Profits Versus Loyalty and Commitment

by Scott Airitam

President, Scott Airitam's Leadership Systems, LLC

So, last night I had the chance to go to a friend's house for dinner. We had a wonderful dinner and after we ate, we got into one of those conversations that I just love. He is a small business owner, who, like the smart ones, does a lot of reading to help guide his ability to be a Leader. Being a business owner, like I am, he's concerned with the profit he's able to generate--that profit enables the growth of his business and his personal income. It breaks down that simply.

As we were talking, it quickly became clear to me that we were having two different conversations. His focus was on profit. Not just the idea of making a profit, but maximizing profitability. My focus was making profit as well, but not maximum profit. Instead, my perspective was one of balancing profit with loyalty and commitment.

This is where I began to really enjoy this conversation. These opportunities to have two approaches or ideas trying to share the same space at the same time are learning moments for me. My friends perspective was based on books by Dan Kennedy. He writes the "No B.S." books about management, sales, and other topics. Mr. Kennedy is an author whose books I will be picking up because he does cut out the "B.S." and gets straight at the reason businesses exist: to make profit. This last point is what my friend brought up. His business exists to make profit. It is definitely a point I appreciate. I started a number of classroom conversations at Southwest Airlines by asking the group, "Why do we exist?" The answer is profit. SWA doesn't exist to provide great customer service, to have parties for employees, to sing the PA's on the flights, or to transport bags for free. All of those things are tools it uses, very shrewdly I might add, to make profit. So, Mr. Kennedy is onto something and my buddy has caught that wave.

Admittedly, I haven't read Mr. Kennedy's books. Based on the description from my friend and info from his website, though, it seems as though most of the motives for decision making and actions are based solely on profit. My friend's description was pretty specific in detailing how the books say that employees are adversaries to the goal. Workers don't care about profit, they care only about their own lives. It is here that I tend to disagree. I believe that description does have some validity in the real world, in other words we can find examples of that being true. I see it, however, as those being manufactured conditions-they aren't the normal state. I believe we get to that place when Leadership allows it to happen. I also believe that Mr. Kennedy is about making profit, and that he realizes that a high percentage of people are not well prepared to be Leaders, so by describing their "pain" as a natural state, he sells books. Lots of books. If that is accurate, Mr. Kennedy is walking his own talk and he is, himself, as shrewd a businessman as I give him credit for.

What I am understanding Mr. Kennedy to say, however, at least based on the words of my friend and what I can glean from the website, would cause any Leader to have to work much harder to get to their goals (for an explanation of this, click here) and sustain them for the long-term.

So, I am committed to ready a Dan Kennedy book or two. Hopefully, I'll learn some valuable lessons. If nothing else, I'll have a good grasp on what some of my clients' perspectives (who might also be Kennedy readers) might be and can meet them where they are and help walk them to where they need to be or desire to be in my consulting and training practice.

For me though, profit is only one part of any business--even though it is the reason for the business to exist. In saying this I am not diminishing its importance. Nobody starts a business simply to make a stranger smile when they walk in the door. No, when people start businesses, they say, "I know how we can make some money!" So, let's be clear, I'm not against a business being profitable--I'm all for it. Nevertheless, there is the entire people-side of the business that successful companies have both risen and fallen with. We ignore it at our own peril. To invest in a great, enthusiastic employee and to ultimately have to let that employee go when their enthusiasm wains is a waste on many levels. Yet, that is exactly what happens when we believe our employees to be at odds with our goals. We lose the knowledge they've built and have to bring someone else in and tolerate their learning curve. That costs money.

We have choices, as Leaders, that create conditions where people want to do what we need them to do. We can create conditions, as Leaders, where employees are willing to sacrifice for their Leader. When we are attentive to this side of the business, we create a condition where employees are proud of where they work and who they work for and they want the organization and their Leader to succeed. This is what loyalty and commitment are all about. Loyal and committed employees believe in the goals and they want to stay with the organization. When we have more people than the person (or a select few people) at the top caring about attaining goals, maintaining a great organizational culture, and being profitable...well, the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts in these cases. When only one person (or a select few at the top) cares about those things, the level of success is always limited to how far that individual can carry the organization.

