Asking questions is easy. Being effective is the challenge

In sales, customer service or any other customer facing role, conversations need to be planned. To be clear, the conversation should feel spontaneous and natural; it should also follow a structure and some principles to maximize the probability of success.

Success, specifically when it comes to learning the needs of your customers, means:

• Understanding the customer’s needs to be able to position your products or services effectively and to have the information to close the sale
• Having the information to avoid, anticipate or mitigate risks and to overcome objections
• Ensuring both parties have met their goals

Some of the bad habits present when learning customers’ needs

• We make assumptions about customers and don’t ask questions we should
• We ask questions as they come to our mind and not in a structured way
• We ask questions focused on us and not them (e.g., do you need product X?)
• We start with close ended questions and not by opening the conversation to learn more
• We interpret silence as an objection. We go to the next question or assume a negative response
• We ask questions we already have answers to because we didn’t listen well or take notes
• We ask questions without a purpose
• We give our customers control of the conversation as soon as they interrupt or ask something
• We focus only on what the customer asked for and not on understanding all of their needs
• We’re eager to make an offer even if we don’t have all the information we need

These bad habits result in customers’ loss of trust and waste of time. More importantly, it limits our ability to fully understand our customers’ needs.

To ensure we are enroute to success, we propose nine principles that will maximize the probability of success for our customers, our organizations and us.

The learning needs principles

1) Start with open ended questions, and then ask closed ended ones as needed

• Get customers talking to learn more about them. Let them talk and feel comfortable with you and the conversation
• Opening the conversation will typically limit the number of questions you need to ask
• When your first question is not understood, try again. Rephrase the question, keep it open and avoid the temptation of asking an easy close ended question
• Open ended questions start with what, how, tell me more, explain to me, walk me through, how do you, etc. They can’t be responded with a Yes, No, or a number
• Use close ended questions to get details or confirmation of what you heard. Also to get customers talking if they don’t respond to several open ended questions

2) Ask about all lines of questioning

• Lines of questioning can be understood as lines of business, the use customers will give to your products or services or the most important features that customers look for (e.g., sound and video for a TV)
• For B2B start by asking a question or two to understand the business overall (e.g., what they do, how they do, what their work flow is like, processes, lay out). Use the questions that will help you learn the most about the business. This will get the customer talking and help you build rapport. It will also help you make better questions and limit the number of questions you need to ask
• Structure the lines of questioning in a logical way starting with the area the customer expressed interest about. Avoid jumping back and forth between lines of questioning and make sure the conversation flows naturally but following a structure
• Prevent the customer from having to visit/call you again to get more information by asking about all the needs they have, including ancillary products and services (if part of your offering)
• Ask about the different pain points or specific needs related to the lines of questioning. Not only in the use of the product itself but even more importantly in how that impacts the user or the business (in B2B)

3) Ask about the different users and about the decision-making process (B2B)

• Make sure you understand the needs of all the people who are going to use the services or that are going to be impacted by its use. In B2C this could include significant others, children, parents, roommates, grandparents or others. In B2B this includes co-workers, leadership, clients, suppliers and others. We frequently focus on the needs of the people who we’re talking to, which doesn’t necessarily cover others’ needs
• Understand the different ways in which the products and services are going to be used by the people above. For B2B learn also about the impact the use will have to their work
• For B2B focus on understanding the decision-making process and the role that different people play in the process (including the person you are talking to). No matter who you’re talking to (even if they are not the decision maker), they are still a great source of information about needs but to advance in your goal you need to understand people and process
• Ask about the different pain points or specific needs attached to the different users or stakeholders. Not only in the use of the product itself but even more importantly in how that impacts the user or business (in B2B). Be thorough in understanding pain points, especially in B2B these should include strategic, operational and financial pain points and others relevant to the business

4) Don’t make assumptions

• The way we think about our potential customers or clients is shaped by our past interactions with clients or customers. This is dangerous because, sometimes unconsciously, we start profiling our customers to the point where “we know what their needs are” without even asking. The result, we don’t ask questions about certain areas of interest because “we know” they won’t be interested and we limit our opportunities
• To be more clear, assumptions about our customers limit our understanding of them and their needs and therefore limit our opportunities to satisfy them

5) Refrain from making an offer until you have all the information you need

• Wait until you have a comprehensive understanding of the customer before making an offer to ensure it’s the right one
• Offering something in the middle of a conversation and then going back to asking questions to understand needs will confuse you and the customer
• As soon as we offer something the conversation becomes about the offer and its price and not about the customers’ needs

6) Be tenacious when they interrupt to say or ask something, regain control of the conversation

• Make sure you let the customer know that you are listening to them by acknowledging what they did, said or asked
• Let them know why you need to continue learning their needs (i.e., to provide a comprehensive solution or answer to their question and needs) and ask for their OK to keep focused on learning needs
• If you have to take care of the customer’s question immediately then do so and frame it as a partial answer/ offer/explanation. Attempt to be brief, while answering the customer’s question
• Then ask a question of your own to get back control of the conversation

 

7) Ask questions with a purpose

• Have a goal for every question you ask, it will show the customer you value their time and help you be more efficient
• Ask as many questions as you need and as little as possible. It’s not about a number of questions but about the right questions to understand the customer’s needs
• Good questions will add to the trust the customer has on you, bad ones will take away from it

8) Silence? Wait!

• During a conversation, silence typically means someone is thinking
• It doesn’t mean they don’t understand or dislike your question or you, therefore, don’t get defensive. Give customers the time they need to think about it
• I recently read that 8 seconds is the average time a person takes to think about a question and start answering to it. Time yourself being quiet for 8 seconds right now, realize it feels like a lot when in silence. Learn to be comfortable with it
• Past the 8 seconds you can either repeat the question with a slightly different phrasing or clarify what the question is asking. What you shouldn’t do is answer your own question or abandon the question and move to the next one just because a short silence made you nervous

9) Record the information

• Take notes of customers’ needs whenever possible during the conversation. Your focus should still be in listening (and not on taking notes). The more and better notes you have, the better prepared you will be
• Have a template to take notes that will help you structure the conversation and help you identify areas of questioning or people/users/stakeholders whose needs and pain points you need to understand

The above principles are guidelines that need to be tailored to the needs of each business. Changes should be made depending on the type of products and services that are offered, on the type of clients (e.g., B2C, SMB, Enterprise, etc.) and on the channel (e.g., inside sales, field sales, retail).

What remains clear is that without a well-defined structure for the conversation, and a learning process that helps your team members learn and adopt the changes to the way they have been doing things, many of the old sales habits will continue to live in your organization, limiting its growth.

Preparation is 50% of success in facilitation

 

Six years ago, prior to leaving the strategy consulting firm I was working for and to deciding to start my own business, I was aggressively networking in search of opportunities in the corporate world. After several attempts, I finally scheduled a call with a senior executive in Silicon Valley.  I was pretty confident in my abilities and my resume was strong. I was ready to introduce myself, showcase my strengths and had strong questions ready. I was going to kill it.

I got schooled. Lack of real preparation resulted in failure. I have to be thankful for the experience though, it taught me a few lessons:

• Preparation is 50% of the success of any meeting, conversation, training, etc.
• Confidence in yourself is key but it won’t stand in for preparation
• Preparation is much more than knowing what you want to say and ask
• ‘Winging-it’ sometimes works (let’s be honest) but unfortunately not when it matters, remember Murphy’s Law?

