonal Skills, Leadership, Supervisory, Other.

As you can see, the applications of these performance assessment models are explosive, whether being deployed as an introspective of oneself or in assessing others around you. These may serve as a genesis to other assessment considerations in sustaining your performance greatness throughout your professional life. You can use these as guide posts in the interview process, then performance improvement coaching process on an on-going basis, and as a benchmark for exit strategies with non performing players in an organization.

-Dr Jeff Magee
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2012
09/25
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Communication Effectiveness – Dealing With Known Problem Players, CYA!

SERIES: Part Five of a Five-Part Article

Sometimes as a leader, you will need to communicate with a person who you know to be difficult or who has a reputation of being difficult. In those instances, for an effective engagement and an intended positive outcome, there are some safeguards to consider.

Dealing With Known Problem Players
Means “Covering Your Actions” (CYA)

In Non-Confrontational Ways

There are clues that you have a possible problem ahead of you and that a person is branded as “bad luggage” (although management has not or is unwilling to free up their future for other career opportunities at the health benefit to an organization):

  1. If the employees of an individual turn over faster than they do
  2. If colleagues leave, quit or take a lateral transfer faster than the individual in question gets promoted
  3. If peers to an individual limit their exposure to them, don’t go out of their way to engage them and are reluctant to give you insight to how best to engage them when you ask for coaching guidance
  4. If you have ever witnessed individuals having communication implosions with a person
  5. If vendors have more critical than constructive comments about an individual
  6. If a long-standing, positively contributing event, program, initiative or service is attacked by an individual for the sake of drawing attention to him or herself
  7. If you have ever been mislead or used by an individual
  8. If you know a person is a political animal and they use people – at the expense of the organization – for their own goals
  9. If a person uses their position (tenure with the organization, age, gender, race, personal connections, etc.) as their insurance policy for not being “terminated”
Many times, problem and difficult players are a cancer
with which leadership refuses to deal.
In that wake, many times more contributing forces

to organizational success are lost!

Forecasting problematic players to communicate with is easy if one pays attention to the numerous clues. The question then evolves to how best to engage them for solution-oriented, organization-benefiting outcomes. If you have someone like this in your organization, consider these strategies:

  1. Pre E-mail or Correspondence – Look for an opportunity for an upcoming initiative on which the two of you will work together. After your initial dialogue, e-mail them an after-action review, recapping your understanding of the essential 5-Ws and 1-H (Who, What, When, Where, Why, How). In essence, make sure you specifically speak to – in a non-confrontational manner – any item that the person has previously demonstrated to be a point of contention. Then send a copy to all appropriate supervisors, vendors, clients, etc. This will be a positive intention e-mail, and the copy provides for initial documentation that will motivate the other party to constructively participate when they see others have received copies. You can preface the reason of sending copies to others under the pretense, “If anyone has suggestions as to how any of us can attain a higher level of success with our individual responsibilities, please share immediately.”
  1. Backup Documentation – In heightened situations where you know someone to be difficult and you really need to cover your actions, keep appropriate documentation off site. When push comes to shove, documentation always wins if you have the facts. Then, and only then, will a habitual problem player be held accountable and possibly purged from an organization!
  1. Assume Follow Up – Between when you initially talk about doing anything and when it is actually done, determine consistent and regular interval update times to ensure they are on track.  By doing this, you will avoid deadline implosions. This may mean setting check points in your PDA, calendars, tickler-systems or day planners. At each of these check points (again in a non-confrontational manner), document and send a follow-up correspondence to them with copies to all appropriate parties in the universe – otherwise it is your word versus theirs!
  1. Involve Neutral Parties – As appropriate, identify neutral third parties, whom the other person appears to respect and that you can accept as well. Engage them early and often to enhance one another’s actions plans for greater efficiency. By doing so, you are not focusing energies or attention on one another as personalities, but rather on the mutual gains. Thus, interactions will also begin to condition the perceived difficult player to be less difficult in your presence.
  1. Stay Focused on Big Picture – Another way to avoid the personal involvement with problem players in communication is to ensure your goal is always the end game of the organization. Tie your communications to that of the organization’s Mission Statement, and it will become increasingly more difficult for the traditional problem player to challenge you or attempt to undermine your initiatives!
  1. Alliance Communications – Associate your communication subject matter to others that have bought into it or are supporting it. Problem players are more inclined to come after you when it appears to be a “You versus Them” format. Likewise, they tend to be less confrontational when you seem to be a part of a bigger grouping. It could sound like this, “In talking with Susan, Tom and Chris, they thought it would be in our best interest if we…” Now, whatever you present appears to be part of a larger energy force.

It is a fact of organizational reality that many times that which holds an organization back from peak performance is not an outside force, but rather an internal one. And yes, it is also true that far too often these people are just clever enough (not actually smart enough) to play the system to their advantage that management is intimidated to do their leadership job and intervene with them, coach them, council them or terminate them. They become an actual passive-aggressive cancer to an organization.