Profitability is an end-goal. There are many ways to get there. Short-term thinking is simply about maximizing profitability today. Long-term thinking dictates that we identify ways of making much more over time, in a sustainable way, instead of recreating the short-term wheel over and over. Loyalty and commitment are two of the the long-term, sustainable means to the profitability end.

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Negativity and Leadership

by Scott Airitam

President, Scott Airitam's Leadership Systems, LLC

So, today, I'm going to challenge you to recall a specific pattern to your everyday speech to test your own communication effectiveness. Are you a "positive talker" or a "negative talker?" This not about positive or negative thinking, although there is a correlation. It is about how we talk.

A negative talker, for example, might say, "Stop slamming that door." A positive talker may say, "Close the door more lightly."

There is a huge difference here. There are two key thoughts about the human brain at play here. First, our brains think in pictures, not words. This is important because as we receive one of the previous instructions from either the positive or negative, our brain tries to create a picture of it. Second, our brains have a difficult time creating a picture of a negative statement. In fact, our brains often make "positive" pictures out of negative statements.

I'll give you an example. If a parent says, "Stop throwing the ball in the house," what picture would you think comes to the child's mind? In fact, the above statement is very likely to create a picture of throwing a ball in the house. The brain gets rid of the negative, keeping the positive, and then makes the picture. So, by phrasing it in the negative, we often reinforce the very thing we are trying to eliminate. Instead, if the parent says, "Hold the ball in the house," the picture created in the mind is one of holding the ball in the house.

Now, think about how many Leaders in organizations use negative speech to communicate their message. Sometimes, how we choose to communicate sabotages our own efforts. Moving forward, let's be specific in creating positive pictures in the minds of those we Lead and let's watch our effectiveness continue to increase!

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Virtual Learning

by Angela Gallogly
Vice President of USA Operations, Advanced Team Concepts
http://www.atctraining.com

Many of my customers have reported a recent budget cut in their training dollars. In tough economic times, training is often one of the first areas to be impacted. Despite this, the need for training still exists. Training (or lack of training) does have an impact on the bottom line. To assist with this dynamic, many of us in the training world have ramped up our development and delivery of virtual training.

Today I’m writing specifically about Virtual Facilitator-led Training. This web-based training has the advantage of live instructors to guide and facilitate the learning. The use of a “virtual classroom” eliminates the huge costs of travel to bring both learners and instructors to a central location for the classes.

Web-based training can cross all geographic barriers. If you are part of a global organization, you can leverage this advantage to bring needed communication and training to your team on a global scale.

Some points to consider when planning your virtual training:

• Use a trainer who is experienced with virtual training. If they don’t have experience, make sure they participate in a “training-for-trainers” on the topic of virtual learning.

• Choose the right learning platform. There are many virtual “classrooms” to choose from. Look for one that has features that will help you achieve your learning objectives.

• Don’t be tempted to upload your PowerPoint presentation and conduct an existing in-class curriculum virtually. The virtual classroom has needs that are unique from the traditional classroom.

Many of us have had exposure to virtual meetings or training. If you’re like me, you’ve seen both good and bad. There’s nothing worse than a boring presentation that makes you sleepy and more than a little tempted to check your email during the session. But when skillfully developed and delivered, a webinar can provide an engaging and rich learning experience.

The key to success with virtual facilitator-led programs is the interactivity of the learning design. This is essential—the capacity to keep participants engaged and learning, not checking out or multi-tasking during key instruction processes. Additionally, the instructor’s ability to facilitate discussion and respond to questions can ensure that the learners are taking all they need from the training.

As I've become more experienced with this format, my excitment about the potential grows. I'm convinced that this can be a truly effective way to bridge the gaps of time, money and distance that prevent organizations from commiting to the training that they need.