In facilitation, being well prepared will help you achieve your goal of improving your team’s performance by:

• Gaining and maintaining the trust of your audience, contributing to a long-lasting relationship
• Ensuring that you engage, motivate and add value to your team
• Setting the standard of preparation and execution for the team
• Allowing you to focus on using your emotional intelligence and engaging on the conversation (given that you don’t need to focus on anything else, you’re ready)

Even though today’s post is focused on preparing for huddle facilitation [1], the content applies to other type of interactions. This includes preparing for meetings, interviews, public speaking and others.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote the post Nine things great facilitators do well. On the post I mentioned three things that need to exist as a precondition to success in facilitation: trust, a shared vision and preparation.

So, what does it take to be prepared?

1) Know you audience

There are many questions that need to be answered prior to the interaction. Here are some of them:

• Who is your audience?  What do they do? What is their background?
• What are their names and positions within the organization?
• What are they looking to achieve?
• What have they done or tried in the past and how has it worked?
• What do they think about the learning plan? What needs to be included and not?
• What behaviors or habits need to be unlearned so that they can learn the new behaviors?
• What ‘keeps them up at night’?

2) Be an expert on the content and how you’re going to facilitate it

As a facilitator you need to be an expert on the content you are going to facilitate and on the process and structure that you’re going to use to introduce the learning. Here are some questions you need to be able to answer prior to the huddle:

• What’s the goal of the session or conversation?
• What are the agenda and timing for the session?
• What are the main points you are going to make?
• What evidence is there to support the points you make?
• What are the questions that you are going to ask and how are you going to ask them?
• What are the answers that you expect (so that you can lead the conversation towards them)?
• How do you know if you’re progressing well or if you achieve your goal in the session?
• What obstacles do you expect and how are you going to overcome them?  (e.g., mindsets, current habits, interruptions, objections, focus on the exceptions, team feuds)
• What ice breakers or energizers are you going to use in case they are needed?
• What tools are you going to use to be more effective?
• What activities or exercises are you going to include? How are they supporting the main points?

There are occasions when expert facilitators are asked to lead sessions with content in which they are not experts. In our opinion, even if it is not an ideal situation, this can be done successfully. In those cases it is important to:

• Study to have a minimum understanding of the topic, questions to be asked, the sought-after conclusions, etc.
• Have a content expert in the room who can answer questions that the team is not able to solve and to validate the conclusions that are reached from the team discussion
• Know what the answers you expect are (so that you can lead the conversation towards them)

3) Practice, practice and practice some more

You might know your audience, the content and the structure of the session but if you’re not able to facilitate the session properly then it’s not of much use.

You should practice even when you are going to facilitate content that you have already facilitated in the past. Here are some ideas on how to do it:

• Study the different parts of the huddle, Don’t just read through, study part by part – you will discover areas that you need to think through a bit more
• Rewrite the huddle from scratch on a new piece of paper that you can use as a job aid during the actual session. This will help you think through things again and have clarity on the goal, the main points, the questions, etc.
• Have a dry run for the huddle in front of your peers or your Managers, ask for feedback and use it to improve the huddle content or delivery. A full dry run might not be possible for every huddle (especially in the case where they are very frequent), in those cases try to dry run at least the part that you think will be most challenging
• Practice for challenging situations. Ask the people observing the dry run to take the role of participants and act both the easy and the difficult situations (they both pose their own kind of challenges). Challenges should include someone refusing to try an approach, someone disagreeing with it, a conversation that goes fast because it seems that everyone gets it (but they really don’t), people distracted, people interrupting, participants not engaging, participants wanting to talk all the time and others you foresee

4) Ensure logistics are in place

It would be a shame if after all the trouble you have gone through understanding your audience, being an expert on the content and on the structure of the session, and practicing all goes wrong because of logistics.

Some of the things to ensure are done before you facilitate a huddle:

• Space. Confirm room for the huddle has been reserved and that enough time has been allowed for setup at the beginning and for debriefing and feedback at the end of the session. Also look at the layout of the room so it will conducive to sharing and learning (e.g., U-shaped seating, everyone able to see visuals)
• Participants. Ensure calendar invitations have been sent in advance, that all approvals required have been provided, and that participants are reminded on the day of the huddle. All this to ensure that participants are where they need to be, and on time. This includes leadership or peer support required
• Tools and materials. Make sure all the tools required for the huddle are in place. This includes flip charts, white boards and markers, projector, lap top, job aids, candy, pens & notebooks, poster with huddle ground rules, poster to park topics as needed and others. Also, ensure that the audio-visual equipment works well ahead of time

Last thing, prior to the huddle make sure you do something to warm up and get into ‘the zone’. Think about professional athletes, they don’t go out cold and play, they warm up. Do the same. For me, it’s a combination of air-boxing and vocal warm-ups. I’ve seen other people do it with power-posing, other physical exercises, meditation, a quick speech and even singing. Find what works for you and do it, it will improve your performance.

Again, 50% of the success of a huddle lies in preparation. That said, it’s only 50% if you are well prepared. Lack of preparation can easily be responsible for 100% of the failure.

What other things should you do to prepare?

 

[1] A huddle is a short, recurring training session that is focused on building skills, one well-defined topic at a time. These sessions are led by team leaders (e.g., supervisors) and have a limited number of participants. For more about huddles and how to make them strong read this post.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Guillermo Herbozo is a Principal at Lima Implementation Associates (LIMA) a strategy implementation firm that works with clients to improve team effectiveness. He is also an experienced coach, facilitator and public speaker.

LIMA focuses on customer facing functions such as sales, customer service, retention, and others. It works with different channels (e.g., retail, inbound and outbound call centers, field sales, web & chat teams, B2B and B2C) and industries, mainly telecommunications and financial services.

LIMA’s approach is based on the belief that internal leaders (Supervisors and Managers) should be the key change makers within an organization. Therefore focuses on building the capabilities of team leaders while ensuring that their teams’ effectiveness is improving. To do this LIMA works on introducing a different kind of training and coaching. It also supports clients in working through other factors that impact change (e.g., metrics, reporting, leadership engagement, accountability, culture, compensation).

Guillermo can be contacted at: guillermo.herbozo@implementationassociates.com

More about LIMA: www.implementationassociates.com

How should you start a customer conversation to be successful?

 

 

Most conversations, whether you’re in sales, customer service, retention or any other customer facing position, start with a greeting. Then they move along until close and follow up.

Now, how often do you review the customer conversation practices in your organization to see how they can be improved? This post is an invitation to do precisely that. Its focus will be reviewing best practices on the start of the conversation.

Because of the different channels (e.g., call centers, retail, field), functions (e.g., sales, retention, customer service) and types of customers (e.g., B2B, B2C) it’s impossible to have just one solution. We will focus on a list of things to consider when defining how you’re going to open an inbound customer conversation. This is, an interaction where the customer came to us (called, walked in the store or approached us).

Let’s start with the goal. What is it we’re looking for in the first 20-30 seconds of the conversation? Start building a trust-based relationship that convinces the customer they have the right person and that persuades them to let you lead the conversation to get to the best outcome.

Now let’s dive in. How should you start a customer conversation to be successful?

1) Greet the customer

• Say hello to the customer in a natural way. Thank them for visiting, calling or stopping by. Use simple words (e.g., good morning, thank you for calling)
• Tell them who you represent, the organization you are a part of. There’s a brand and support behind you, leverage it. It also helps with those that call or visit the wrong place (sounds funny but we’ve all seen them)
• Tell them your name. Not only is it a basic standard to introduce yourself but it starts making the conversation personal
• Ask the customer’s name and use it immediately. It makes it more personal and shows that you’re truly interested in them, that you’re paying attention
• Offer to help it helps open the conversation in a way that is focused on them
• Speak slowly and clearly, ensure customers understand you
• Make sure your body language and your voice is reflective of your positive and engaging attitude (e.g., a courteous smile, looking in the eyes, body tilted slightly forward). Your attitude will be critical in setting the tone of the conversation both in person and through the phone

Watch out: Many people think the greeting is not an important part of the conversation and therefore say it as fast as they can so they can “get to the real stuff”. Wrong. Take your time. Your quest to gain their trust just started, and you might blow it

An example: “Good morning! Welcome to X. My name is Y. May I ask what your name is?  Hi Z, how can I help you today?”