As a managerial-leader you don’t have to become a victim of them. You need merely become a better communicator in the presence of them.

-Dr Jeff Magee
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2012
09/20
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Communication Effectiveness – Using Technology as Your Surrogate!

SERIES: Part Four of a Five-Part Article

Why must you communicate?

As a leader, determining the purpose of your communication objective will lead you toward one of two options. When you must actually connect live with the other party, you need to have a “dialogue.” When you must merely “exchange” data and information with the other party, the need for a live interaction may not be necessary. Either way, you have just identified both a second option and a time- saving opportunity at the same time.

While you need to remain in constant communication with your team, it is not necessary that you be actively in touch with everyone. In fact, today’s effective leader must tactically utilize the advances in technology as a surrogate to “exchanging” information at every opportunity!

By tactically and effectively drawing upon technology as your surrogate, you can guard against micro-managing people and over communicating, yet ensure effective communication takes place across lines. In addition, you provide yourself with the freedom of flexibility to be the leader that is required for your organization to succeed!

Here are some tactical performance communication tips for the technology at your fingertips:

  1. eAuto responder – Within the realm of electronic email, you have the ability to enable or disable the auto response messenger service of your email. When someone sends you an email, you have the option of an automatic response being bounced backed immediately. To maintain the forward momentum of you, your team and the outside world, consider an informational update by enabling this feature.

You could state, for example if you are on site on a given day, “Your message has been received at JMI, I will respond ASAP. If you need immediate assistance please call Toll free 1-877-90-MAGEE and ask for Amie or Koby. You also can get immediate assistance by e-mailing Koby@JeffreyMagee.com” Or, if you are off site, be specific, “Your message has been received at JMI, I am off site at an educational program enhancing my skill abilities to better serve my customers and will respond ASAP. If you need immediate assistance please call Toll free 1-877-90-MAGEE and ask for Amie or Koby or by e-mailing Koby@JeffreyMagee.com”

  1. E-mail – Consider converting from long, drawn out sentence/paragraph form e-mails to a numbered or bulleted e-mail draft. This format tends to encourage brevity and makes it easier to track informational items in conversation with others.

For an even faster e-mail response, merely draft in your response in a different colored font adjacent to their questions. Then all you have to do is hit send!

  1. eAuto Signature Line – Ensure that all informational items you would want at the end of an e-mail draft are attributed to your eAuto Signature line (and set up). This will save time on all future email correspondence, as it will automatically appear. To further encourage effective communication, you should have in your include: Name, Title or position, E-mail address, Phone number, Fax number, website and any seasonal, informational or time sensitive item you want to ensure your recipients know (use this as advertising, marketing or update opportunity space, but be brief!).

  1. Personal Voicemail Extensions – By knowing the voicemail extension/box of those people with whom you have to communicate or get something from, you can now choose to telephone them and engage in a live dialogue or avoid the conversation chit-chat trap by going directly into their voicemail box and leaving a message. Of course, you can also follow up with an e-mail directing them to the voicemail message you have left or leave a message with their gatekeeper to have them check their voicemail.

  1. Recorded Outbound Telephone Voicemail Message – By evaluating the recorded messages you receive, you can determine if your own message is action- oriented. For example, if you have to repeatedly replay a message to distinguish a phone number or name, you need to rerecord your greeting. If you are returning calls to people because you are not sure what they want, rerecord your greeting. A leader has precious discretionary time today, and every minute must be a wise invested minute.

Try: “Thank you for calling. This is Mr. X.  Please leave your name – and if we do not know one another, please spell it for me – along with your phone number, repeated twice. Please leave a very specific message as to what you need and how I may be of service to you, and I will return your call by the end of the day.”

This may seem awkward, but it does not matter! The caller will tend to do exactly what they are prompted to do, and this information allows you to expedite your actions and maintain peak performance for both of you!

  1. Pagers – By knowing the pager numbers of those people with whom you have to communicate to, you can now choose to page them when necessary to maintain states of efficiency!

  1. Fax – There still seems to be an air of urgency to a fax transmittal. Knowing the fax numbers of organizations and, even more importantly, the systems on your intended recipients’ desks, you can avoid live dialogue and send communications via fax. And to draw even faster attention, legibly write your message and fax that!

  1. Faxback Responses – You can even expedite follow-up responses to other parties by taking a document that requests information from you, circling the question and drawing a line to the margin. In that margin, write your answer and immediately fax back their letter/document with your handwritten answer/response. Labor is minimal, and productivity soars!

  1. CD/DVD/Tape/Etc. – Alternative communication delivery vehicles also can be used if you know the recipient’s preference. A fast form of communication exchange can be accomplished with these mediums.

