Influencing Change
At first, some number of your Team (often, well more than half) will be resistant to the entire concept of Business Development. They will take it as a personal attack and deep feelings of discomfort and anxiety will surface. Influencing change will help you replace their fears with self-confidence.
Try to view Business Development from their point of view. You have the advantage of the inside “scoop” and the bigger picture.
Business Development is feared by most employees as is any type of change they have no control of.
Loss of Job
Some people are actually convinced that the net result of the Business Development Program will be the loss of their jobs. What they are clinging to is the myth that people in suits go into businesses in order to determine who should be fired. Thus, they are inclined to view us as “efficiency experts,” “consultants,” or “hatchet men”.
Why do they feel that way when they would probably defend their performance if pressed on the issue?
Each of us is aware of our own shortcomings. No-one is perfect. Most people tend to reduce their achievements because they are obsessed with their perceived imperfections that are terribly exaggerated most of the time.
The fear is that the efficiency experts will expose those inadequacies, which will result in the employee’s termination. It is the fear of being “found out.”
Change
Change is terrifying for most people. Even if the change is for the better, the natural reaction is to resist and Business Development obviously involves change.
Condemnation
What makes change uncomfortable is that it is often perceived by the employee as a personal condemnation of his or her performance. To some degree, what is being changed is the contribution the individual has made to your business which prompts responses similar to: “Why are they changing what I did? I guess it wasn’t good enough.”
But then, a subtle shift takes place — immediately: “It wasn’t good enough” becomes “I wasn’t good enough.” Therefore, Business Development, and the change it introduces, is perceived as an attack, and the person who believes that he or she is under attack will push back.
SELF-INTEREST
To achieve your dream, you must help your people achieve their dreams. Stated slightly differently, you must make your people understand that Business Development is a matter of their self-interest and not a threat. Just like you, they have a vested interest in the success of the Business Development Program, which is a truth they will rarely understand without your guidance and intervention.
You must make your people aware of the following realities when you conduct your very first Business Development Meeting with them:
- No one will be fired merely because you have launched your Business Development Program. The purpose of the Program, as far as they are concerned, is to help them realize their potential, make their work easier and more rewarding, experience a new and exciting world of discovery and make a major investment in their professional careers. Business Development will do a number of things for them, but nothing to them.
- The fact that certain things will be changed is not a personal condemnation of anyone. What they have done to date has been valuable and necessary, as a foundation upon which Business Development can be built.
- Everyone resists change, but rather than viewing the Program as change, it is best to consider its advancement to a more rewarding state.
One of the best techniques is to ask your people to write out their professional objectives, which will then serve as a focal point of their involvement in the Program. Their efforts toward the realization of those objectives may not always be easy for them since they may not understand the possibilities yet.
QUESTIONNAIRE.
The Questionnaire gives people precisely, tangible objectives to strive for. Keeps them focused on advancing the ball and becoming a part of the change process.
The Questionnaire contains an area in which the employee can make a self-evaluation with respect to each of the stated objectives. Of course, in order to encourage honesty, the Questionnaire is strictly confidential, meaning that the employee will keep it and make additional entries as time goes by.
Since the Questionnaire is self-explanatory, there is no need to belabor it here, except to point out that the employee should fill out the I HAVE COME THIS FAR section every four to six weeks, and continue to do so until every entry is in the “5” column.
Handed out at the first Business Development Meeting, the OBJECTIVES QUESTIONNAIRE should be brought by the employee to each such meeting thereafter.
THE FIRST MEETING
Of all the meetings, this one will probably be the shortest, since it will involve little more than restating the points contained in the SAMPLE MEMORANDUM, briefly explaining the use of the OBJECTIVES QUESTIONNAIRE and answering questions.
In one sense, the most crucial part of the meeting will transpire when you answer your people’s questions. In fact, you can do much toward making or breaking the Program at this point.
First of all, you must resist the urge to become the in-house expert in all things, for the simple reason that no human being could possibly fill such a role. Yet, many entrepreneurs feel the need to make the attempt, in the mistaken belief that they will lose their employee’s respect if they show any lack of knowledge or uncertainty.
The fact is, you are likely to hear questions that you will not be able to answer. Your standard answer should be, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.” Admitting to your own lack of knowledge — which cannot be concealed anyway — will demonstrate to your people that you are emotionally stable and self-assured enough, to be honest about what you don’t know. Rather than losing their respect, you will gain an immeasurable degree of it.
Moreover, you will set a very important tone for the remainder of the Program — trust. When you tell your people that you don’t know something, but that you are willing to trust us, you are sending a clear message that you expect the same from them. In other words, you are setting the example, and if you can get your people to emulate that example, the benefits will inure directly to you.
OTHER MEETINGS
Business Development meeting agenda:
First, you should summarize the projects that are underway and describe the progress that has been made.
Then, briefly describe what will be happening in the coming weeks.
The heart of the meeting, however, should be your people’s active participation. For that, you should ask each of them, using the OBJECTIVES QUESTIONNAIRE as a basis, to describe the personal achievements they have made since the previous meeting. In so doing, they will reinforce their own resolve and their commitment to the Program. A lengthy monologue by you could never match the emotional impact of the individual employee’s recounting of his or her own accomplishments.