2) Show the customer you’re listening and start gaining their trust

• Repeat back what the customer says (as they answer your opening question). Be specific. This will show the customer that you’re listening, that you’re focused on them. It’s critical to differentiate yourself from others that might have not listened before. Also tells the customer that you understand what they came in for
• Show empathy to your customer. This is something that is especially important when there is emotion in the customer, whether positive or negative. It will help humanize you in front of the customer; they will realize that you’re a real good and caring person. Showing empathy might be needed earlier on in the call. Sometimes it’s even necessary to show it during the greeting. Adjust as needed
• Relate to your customer’s situation. This will, along with empathy, let them know you are really focused on them. More importantly, it will show that you really understand their perspective. You can leverage your own experience or your experience with other customers. If you can’t do it in an honest way then don’t
• Take ownership. This is even more important when the customer is coming with some kind of issue or concern. Acknowledge the issue they have had and assure them that the “buck stops here”. That you are going to take care of them. Repeat your name to show that you are willing to be kept accountable for the results of the conversation
• Address all people with respect and excitement. Sometimes we discover early on that the person calling is not the decision maker. Remember they might be a key influencer or a gate keeper. Also, even if it’s not the decision maker, this person knows more about the needs of the family or business than we do

Watch out: When you repeat back customers’ words, be careful to avoid words that might limit the conversation. (e.g., disconnect, lower price, cancel, just, complain). Also, empathizing and relating to the customer are great practices if they are done in an honest way. Lastly, apologize when you or someone in your organization failed the customer. That said; avoid the phrase “I apologize” as a standard response. It puts blame on us and sometimes we don’t have it (and doesn’t add any value)

A cumulative example: “Good morning! Welcome to X. My name is Y. May I ask what your name is?  Hi Z, how can I help you today?” “I’ll be glad to help you make changes to your account. I am sorry that you have been transferred around, those are not our standards and I’m sorry we failed. Again, my name is Y and I will make sure we take the steps we need during this conversation so this becomes a positive experience”

3) Gain control of the customer conversation

• Gain explicit permission of your customer to lead the conversation, despite them having initiated the conversation (by calling or approaching us). This will allow you to structure the conversation in a way that is most effective to find the customer’s needs and satisfy them. It will also let the customer know exactly what will happen next, it well set the expectation for needs exploration
• Always remember you’re the expert on your products and services, on having a customer conversation and soon on their needs
• To gain control of the conversation:
• Ask permission to ask questions. Get the customer’s permission to move forward, to start asking questions so that you can understand their needs. This step will give you your first yes of the conversation
• Tell them how they’re going to benefit with your questions. WIIFM (what’s in it for me – in this case for them). Relate it to their reason for calling but also keep it open so that you can explore all needs openly

Watch out: Resist the urge to get more information about the customer (e.g., address, account number, etc.). Time will come for that but wait until you have have gained their initial trust and buy-in. Don’t just ask permission to ask questions, if you don’t give them the “why” they might say no. Obstacles (e.g., customers interrupting, talking without pause) shouldn’t be able to derail you from maintaining the structure of the conversation, prepare for them

A cumulative example: “Good morning! Welcome to X. My name is Y. May I ask what your name is?  Hi Z, how can I help you today?” “I’ll be glad to help you make changes to your account. I am sorry that you have been transferred around, those are not our standards and I’m sorry we failed. Again, my name is Y and I will make sure we take the steps we need during this conversation so this becomes a positive experience” “So that we can take care of your needs today, may I ask you a few questions?”

Here are some of the reactions we’ve heard before: “I already have something that works well”, “It’s too long”, “Customers will interrupt and will think parts of this are a waste of time”, my favorite: “It’s not going to work, especially the part where you ask permission to ask questions”

Please consider:

• Sometimes trying something different will help you realize there is opportunity to improve your own ways
• We have seen great results with these components in different industries and functions at Fortune 500 companies
• It just takes a few seconds. Write it down. Try it, practice it, and time yourself. It will still be a matter of seconds. Not the first few times perhaps but soon thereafter
• If you let the customer lead the conversation it will likely end where they want

That said, you should only implement things you believe in or at a minimum those you’re willing to give an honest shot. Otherwise, no matter how good it sounds, it won’t work.

Please share your thoughts or adds in the comments section. Just like you, I’m always looking to learn more.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Guillermo Herbozo is a Principal at Lima Implementation Associates (LIMA) a strategy implementation firm that works with clients to improve team effectiveness. He is also an experienced coach, facilitator and public speaker.

LIMA focuses on customer facing functions such as sales, customer service, retention, and others. It works with different channels (e.g., retail, inbound and outbound call centers, field sales, web & chat teams, B2B and B2C) and industries, mainly telecommunications and financial services.

LIMA’s approach is based on the belief that internal leaders (Supervisors and Managers) should be the key change makers within an organization. Therefore focuses on building the capabilities of team leaders while ensuring that their teams’ effectiveness is improving. To do this LIMA works on introducing a different kind of training and coaching. It also supports clients in working through other factors that impact change (e.g., metrics, reporting, leadership engagement, accountability, culture, compensation).

Guillermo can be contacted at: guillermo.herbozo@implementationassociates.com
More about LIMA: www.implementationassociates.com

#NoPares

 

 

 

Lo de Piura y los huaicos no ha terminado. Ya nos hicimos presentes, ahora toca ayudar a que se mantengan los esfuerzos. Si bien las cosas van a regresar a la normalidad pronto, queda mucho por hacer en el corto y en el largo plazo, para ayudar a los damnificados de esta tragedia y para prevenir futuras desgracias.

Hoy sin embargo siento, de manera ingenua lo admito, que hemos cambiado como país. Aquella frase de “el peor enemigo de un peruano es otro peruano” parece haber sido sustituida por #unasolafuerza. Vamos que hasta le ganamos a Uruguay anoche y todos éramos uno, desde donde estuviéramos.

Ahora bien, esta oportunidad que tenemos hoy hay que aprovecharla. Todos.

A PPK y a cada uno de sus Ministros: #NoPares

Han demostrado que pueden liderar. Ciertamente la tragedia del Niño Costero les dio la oportunidad. Pero para quienes dudábamos del liderazgo de este gobierno, hoy hay un cambio. Me atrevo a decir que incluso para quienes mantenían la convicción en el liderazgo de PPK y sus ministros ha habido también un cambio. Ahora hay que mantenerlo.