  1. Any Other Instrument – Reflect upon your skill level and industry for any other examples, instruments, products or services that you can deploy to effectively increase your communication ability, while reducing the degree of work and time consumed by the process. Once you’ve found it, deploy it aggressively!

As a leader, determining the purpose of your communication objective will lead you toward ways of becoming more effective within “dialogues” or in the mere act of “exchanging” information with others.

How you do what you do is the art and science of tactical communication. An effective leader recognizes that, whether you communicate or not, you have communicated loudly to your team.
-Dr Jeff Magee
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2012
09/17
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Communication Effectiveness – Becoming a Constant Solution Provider!

SERIES: Part Three of a Five-Part Article

Turning arguments and debates into solutions and alternatives is a hallmark of both effective communicators and successful leaders. As communication goes hi-tech and low-touch, it becomes easy for disconnection to arise in communication. These disconnections only serve to impede productivity and profitability to businesses.

A leader must be constantly cognizant of the individual tactics deployed to stimulate open dialogue.  While in pursuit of solution-oriented dialogue and an environment conducive to free spirited communication exchanges, how one engages or responds to another directly influences whether that communication exchange will be solution oriented or corrosive.

How you arrange a conversation has a direct influence upon the mindset of the participants, which will determine how healthy the outcomes will be. In her classic work, The Argument Culture, author Deborah Tannen illustrates how one sentence sets up defense posture and another creates inclusion. Consider: “Battle of the sexes” (argumentative) versus “Relations between men and women” (dialogue). Or, “Debate” (argumentative) versus, “Discuss” (dialogue). In striving for solution-oriented communication exchanges, be careful not to derail otherwise positive intentions.

Here are ten powerful ways to tactically stimulate solution-oriented communication among individuals in your work place:

  1. Establish Ground Rules – Identify how the other party likes to communicate (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) and share with them how you communicate best. By establishing these most basic ground rules, you open yourself to gain greater participation from others!

  1. Covenant-Based – This implies that, as the sender of a signal, you “also” recognize what else you can do to make the communication exchange non- threatening and solution-oriented. So, in looking at the “What else can I do?” (covenant implies other responsibilities) factor, make sure to listen and take notes to objectively consider the other parties’ positions, ideas and views.

  1. You First – Become known as the person who always seeks others’ ideas before offering yours. This may allow for a synergy of action plans and a more cost effective final result!

  1. Demand Alternatives – Whenever someone voices a rejection to an idea or action plan, instead of defending, digging in and challenging the other party, simply back up, gently look at the attempted challenger and say, “What do you feel would be a more viable option?” If they don’t respond with a tangible answer, repeat the question again. What you are implying is, “Put up or shut up!”

  1. One Percent Factor – Regardless of a solution (whether yours or someone else’s), always ask, “What can we do one percent more to make this even more productive or profitable?” This causes people to strive even harder and implies that pushing for something better is always acceptable and expected!

  1. Learn to Forecast – Recognize that when circumstances dictate that you realize an impending problem, and adjustments are not made, this is a great opportunity to invest internally with your colleagues. Ask, task, delegate or assign to everyone to collectively workshop your forecasted challenge for alternatives, solutions or coping strategies so the forecasted issue does not implode the productivity of individuals in the future.

  1. Shop Your Ideas Electronically – Before implementing any solution-action plan, always bounce your challenge and perceived solution off of at least three other people. Someone you know, who previously has been where you are, someone two positions removed from you, who can provide an emotionally biased view and the person most likely to be affected by your action!

  1. Identify Internal Subject Matter Experts – Intrapreneurs – Cultivate from your colleagues, employees and customers (that would be entrepreneurs) those individuals who possess a wealth of knowledge (based upon their education, experience or certifications) and could be the official or unofficial “go to” people to solicit feedback for your solutions and quick-start ideas for your challenges.

  1. Solution Board – When time allows for solution (idea) generation, post that on a community bulletin board with all of your team (including yourself) listed vertically below the entry. Then, post a deadline and publicly invite everyone to write their ideas and allow for ideas to feed off one another. If someone posts an unprofessional energy, let it stand. Later, when you pull the idea list down for discussion in a meeting, engage that person by using technique number four in this list.

  1. Horizontal Action Information Grams – Encourage cross communication among individuals, not from a bragging perspective, but from a “lessons learned” celebration perspective. When someone has faced a difficult situation, generated a viable solution and experienced victory, encourage them to share that three-step evolution with everyone.  If someone else finds him or herself in a similar position in the future, they will be prepared with solutions!

As a leader, if you really want to empower your team and create an environment of mega solutions, design a system that both recognizes and rewards implemented solutions. Imagine giving ten percent of any solution that yields a savings or increase in profitability to an organization. Wow! Pure solution energy. The downfall, unfortunately, is that most leaders take a minimalist attitude towards this view; they don’t want to share ten percent of something they don’t have at the expense of never cultivating the solutions from their most prized assets (their people) that would otherwise yield them a 90 percent gain!