After each person speaks, you can ask the group at-large to comment on their own achievements in the areas mentioned.
Just prior to adjourning the meeting, you should express your approval accomplishments (save any criticism for private meetings) and announce your complete faith in success. Remember, everyone is looking to you for direction, guidance and, most importantly, emotional support. “Cheerleading” is one of the most critical things you could ever do.
A SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE
Your employees have been brought up in this country with a deep-seated hostility toward businesses and those who own them. In our society, business is often seen as a user of people, a spoiler of natural resources and the creature of the rich, arrogant few. Our entire popular culture is saturated with negative images of business and business owners.
It is practically impossible to attract people to the idea that business is important. To most people, it simply isn’t and never will be. On the contrary, it is usually perceived as the latest in a series of oppressive environments. Despite what people say, the degree of loyalty the average employee has for the business is nil.
Design the business as something that everyone should use for personal gain because everyone is trying to do that anyway. Business Development, consequently, should be perceived by your people as a chance to “get theirs,” as the best personal opportunity they will ever have.
In short, you will not be able to overturn a lifetime’s worth of anti-business prejudice. Instead, you should recognize it, make accommodations for it and turn it to your advantage.
OBJECTIVES QUESTIONNAIRE
IMPORTANT: This Questionnaire is strictly confidential. You will not be asked to show it to anyone. For that reason, there is no space for your name or any other means of identification.
In the space below, please write your professional objectives. Remember, no one but you will ever read this document. Therefore, do not hesitate to write down everything you want, even if you think it might be impossible or embarrassing.
My professional objective(s):
Whatever your professional objective(s) may be, you will need to acquire certain knowledge. We have listed some of the most important ones that will contribute to the achievement of your professional objective(s). Through the vehicle of our Business Development Program, you will be able to get what you want by becoming proficient in these areas.
As your Business Development Program progresses, you should measure your own progress by maintaining a record of your achievement in the I Have Come This Far section below. On any given date, you can evaluate your advancement by entering the date in the column for the appropriate number (1 is the lowest and 5 is the highest level of achievement), on the line corresponding to each of the Things To Learn.
Since there is much for all of us to learn, the best approach is to assume — even though it may not be entirely true — that your score for any line is no more than 2, and most likely 1. This is certainly not a statement of your knowledge or your capability. However, once you have begun to learn the exciting things that lie ahead of us, you will then realize how far you have advanced over your current level.
Please enter today’s date in either the 1 or 2 columns on each line.
THINGS TO LEARN I HAVE COME THIS FAR
1_____ 2_____ 3 _____ 4 _____ 5 _____
1. How standards affect the result of all work
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
2. The importance of objectives in making work more rewarding and more understandable
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
3. Why objectives and standards actually give me more security
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
4. How to budget my time
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
5. How to keep track of all my work without having to rely on memory
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
6. How to report to my manager in an easy, efficient manner
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
7. How to find out exactly what is expected of me
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
8. Understanding the value of line relationships
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
9. Learning why I should never be expected or required to report to more than one person
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
10. Why I should ask my manager for standards before I begin a task
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
11. Learning why it is to my benefit to systematize my work
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
12. Learning why it is to my benefit to commit that systematization to paper
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
13. Why the Business Development Program is not a threat but a rare opportunity
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
14. How a Position Contract can actually make my life easier
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
15. Why it is vitally important for me to ask every question I can think of about Business Development
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
16. The importance of patience and persistence as I advance toward my professional objective
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
17. Why planning work actually makes it easier and more rewarding to perform
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
18. Why most of the discomfort I might be feeling is only because I don’t know what lies ahead
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
19. The importance of understanding that there is no such thing as a stupid question
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
20. What I have to gain by suggesting a workable alternative, rather than merely saying that something “won’t work”
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
21. Why people who suggest solutions go farther than people who do nothing but see problems
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
22. Why change is so upsetting
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
23 . Why the quality of work being done by most Americans has been slipping so badly
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
24. That I can be my own best friend or my own worst enemy
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
25. Why paperwork is not necessarily bad just because it’s paperwork
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
26. The importance of data to me and my company
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
27. Why it takes special people to be enthusiastic about Business Development
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
28. Why it is better to communicate in writing rather than verbally
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
29. The value of having policies written down and published within the company
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
30. Why most people tend to identify with their coworkers rather than their employers
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
31. How to plan and schedule a project so that everything happens with time to spare
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
32. If you are a manager or want to become one, fill out the following section. If not, stop here.
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
33. What really motivates people
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
34. How to get work done on time
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
35. How to get work done correctly _
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
36. How to plan work _
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
37. How to develop standards _
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
38. How to determine the right amount of compensation for a position _
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
39. How to know everything that is happening without having to ask someone or go see for myself
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
40. The importance of a solid organizational structure
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
41. Making delegation possible
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
42. Making delegation easy
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
43. Making delegation safe
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
44. How to develop objectives
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
45. How to define the relationships between and among the positions you manage
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
46. The best method for securing alternative channels of communication
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