• Sigan saliendo a las calles, todos los días. Que la gente vea como trabajan y las cosas que logran. Los peruanos nos ilusionamos con facilidad pero necesitamos ver el esfuerzo. Hay quienes dicen que ese no es el trabajo del Presidente o de los Ministros. Se equivocan. Especialmente cuando el Gobierno tiene el Congreso en contra es indispensable mantener el apoyo de la población. Que no le resulte popular a la oposición meterle cabe al Perú
• Desháganse de las demás Eufrosinas en el Estado, sin dilaciones ni miramientos. No esperen que Panorama les saque la siguiente nota. No es la primera ni será la ultima
• No desaprovechen la otra gran oportunidad. El tema Odebrecht. Aborden el tema, de inmediato, no esperen un día más. Apoyen al Poder Judicial en todo lo que sea necesario y exijan celeridad en todos los procesos. Que sus acciones sean visibles. Ya empezaron las voces a decir que esto se va a pasar por agua tibia. Esta percepción de algunos convence a muchos y trae frustración y un sentir de “más de lo mismo” que no suma
• Si no lo han hecho todavía, tengan una unidad de seguimiento a proyectos especiales (algo así como el Prime Minister Delivery Unit que instauró Tony Blair y que muchos líderes mundiales han seguido). Esto puede hacerse en PCM y una versión reducida en algunos Ministerios

A cada uno de los peruanos: #NoPares

• Que la unión continúe. Ayudemos a que nuestros hijos entiendan que la compasión, la empatía y la solidaridad se pueden ejercer a diario, que no hay que esperar una tragedia como la que nos tocó para ayudar a quienes viven circunstancias desafortunadas. Que se vuelva una actividad regular para todas las familias (¿semanal? ¿mensual?). ¡Imagínense el cambio que eso traería!
• Que ese foco en el bien común sirva también para cambiar algunos de nuestros hábitos. Respetemos las reglas de tránsito. Cedámosle el paso a los peatones. Sí , a pesar de que nos toque claxon el de atrás y de que nos demoremos 10 minutos más en llegar a nuestro destino
• Seamos más equitativos con quienes trabajan en casa. Que la ley (que muchos no respetan todavía) sea un mínimo pero que todos tratemos de hacer más
• Premiemos a los políticos que más hacen y no a los que más joden. Es cierto que hay una labor importante y necesaria de fiscalización y de balance de poderes. Sin embargo con ese cuento nadie hace nada. Basta ya!
• Seamos ciudadanos más activos. Reclamemos más y tomemos acciones cuando veamos que algo no funciona bien. Es la única manera de mantener a nuestras autoridades enfocadas en lo que más nos importa

Dije al inicio que hemos cambiado como país. Claramente un exceso de emoción pero ahí queda. Lo que sí está claro es que estamos en una encrucijada que representa una gran oportunidad para el país:

• La corrupción al más alto nivel ha sido nuevamente evidenciada
• Parte del país ha sido destruido y miles lo han perdido todo por la desidia de nuestras autoridades y por nuestra irresponsabilidad al elegirlos y no hacerlos responsables
• Las autoridades actuales han demostrado que pueden liderar
• Los peruanos nos hemos unido por una sola causa, con excepciones claro, pero en general hoy el Perú parece estar primero

Hay pasos concretos que cada uno de nosotros puede tomar. Lo que suceda ahora depende de ti, #NoPares

Nine things great facilitators do

In the context of a huddle, there are several things great facilitators do. As a reminder, we define a huddle as a short, recurring training session that is focused on building skills, one well-defined topic at a time. These sessions are led by team leaders (e.g., supervisors) and have a limited number of participants. For more about huddles and how to make them strong read this post.

The topic of facilitation warrants a book (or more). You will notice that some of the basics are not included here (e.g., look at participants eyes, move deliberately). Our goal is to share what we believe are game changers in facilitation of huddles and not to be exhaustive about what you should do when facilitating one.

Also, team leaders need to do three things[1] prior to the start of huddles. Results will be curtailed without them.

• Have the team’s trust
• Have a clear vision for the team (and have shared it with the team)
• Be prepared (50% of the success of the huddle happens before the huddle)

Now, let’s dive in: What are nine things great huddle facilitators do?

1. Set expectations

• Let all participants know, at the start of the huddle what the expectations are. This includes a brief discussion of the agenda for the huddle, what they can expect from you and what you expect from them. It will make the conversation more open and direct
• If you set an expectation support your team by keeping them accountable

2. Engage your audience

• Know participants’ names and use them throughout the huddle. It will encourage active engagement
• Ensure all participate. Learning skyrockets when participants think things through, vocalize their thoughts and practice skills. Think about how much you learned in those classes, back in school, where you just sat without participating
• Cold call participants. Ask them to build on each other’s points and reach the best conclusion possible (e.g., Charles, what does X mean? Dawn, what else does it mean? Melissa, from what Dawn said, why is it important to include X? Why else, Joe? How would that sound Peter? What did you like about what Peter just did Pauline? What else did you like Mary? Peter is there something you would’ve changed if you had to do it again? Monica, is there anything you think could’ve been done differently? – we just included 8 participants in one single point that could take as little as 2-3 minutes, or more of course)
• Be creative and engage people differently, especially when cold calling doesn’t work for some. An alternative: let a participant know, ahead of time, that you’re going to call on them for a specific topic. This allows them to prepare and succeed. After a while they will start being okay with cold calling

3. Account for different learning styles

• According to a study by Dr. Albert Mehrabian[2], effective communication is less about word choice and more about vocal (e.g., tone, pace, volume, pause, enunciation) and visual communication (e.g., body language, gestures, posture). Keep this in mind during facilitation
• Use analogies and tell stories. People understand and learn much better when they can relate (e.g., the importance of having goals present – I got in my car the other day and started driving. I ended up at my son’s preschool because I usually drive him there every morning. It was Saturday and I was going to get breakfast. Sometimes we act with our inner auto-pilot instead of thinking where we are going)
• Make sure that your huddle is supported by tools and dynamics that cater to different learning styles (e.g., visual, verbal, aural, individual and group thinking, physical exercises, practice and role plays, logical and emotional arguments[3])

4. Balance asking vs telling (aiming to be heavier on the asking)

• The ideal is to have participants self-discover the answers. It will help each participant learn more. Participants have best practices to share, let them spark the debate
• Temper the amounts of asking and telling throughout the huddle as needed. Whether it’s high asking and low telling, low asking and high telling will depend on whether the discussion will help meet the goal of the huddle (e.g., if you ask a question and the discussion is going as per your plans step back. If it’s not, step in and ask another question. If there is a point that you need to make that is not surfacing then take control and become “the expert”, do the telling and then ask a question again)
• When you receive a good question send it back to the team. It will make them think about it and self-discover. Then reinforce, add or summarize. It is also a good trick to use while you are formulating the best answer

5. Show passion, energy and maintain the huddle positive

• Passion is contagious. If the team sees that you truly believe in the message they are more likely to buy-in. More importantly, if the team sees that you’re passionate about helping them grow you will be more effective
• Energy often goes hand in hand with passion. Make sure that you are -within your own style- giving your best in terms of how points 2-4 above are being delivered. Stretch yourself. Remember you are asking your team to do the same
• Your energy level will set the bar for participants. Something we hear often is “the afternoon huddle is low energy because it’s after lunch”. Our typical response: “energy in the huddle depends on the facilitator regardless of the circumstances”. That said, keep in mind the circumstances and avoid, anticipate or mitigate potential obstacles
• Maintain the huddle environment positive and risk free. More (and more honest) participation will follow (e.g., ensure perspectives are not attacked, ask participants to focus on positives first)

6. Listen actively

• Listen and show that you are listening. Do this by acknowledging, repeating back, reinforcing or by asking a follow up question to what someone said. Be careful with validating things that might not be in agreement with the huddle
• Pay close attention to verbal and non-verbal cues from participants and act on the feedback
• When you need to park the conversation, let the team know why and when you’re getting back to the topic (and then get back)

7. Be humble and open

• Understand it all comes down to perspectives. Being the facilitator doesn‘t mean that there is one truth only
• Be open to having a conversation to understand others’ perspectives, even they contradict the purpose of the huddle. There’s a big difference between declaring someone’s approach wrong (polarizes the audience) and acknowledging their perspective and then asking them to try yours
• If you have to reconsider a position, unless the change is obvious, park the conversation. This will provide you with time to check facts and consult with others
• Always remember this principle: It’s not about you, it’s about them. As coaches or facilitators we tend to have large personalities, to like the sound of our own voice and usually have pretty clearly defined ideas. Let’s make sure they don’t get in the way of getting the best for our teams

8. Maintain the huddle on track

• When you start the huddle you should have clarity on where you are headed
• Align and reinforce throughout the conversation to remain true to the goal. Doing all of the above shouldn’t mean let participants take control of the huddle, that’s your job
• Avoid, as much as possible, asserting yourself to maintain the huddle on track. It should feel like a natural conversation. That said, if and when you need to assert yourself, you should

9. Ask for feedback and act on it

• Have an observer feedback template. It should include space for the points above and for the huddle’s agenda. Ask observers (e.g., managers, trainers) to complete it and ask for feedback immediately after the huddle
• Ask participants for their feedback what do they find useful and why? What would they change and why? What would they include and why?
• Act on the feedback to improve your huddle facilitation (when two huddles are the same something went wrong)

Please share your own tips for great facilitation.