An effective leader continually focuses on individual performance improvement in a highly effective organization. A leader always appreciates, respects and focuses upon the tactics which turn arguments and debates into solutions and alternatives for positive outcomes in every communication exchange.

-Dr Jeff Magee
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2012
09/10
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Communication Effectiveness – The Three-Level Exchange Process to Value-Based Action!

SERIES: Part Two of a Five-Part Article

World-class communication exchanges made easy in the work place. What could be easier?

As a leader, how the other party interprets your message is crucial for the exchange process to occur. Understanding the act of communicating to another person or groups in the work place and in which level of the communication exchange process you are residing is also important to word economy and communication breakdown avoidance.

If you were to have an out-of-body experience and observe yourself communicating with someone either significantly younger or significantly older than yourself, you would notice how your behavioral patterns change, without much pain or effort, to allow for a successful exchange. When one transitions into a communication exchange with someone in the same peer group, however, many of the exchange process breakdowns occur due to simple resistance or avoidance to what one just did effortlessly with the youth or elder.

So, what are these behaviors, and what are the three exchange process steps to value- based action on the part of the recipient in your communication exchanges?

1. RECEIPT/RECEIVED of the message itself is obviously necessary if the message being sent is to be processed and acted upon. Many times, managers and leaders merely craft a message with little regard for the actual recipients.  They send that message through the communication airwaves and assume it will be received and acted upon.

2. UNDERSTANDING of the communication signal being sent by the recipient is essential for the exchange process to evolve upward. Tailoring the message intent by using the appropriate words, syntax, tone, emphasis, imagery, stories, examples and statistics that the recipient can actually comprehend is essential at this second exchange level!

3. VALUE of that signal to that recipient causes action!


As a tactical leader, ensuring communication exchange success is dependent upon your ability to deploy the individual steps necessary to ensure each level is addressed thoroughly!

Here are several immediate application techniques to ensure each step is addressed as thoroughly as necessary and you don’t overkill any one level.

  1. RECEIVED – Ensuring that the signal is received dictates an awareness of any possible interference issues and objectively looking at the transmission of the communication exchange from a broader perspective.

Make sure you communicate at the right time and place. Be sensitive to what is happening in the other person’s environment, and ask for verification that it has been receive. Also inquire if they would like the signal delivered in a different format than how you are delivering it at that present moment. The objective is to do something to ensure that if you are taking the time to send a message, it is, in fact, being received. If you d o not receive any immediate feedback confirming a message’s receipt, assume the responsibility to follow up with them in the near future to solicit feedback and determine if it was received. If you receive feedback that the message has been received, cease the delivery activity and evolve upward to the second communication exchange level. Another tactical way to ensure a signal is being received – with minimal interference – would be to ask the recipient to repeat the message; this will ensure the message is correctly relayed. Give the signal a bounce back mechanism – an email return receipt, a phone call response or a postal receipt vehicle – to merely let you know level one has successfully been accomplished.

  1. UNDERSTOOD – Ensure that you adjust how the message is constructed so the recipient can understand and process its meaning. A lot of times, the core reason a person does not take action (Level Three, VALUE) in a communication exchange is due in large part to a breakdown at level two.

This is where one adjusts the jargon, slang, code words, phrases, vocal tones, speed, pitch and pace of the communication signal being delivered.  This allows for an accent that can break down understanding based upon the level of education, knowledge, training or experience the parties involved in the communication interaction have!

The use of PowerPoint, handouts, slides, signage, literature, business cards, notes, audio and anything else used to reinforce the understanding of the message must be used judiciously and concluded at the precise moment the recipient clues you into the fact that they understand. The danger of continuing can be the complete disconnect by the recipient to the sender in the communication exchange process!

  1. VALUE – When a signal has value, it motivates the recipient to take action. Your objective in crafting the signal is to build it from the other person’s vested interest level and perspective – the old “what’s in it for me” syndrome!

Motivating the recipient to take action is the net result of effectively crafting your message to evolve through the three levels. A person can sense value only when your message addresses two core needs: Pleasure or Pain. If they sense a better outcome, elevation in status or enrichment of any level, the “Pleasure” is implied, and the recipient will tend to sense a level of value and take action. Conversely, if your message communicates a worsening of lifestyle, status or position, “Pain” has been implied. If that reaches a level the recipient cannot tolerate, the action will again be taken.

The effective leader recognizes all of the nuances that tactically influence effective communication exchanges and strives to ensure he or she takes the necessary steps at each individual level to attain success with the intended recipient.

-Dr Jeff Magee
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2012
09/06
CATEGORY
Business Performance
Decision Making
Leadership
Management
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