_____________________________________________________________

[1] Each of these three things (trust, a vision that inspires and preparation) merits a post of its own. We will address them soon

[2] Albert Mehrabian, Silent Messages, 1971

[3] We combine several learning models. However, more important than the model is to ensure we are always attentive to the needs of the team we work with

8 principles to get sustainable improvements from training

 

In our quest to improve team effectiveness in a sustainable way, we have come to a seemingly obvious conclusion. There is no one stand-alone intervention for making change sustainable. Improving team performance requires a combination of efforts and interventions, as discussed in the post Coaching is critical but is not enough.

What has also become clear to us is that if a team wants to obtain and sustain improvement they also need to sustain the behaviors that helped the team grow in the first place. In addition, sustaining results typically requires a steady change in teams’ support structure.

‘Magical’ solutions that offer to transform the skills of your organization in a couple of weeks of training are in extinction (or should be). That doesn’t mean that you should look forward to having an external change agent supporting your team forever. It also doesn’t mean that specialized traditional training wouldn’t still add value to your teams. It means that organizations that are looking to have sustainable results need to equip their team leaders to become strong change agents and that the approach to training needs to change.

In the context of improving team effectiveness, awareness and skill building need to start somewhere (as discussed on the post Getting adult learning in the workplace right). Informally, it happens every day at the workplace between colleagues. Formally, team leaders should jumpstart performance improvement and change through the regular team training sessions we call huddles.

 

There are 8 principles to maximize the outcome of huddles and to make changes sustainable:

1. Huddles need to focus on skill building

• The goal must be clear. These sessions are for building the skills critical to improving team performance. If your team or organization is not going to be fully committed to this goal then it’s better not to start
• We often hear clients saying “We’re just going to use the next two huddles to address an urgent matter regarding HR policies”. We immediately raise a flag. In our experience once you take that road it’s the end of it. These sessions will not be really protected for building skills purposes. Other meetings should be scheduled for things such as HR policies, new systems, processes, etc., which need to happen. But again, they shouldn’t replace the skill building effort

2. Huddles need to have learning-practice-coaching

• There is a fundamental change as compared to traditional training. A typical training session occurs over a few days or even weeks. Huddles cover one small topic at a time
• The approach to huddles includes learning, practicing and coaching during every session
  • Learning. Done through facilitator-led conversations, best practice sharing, case discussions, videos, etc.
  • Practicing. Done through role playing, listening to recorded client conversations or through other creative exercises. The idea is to get participants to actually execute the behaviors and skills discussed
  • Coaching. Done through observation and feedback from participants and facilitators. Reinforcing the strengths and opportunities observed and drilling down on the what?, why? And how? to maximize learning
• As discussed in previous posts, huddles should integrate different learning styles (e.g., visual, auditory, verbal) as well as individual and group activities

3. Huddles need to be recurring

• Given that huddles contain bits of learning, recurring sessions are critical to be able to cover a topic as a whole
• The recurring nature of the training responds to the need to maintain and constantly improve the skills of team members. Therefore by design the training (and learning) never ends
• The frequency of huddles varies depending on industry and function. Huddles can happen 2-3 times per week, once a week, every two weeks, etc. It will ultimately depend on the needs of the team and the organization’s commitment to improving performance
• As much as possible there shouldn’t be an extended time gap between the learning, the doing and the coaching. Also, because huddles are designed as building blocks and in small bits, it’s important to not set too much time between huddles (to the point that people wouldn’t remember what was discussed on a previous one)

4. Huddles need to be short

• As discussed, huddles cover small topics and are therefore short
• In addition, short sessions help limit the amount of disruption to teams, so that even while they are in training teams can still exceed their goals (as opposed to when they have to take three days off for training)
• If disruption is not limited sustainability is at risk

5. Huddles need to be led by team leaders (Supervisors or Managers)

• When Supervisors and Managers lead huddles their effectiveness increases and their chance of being sustainable also improves. Even if trainers, internal or external, have are more skilled initially at delivering a huddle, leveraging Supervisors or Managers makes sense. Team leaders have a close knowledge of the team -of its strengths and struggles-, their incentives are completely aligned with that of the team, with practice they will improve their skills, and they will be able to make the training sessions a sustainable effort
• Support from coaches, internal or external, should focus on improving the skills of Managers and Supervisors while they (Managers and Supervisors) are conducting the huddles for their team members

6. Huddles need to have a limited number of participants

• Participants should be limited to a number that allows each person to participate several times within the length of the huddle (e.g., in a call center a huddle could have 10-12 participants)
• It’s a good idea, especially as Supervisors and Managers learn the trade (of being an effective facilitator), to pair up two Supervisors with different skills so they can learn from each other
• If huddles are combined (meaning that two teams do huddles together), it would be important to split the overall team so that a large number of participants doesn’t make the huddle ineffective

7. Huddles need to have an adequate space and environment

• As much as possible, huddles should have a designated room or area that becomes a sort of ‘war room’, a place where skill building happens, where materials and even decorations support learning and that is ready for each session with minimal setup time
• In terms of atmosphere it is important to maintain a positive environment in the huddles. The huddle should be a risk free environment where everyone is encouraged to speak openly. Also a place that gets people excited through decorations, candy, incentives, and others

8. Huddles need to be scheduled to minimize disruption

• As mentioned before huddle should disrupt regular operations minimally. To that extent, the team schedules should be analyzed considering:
• Overall daily schedules of the team, including days off
• Peak hours for work and workforce management considerations (e.g., at what time do they receive more calls, or at what time are they more likely to find people in their office, etc.)
• If there is more than one huddle per day it is convenient to schedule them back to back so that it’s one block for Supervisors and Managers and therefore only one disruption for them (a lengthier but also more efficient one)

The combination of these principles along with structured and well facilitated huddles (posts coming soon) will help that improvements are obtained and maintained in time. For other factors that will help make change happen in a sustainable way read Coaching is critical but is not enough.

 

 

Por una cultura de consecuencias… incluidas las AFPs

El país parece estar nuevamente en un estado de desesperanza. En los últimos 15 años no recuerdo haber estado en una situación similar. Ciertamente estamos mejor, en lo económico y en lo social, que hace 15 años. Eso no quita que nuestra sociedad esté angustiada, ad portas de cierta depresión y que ya se observe la desesperanza.

Al margen de con qué perspectiva se quieran ver los problemas (económica, institucional, social, moral), éstos son interminables. La corrupción transversal, la inseguridad, la discriminación racial y cultural, la pobreza, la desigualdad, la educación, la salud, la falta de empatía, la polarización del país, la falta de instituciones, son solamente algunos de los problemas que vivimos.

No vamos a entrar en el facilismo de culpar a PPK por todos los males que nos aquejan, muchos de ellos probablemente desde el inicio de nuestra vida republicana. Lo que sí queda claro es que la papa caliente esta con él y eso, le guste o no a algunos, lo hace responsable o accountable. Esto es, él y su equipo de gobierno deben responder a la sociedad por las acciones que tomen, y por las que no tomen, para sacarnos de esta situación. Sin una ruta clara y acciones concretas la desesperanza solo irá en aumento.

Ante tantos problemas me permito sugerir, como ya ha hecho gente bastante más seria que yo, que empecemos la ruta de la institucionalización del país con el tema de justicia. Existe hoy una oportunidad clara de marcar un nuevo camino. Cuando los peruanos entendamos que el irrespeto a las reglas trae consecuencias, las cosas empezarán a cambiar.

Ahora bien, así como queremos que PPK ponga el pecho, también a los ciudadanos nos toca. A cada uno de nosotros, incluidos los ciudadanos corporativos.

Y a propósito de los corporativos, ¿qué hay de las AFPs?

Los líderes de GYM renunciaron hace unas semanas por el error de asociarse con Odebrecht. Más allá de si las renuncias son parte de una estrategia de comunicación o un verdadero mea culpa, o de si sabían o no de las coimas de Odebrecht. Lo cierto es que hubo un error y eso le costó la cabeza a la plana mayor de la compañía. Sobre el resto, ya el tiempo se encargará de contarnos.

Ayer leía un artículo de Germán Alarco en su blog Herejías Económicas en el Diario Gestión. El artículo hace notar algunas oportunidades para mejorar el sistema privado de pensiones. Al margen de si los argumentos de Alarco  son rebatibles o de si su perspectiva técnica pudiera estar nublada por la ideológica, hay datos objetivos que merecen consecuencias. El más claro, la pérdida de S/. 700 millones de soles.

En el mundo de las inversiones a veces se gana y a veces se pierde. Lo importante es el valor del portafolio en el tiempo. Los S/. 700 millones se recuperarán en el tiempo, eso no se discute (aunque también es cierto que el valor en el tiempo pudo haber sido mayor). Tampoco se discute que la regulación existente no permite a las AFPs diversificar el riesgo de manera óptima, como argumenta el Informe El Comercio-IPE publicado el pasado lunes.

Lo que sí se cuestiona y merece consecuencias claras es la negligencia. No sé cuál hubiera sido la ruta ideal para la desinversión que garantizara que no se afecte a la empresa y por tanto a sus propios intereses (los de las AFPs y sus afiliados). Algo sobre lo que los especialistas podrán ilustrarnos.

Sin embargo, ¿cómo es posible que luego de dos años del destape de Odebrecht las AFPs hayan seguido con ese nivel de inversión en GYM? (o más bien con inversión alguna). ¿Qué consecuencias ha habido para los tres directores independientes cuya función era salvaguardar los intereses de los afiliados? ¿Qué consecuencias habrá para los directivos de @AFPpintegra, @profuturo.AFP, @primaAFP, @afphabitatperu?

Los críticos dirán que con posiciones como ésta se mina la continuidad del sistema. Yo pienso precisamente lo contrario. Creo en el sistema privado de pensiones. Existen muchas oportunidades para mejorarlo pero sigue siendo mucho mejor que la alternativa. Pienso que le hacemos un flaco favor al dejar pasar estas oportunidades sin tomar acciones concretas, inmediatas y visibles. No hacemos otra cosa que dar argumentos a los opositores al sistema, que deben estar relamiéndose.

Por cierto, ¿qué esperan los gremios empresariales para reclamar consecuencias? Leí ayer que Roque Benavides juró como Presidente de la Confiep. Una pregunta para él, ¿vamos a continuar con el ya tradicional “entre bomberos no nos pisamos la manguera” o vamos a apostar por una cultura de consecuencias que beneficie a todos los peruanos?

¡Qué tal raza! ¿Y para cuándo el día del hombre?

Hasta no hace mucho esa era mi reacción al Día Internacional de la Mujer. Esto de la igualdad de género y de los derechos de la mujer es algo que he venido a descubrir y apoyar tarde en mi vida. Pero acá estamos y para adelante.

¿Se han dado cuenta de que nos enfadamos y reaccionamos de manera enérgica por muchas cosas bastante menos prevalentes en nuestra sociedad? Este es un tema que afecta a casi el 50% de peruanos. Sin embargo raramente hablamos del tema. Hoy hay mucho que leer en los medios. Recomiendo el artículo de @marisabelcuzma con buenas estadísticas en @peru21 sobre el tema.

Y es que este no es un tema de coyuntura. No interesa. No ha sucedido nada diferente (a pesar de los índices de desigualdad y violencia) que nos llame a la acción, o más bien a la reacción. Conversar sobre estos temas en casa, con nuestros amigos, eso depende de todos nosotros.

La Constitución dice que toda persona tiene derecho a la igualdad, al margen del género. En otras palabras, de lo que se trata es que mujeres y hombres tengan los mismos derechos, deberes y oportunidades. Pocos discrepan sobre el tema de igualdad (ojo no me refiero acá a la ‘ideología de género’ o a los derechos de la comunidad LGBT+). Sin embargo me atrevería a decir que muchos no reconocen que las cosas son desiguales.

Muchos no nos damos cuenta de que nuestras acciones y las frases que utilizamos refuerzan la idea de que los hombres somos mejores, de que las mujeres son menos, de que son más débiles. Hasta no hace mucho yo era uno de ellos. No es que negara el tema de la igualdad sino que no era consciente del mismo. Por cierto, no sirve de nada ser conscientes si no hacemos algo para cambiar las cosas. Incluso diría que es peor.  

Nuestra generación recibió una sociedad dominada por hombres, y la de nuestros padres peor. Ese dominio ha ido equilibrándose más y más con los años. Hoy tenemos un número de congresistas mujeres record. El 30% del congreso son mujeres aunque lejos todavía del 50% de la población mujer. Leía también esta mañana en un artículo de Juan Pablo León Almenara sobre una investigación de @RolandoArellano que la mujer “moderna” que trabaja fuera de casa se ha incrementado de un 30% en 1990 a 49% en estos días. Ciertamente habría que ver el tipo de trabajo, el sueldo entre otras cosas, pero de igual forma es un avance.

Algunos ejemplos para quien esté listo para darse cuenta

• Todavía pensamos que hay trabajos que son para hombres y para mujeres. Por ejemplo cuando pensamos en la profesión médica el hombre es el doctor y la mujer la enfermera
• Todavía mantenemos estándares diferentes para hombres y mujeres. Por ejemplo recuerdo hace unos cuando nuestros amigos que ‘chapaban’ con frecuencia eran unos “maestros”, las chicas (porque las de esa calaña no eran nuestras amigas) eran en cambio unas “jugadoras”
• Cuando llenamos un formulario que dice jefe de familia ponemos el nombre el esposo
• Cuando nuestras esposas trabajan manejando el hogar decimos que no trabajan o peor decimos “bueno, se encargan de las cosas de la casa”
• Todavía hoy usamos la expresión #comounaniña pare denotar debilidad de algún tipo

 

Este video #likeagirl (#comounaniña) es viejo y muchos ya lo deben haber visto pero es un buen recordatorio de las cosas que decimos a diario (Ojo es un comercial de una marca y está en ingles pero es espectacular)

Las consecuencias son claras:

• Algunas estadísticas del artículo de @marisabelcuzma: 67% de las mujeres son víctimas de violencia psicológica, solo 3 de cada 100 alcaldes distritales son mujeres, 5 de 19 ministros son mujeres, las mujeres ganan 30% menos que los hombres, las mujeres dedican 24 horas a la semana más en trabajo doméstico (no remunerado) que los hombres. Mientras no cambiemos estas estadísticas no van a cambiar
• Nuestras hijas e hijos crecen pensando que las mujeres son el #sexodébil
• La autoestima y la confianza de nuestras hijas en sí mismas sufren
• Cuando nuestras hijas piensan en su futuro (carrera, familia, etc.) son influenciadas por lo que escucharon es para las mujeres (que probablemente fue reforzado por nosotros)

¿Qué podemos hacer para romper este círculo vicioso?

• Dejemos de usar esas frases #comounaniña
• Trabajemos los dos (esposo y esposa) en temas domésticos y de educación de nuestros hijos (que siempre hay, más allá de que otras personas trabajen en casa). Demos el ejemplo
• Conversemos con nuestras hijas y con nuestros hijos abiertamente del tema (no solo se trata del currículo nacional, es tan o más importante lo que enseñamos en casa)
• Dejemos que nuestras hijas y nuestros hijos elijan lo que quieren jugar o el deporte que quieran practicar sin usar etiquetas (esto es para mujeres y esto para hombres)
• En el trabajo, y esto es algo que están haciendo los lideres @McKinsey, si están en posiciones de liderazgo sean mentores de mujeres, escojan a una y ayúdenla a llegar a posiciones de liderazgo (respetando la meritocracia pero motivándola, dándole coaching)

 

Este post no contiene una lista exhaustiva de ejemplos de actitudes contra la mujer, tampoco de las causas ni las consecuencias del machismo en nuestra sociedad. Menos aún pretende ser una contribución teórica en el tema. Pero si empezamos a preguntarnos sobre estas cosas, a conversarlas en casa con nuestros hijos, a cambiar nuestras actitudes y  acciones en el día a día ya es bastante. Crear un futuro mejor para nuestras hijas e hijos y en general para nuestra sociedad depende de todos.

Dos preguntas rápidas, las mismas para mujeres y hombres

– ¿Que van a cambiar, que van a empezar a hacer distinto? (de esta lista o de la suya propia)

– ¿Qué otras cosas agregarían?

Esta película ya la vi, termina en tragedia

El insano Phillip Butters acaba de sumar cientos de miles de seguidores. Es cierto que el nivel de desagrado que le teníamos muchos se ha agudizado y que algunos otros ahora le deben haber puesto la cruz.   Pero no me queda duda de que en términos netos la base de seguidores se ha incrementado. Ya lo dirán las encuestas.

El osito (como le dice de manera brillante @chiararoggero) tiene a mi parecer cualidades innatas de liderazgo y habilidades claras de comunicador. Basta con ver la reacción que suscita entre quienes lo escuchan, aun cuando habla de cosas sin ningún sustento, acá va una muestra. Eso lo hace peligroso. Hoy seguramente tiene a más de uno tratando de convencerlo de que la política es lo suyo, de que postule a algún cargo público en las próximas elecciones (si no lo tenía ya decidido).

El verdadero problema

Lo cierto es que, postule Butters o no, hay una ola de odio y discriminación que está germinando posiciones radicales e intolerantes y que muy probablemente terminará en violencia. Vamos, que la violencia ya empezó, y para muestra un botón.

Y el problema real es que esta película la acabamos de ver. No hace mucho. Termina en tragedia. Butters y otros seguidores del pastor Rodolfo Gonzalez Cruz (el que instiga a matar homosexuales) están probablemente definiendo qué rol quieren tomar en el futuro. Si es el de Donald Trump o el de Rush Limbaugh, una estrella de la radio conservadora en Estados Unidos y un promotor incansable del odio a las minorías. O tal vez el de Stephen Miller, el adefesio de asesor que Trump tiene en la Casa Blanca que es también un detractor de todas las minorías en Estados Unidos, especialmente de la latina.

Las perspectivas distintas son respetables y el debate siempre bienvenido. El problema es cuando éstas acarrean discriminación o cuando causan que los derechos de otras personas sean restringidos. Es lo que vemos, gente sin escrúpulos que usa el poder que tienen para polarizar a la población al punto de desencadenar odio y violencia.

Aprendamos de los errores ajenos y actuemos

• No minimicemos y menos ridiculicemos las posiciones de otros, incluso las que consideramos radicales. Entendámoslas. Aprendamos de ellas para poder rebatirlas objetivamente. Tengamos un diálogo franco y abierto con personas que piensan distinto. Por ejemplo, hablemos del tema de la homofobia con nuestras familias. Hablemos sobre la igualdad de género con nuestros amigos machistas (ojo que escribo esto aun cuando reconozco que es algo con lo que todavía batallo). NO generemos antagonismos exagerados que lo único que hacen es alienar a las personas y acercarlas más al fanatismo

• No subestimemos a gente como Phillip Butters. ¿Cuántos pensaban hace dos o tres años que Trump sería presidente de Estados Unidos? La estrategia de muchos políticos estadounidenses fue ignorar a Trump, ‘ya la gente se cansará de las barbaridades sin sustento’ decían, y ya ven que sucedió. Enfrentemos a Butters y a otros de su calaña. De una vez. No escuchemos más Radio Capital hasta que #saquenabutters. Enviemos cartas o pongamos posts en las redes sociales de Radio Capital, Grupo RPP y en las de sus auspiciadores y anunciantes para que sepan con claridad lo que están apoyando y cómo nos sentimos al respecto. No compremos productos que auspicien o publiciten en su programa de radio. Empecemos hoy.

• A los medios: Veten a Butters, que no sea más invitado a programa alguno. Continúen con la poca cobertura de las sandeces que dice. Mientras más difusión tenga lo que dice, más personas podrán ‘comprar’ sus ideas incendiarias. Entiendo que la lectoría y el rating son importantes pero también lo son la construcción de una sociedad justa, y en eso tienen ustedes un papel importante. Ojo, veten al personaje pero no los temas. Que los temas relacionados a respeto mutuo, a los derechos de las minorías sean parte de la conversación y cobertura. Que se promueva el debate, pero no con quienes quieren traer más violencia al país, más de la que ya tenemos. Usen el poder que tienen para prevenir lo que sería una desgracia no solo para las minorías en el país sino para todos los peruanos que estamos cansados de tanto odio. Como saben el poder es efímero pero hoy está en sus manos

Ojalá me equivoque y esté siendo alarmista, pero lo que se ve da miedo.

Nine steps for an effective skill-building coaching session

Coaching still has a bad name.

Several reasons:

• Coaching is still understood as what underperformers need to get better. As opposed to what it is, a tool that helps people -including top performers- improve their skills and performance
• Many team leaders are still unclear about what their attitude towards the people they coach and what the philosophy behind coaching should be. They still have mindsets like: “I’m going to catch your mistakes”, “let me show how it’s done”, “you’re not as good as you think”, “this is a meeting to review your numbers” and others
• The coaching process in many organizations has not been well thought through and therefore is not a positive and effective growth experience
• Many coaches lack effective coaching skills. They mean well but don’t really know how to do it and what a good process looks like. This impacts coaching results and with weak results comes a distrust in coaching overall

This post focused on the process. It will touch on how coaching should be understood and on the right mindsets but it’s not what it is about.

Improving coaching skills requires much more than reading this post, or any other article, post or book. It requires a process of learning-doing-coaching as discussed on this post.

 The eight steps for an effective skill-building coaching session

 

1. Prepare for the coaching session

•  Know that 50% of the success of a session happens before the actual session. If you don’t prepare well, the coaching session will typically not go well
• Review numbers and trends. Know what questions you are going to ask: which metrics you’re going to focus on, the connections to behaviors to emphasize, the new goals, etc.
• Ensure that you are ready to be 100% present on each coaching session (e.g., don’t wait until your coachee is there to print their numbers, don’t take calls, don’t answer emails)
• Plan and get ready to observe one or more real work interactions (e.g., for a call center sales rep, have 1-2 recorded calls ready, for a door to door sales rep go out to a couple of client meetings or an hour of door-knocking). If you don’t plan properly you won’t be able to observe (e.g., you won’t have the calls ready in the system, the sales rep won’t have any appointments or a concrete plan to knock on doors)
• Review notes and commitments from previous coaching sessions to make sure you’re observing the right behaviors during the session and to define questions to ask. Define where you want to take this session, even if it ends up changing as a result of the conversation

 

2. Set the expectation and focus

• Ensure the coachee understands what the coaching session is about, what is going to happen in terms of process, what you need from them and what they can expect from you
• Have a positive session from the start; especially as you begin a coaching process it’s critical to remember that coaching has a bad name. This needs to change from the start, at every session
• When possible, put the coachee in the coach’s seat. This means task them to identify the great things that they are doing well and the opportunities for improvement. Then challenge them to go deeper in each case asking questions like: What does that mean to you? What are the consequences of doing this? What makes you think this is something to work on?
• Get an initial read of your coachee before starting. Is the person ready to have an open and frank conversation? If they are not ready there are typically three paths, depending on the importance and urgency of what is in the coachee’s mind: 1) Acknowledge the issue and park it. Promise to revisit the issue (and actually do it, unless you don’t mind losing the person’s trust), 2) Address the topic then and there. Especially when it’s something quick that won’t take that long but will clear the air and 3) Be flexible and change the focus of the conversation to address the issue that your coachee brings to you. Sometimes it’s the right and only thing to do. In this case remember that a coaching session still needs to happen. Schedule it

 

3. Have the metrics conversation

• Position the conversation as ‘we’ and not as ‘you’. This is a partnership, even if the person being coached is the one that will execute on the commitments and be accountable for achieving the goals. For a coaching session to be effective it needs to be a partnership between coach and coachee. Coaching is ultimately about guiding and supporting a person. This makes the coach an active part of the team. The benefits will be clear once the coachee feels this is a team
• Have a positive outlook towards metrics. Something we frequently hear in coaching sessions: The goal is X, why did you not meet the goal? What are you going to do to achieve it this time? These questions could have easily been: What was your goal for this week? What are we going to do daily to get there? How can I do my part of the team effort?  The difference might seem small but the impact is huge. It’s the difference between someone going into a ‘beating session’ and someone going to a planning and practice session to succeed. Try it.
• Encourage the coachee to set their own goals. The best way to get someone committed to a number is having them decide what the number is. Guide them so that the goal is realistic yet challenging. Organizations have (or should have) clearly defined goals for every role and person. That however has nothing to do with the current level of performance of any individual, whether it’s better or worse than expected
• Breakdown the goals to smaller ones (e.g., to achieve the monthly sales goal how many calls do you need to make daily, or even hourly). Having smaller goals will help your coachee (and yourself) know quickly when they are not performing and therefore enable you both to take action
• Help the person you’re coaching connect metrics to the specific behaviors that impact each metric. It’s astounding to see how many sales Representatives, and even Supervisors and Managers, don’t really understand what behaviors help move a certain metric (e.g., Sales Representatives often offer a line of business that was not discussed during needs discovery. The thinking is: If I offer a line of business they might say yes. They should be asking questions X, Y and Z that will help discover the needs so that then they can position the additional line of business effectively)
• Make sure you recognize and celebrate the progress made at each turn

 

4. Support them through accountability

• Discuss how commitments from a previous coaching session were put in practice. Be specific. Ask questions that get to the specifics of the outcomes when certain behaviors were displayed and explore how they felt about implementing them and seeing that they worked (or that they didn’t and what needs to change). While you are asking questions and listening you are also letting your coachee know that they are important to you, that you remember and that you’ll be checking on their commitment every single time
• Don’t let your coachee off the hook with a simple answer, drill down as needed to ensure they tie behaviors and consequences or that you understand the root cause of any issues
• Keep them accountable throughout the day or week. Accountability doesn’t need a coaching session. Send them an email, a text, an instant message; stop by their place of work, etc. You will be supporting them by keeping them to their commitments and show them that as a coach you’re dedicated to your success as a team, permanently, not only every two weeks

 

5. Observe a real interaction

• The way this is done will depend on the role the person you’re coaching has as well as on their place of work (e.g., call center representative – listen to recorded calls, B2B field sales representative – join for a couple of meetings or a couple of hours of ‘door-knocking’)
• Break down what you have observed in segments so that it’s easier to discuss, one thing at a time, so that the focus is on specific things
• Ask, don’t tell. Ask questions that will help them self-discover. When people think things through they are more likely to be aware (of what they’re doing well or of what they aren’t) and to remember it
• Start with open ended questions. This will get the person you’re coaching to think the answer and share their thoughts. Complement the initial questions with close ended questions. This will help get details, gain agreement, confirm understanding, etc.
• Ensure you’re getting to the root cause of things preventing change or the adoption of any behaviors. Drill deeper, always ask 1-2 follow up questions including things like: what was good about it? What impact does it have? Make sure they make the connections between behaviors, outcomes and metrics
• Always start with questions that lead to positive behaviors and then move to explore the opportunities to improve. Both coach and coachee tend to jump to what needs to improve. Stop it. Coaching is about solidifying the things that are well done as much as it is about recognizing things that need to be worked on
• Celebrate and reinforce the good things that you see your coachee is making progress on

 

6. Practice the skills

• Practice, practice and practice. Combined with feedback it should get you to strong skills and permanent behaviors
• Conduct role plays. They are a great way to ensure the person you are coaching is able to apply the behaviors needed. It’s one thing to say that you can do it and a completely different one to actually do it. Critics typically say that role plays are not real. They are right, but practice still helps greatly. If they can’t do it well on role plays they won’t be able to do it on a regular day
• Start role plays with an easy one (to practice basics and increase confidence) and then start introducing harder/more real role plays to really test their skills and help them improve on more real scenarios
• As a coach it’s not really fair to keep your coachee accountable if you don’t know if they can actually perform the skill. It’s your responsibility otherwise
• At times, when your coachee is having a hard time succeeding in the role play, model the behaviors for them. After you do so, make sure you go back to having them role play it with you. It’s not worth you modeling it unless they go next and practice

 

7. Commitment

• Ask your coachee for their commitments at the end of the session. Ask them with an open ended question and let them self-discover, then guide as needed
• Ensure the commitment is a SMART goal (SMART – Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Time-based)
• Leverage the relationship you have with the coachee to make the commitment personal and not just your coachee voicing what they think you want to hear. Working could sound like “Now X. We just discussed and practiced some things that are going to help you grow. What is one thing you think we can achieve as of the next sales conversation? Something that can make us both know that the time we’re spending together is paying off” (and then more questions as needed)
• Limit the commitment to one or two things. If two one positive thing they commit to continue and then one thing they commit to working on

 

8. Take notes

• Set the expectation (at the beginning of the session) that they should to take notes throughout the session (decide beforehand how you want them to take notes -where, when, how) and provide the time and tools
• Ensure you are also taking notes so that you can keep them accountable at a later time
• Help them understand that taking the notes (in addition to listening) will impact their ability to retain the learning
• To clarify, taking notes should not be the main activity during coaching. You want to make sure that they take notes of specific things. Examples of this include: new words that work for them, specific commitments, a new question that sounded good to them.

 

9. Follow up

• As mentioned in step four (accountability). You don’t have to wait until the next coaching session to check on how your coachee is doing. In fact you should check as soon as you can to ensure that the change you discussed and practiced is being implemented
• Make sure you open the channels of communication so that any doubts or issues are raised by the coachee and can be taken care of
• Set up alternative ways to follow up or maintain accountability after the session. Set up accountability partners or sub-teams (e.g., between people that sit together on a call center, between sales reps that have different perspectives or tenure in the company). Don’t restrict follow up and accountability to only you. If you do, you will likely not have the time

 

What would you change in our process? What will you add to your own process going forward?