What Is GRIT And Why Is It Essential To Your Success?

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Today, ‘grit’ is a hot topic in leadership, education, performance, and personal success. So far, the conversation has focused on appreciating and understanding basic grit, or what I call ‘grit 1.0.’ Grit 1.0 is about degree or quantity of perseverance or persistence, as in “How persistent are you?”, or “How much grit does she have?”

The time has come to advance the conversation and upgrade GRIT.

The research my team and I embarked on in the development of my new book reveals that quality may actually trump quantity. Enter GRIT 2.0, or simply, GRIT. GRIT is comprised of four dimensions. Growth, Resilience, Instinct, and Tenacity.

When it comes to upgrading from grit 1.0 to GRIT 2.0, the key is to focus on not just how much, but how. Relentlessly going after your goals in ways that are even unintentionally harmful to others, or beating your head to a bloody pulp rather than re-assessing or re-routing your approach may score high on quantity, not so much on quality. It turns out that growing both quality and quantity – holistic improvement of GRIT – creates the biggest upside. Here are five simple starter tips.

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About the Author

Paul G. Stoltz, Ph.D. is the author of GRIT: The New Science of What it Takes to Persevere • Flourish • Succeed and founder and CEO of PEAK Learning, Inc. He is also the originator of Adversity Quotient® and GRIT™ theories and methods used at the Harvard Business School, MIT, and leading companies worldwide. Dr. Stoltz is considered the world’s leading expert on the integration and application of resilience and grit.

Dr. Stoltz is the author of five international bestsellers, based on his pioneering research and applications, published in 15 languages. He is Founding Director of both the Global Resilience Institute and GRIT Institute. He was selected as One of the Top 10 Most Influential Global Thinkers by HR Magazine and One of the 100 Most Influential Thinkers of Our Time by Executive Excellence. Dr. Stoltz has been featured in such media as Oprah, Today Show, Fox, CNN, CNBC, ABC, NBC, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Business Week, and more.

Are We Hearing What Our Clients Are Saying?

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How much of what our clients intend us to understand say do we hear accurately?

How much of our own bias is involved?

What’s the difference between when we hear accurately what our clients mean, and when we make assumptions or bias what we think we heard?

As coaching and consulting professionals, we need to hear what’s been meant. Our jobs, and our client’s goals, depend on this. But sometimes we make assumptions that are inaccurate that cause us to lose clients, or set them down the wrong path. Sometimes we hear a biased version of what’s been said and as a result, believe our clients may have problems beyond what they say they have.

What’s stopping us from hearing as accurately as we should? And how can we correct ourselves if it turns out we might have misheard or misunderstood?

Webinar Details

This webinar is complimentary for professional coaches and consultants.

Topic: Learning to Hear What Our Clients Are Saying

Host: Sharon Drew Morgen, New York Times best-selling author and StrategyDriven Principal Contributor

Date: Friday, December 19, 2014

Time: 2:00 pm Eastern / 1:00 pm Central / 12:00 pm Mountain / 11:00 am Pacific

Login Details:

Join the WebEx meeting
Meeting number: 591 424 675

Join by Phone
Call-in toll-free number: 1-800-214-6442 (US)
Call-in number: 1-404-410-4567 (US)

Access Code: 803 652 6

Additional Resources

Go to www.didihearyou.com where you can get Sharon Drew’s new book, What? Did you really say what I think I heard?, and peruse the learning tools that accompany the book for those wishing to recognize any obstacles with their listening habits (Assessments) or learn how to overcome any bias and misinterpretation issues (Study Guide) that occur during conversations.

About the Author

Sharon Drew Morgen is founder of Morgen Facilitations, Inc. (www.newsalesparadigm.com). She is the visionary behind Buying Facilitation®, the decision facilitation model that enables people to change with integrity. A pioneer who has spoken about, written about, and taught the skills to help buyers buy, she is the author of the acclaimed New York Times Business Bestseller Selling with Integrity and Dirty Little Secrets: Why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell and what you can do about it.

To contact Sharon Drew at [email protected] or go to www.didihearyou.com to choose your favorite digital site to download your free book.

Corrective Action Program Best Practice 2 – Causal Analyses

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StrategyDriven Corrective Action Program | Causal AnalysisOrganizations experience incidents of every sort, some with almost imperceptible impacts and others inflicting catastrophic consequences. While impractical to mitigate all adverse events, it is imperative to prevent recurrence of the most significant incidents, important to limit the frequency and impact of moderate happenings, and necessary to only correct low impact deficiencies. Such a grade approach to corrective action implementation optimally applies the organization’s resources based on the value of event recurrence mitigation.

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About the Author

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

What CEOs want to talk about. HINT: It ain’t your product.

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Everyone tells you to meet with the decision maker.
Everyone tells you to meet with the CEO.

However, it seems no one offers any advice on what to SAY when you get to that meeting, what to DO when you get to that meeting, or what to ASK when you get to that meeting.

HARSH REALITY: It’s more than likely the CEO doesn’t want to meet with you, much less talk about your product or service.

The paradox is that you, the salesperson, are polishing up your presentation to make it your best one ever. But the only problem with that is the CEO doesn’t want to hear your presentation. He or she is busy running a business and has little time or interest in getting down to your specific offer.

HARSH REALITY: Instead of making your presentation, why don’t you just email it to the CEO? That way, when you get there, a decision has already been made and you can talk about what the CEO really wants to talk about.

Here are the 7.5 things CEOs are interested in:

1. Productivity. Productivity has many sides. It may be the production of people or the production of a manufacturing facility. It may even be the CEO’s personal productivity. Whatever the circumstance is, productivity plays a key role.

2. Morale and attitude. CEOs understand that attitude dictates morale and morale dictates communication both internally and externally. If employees are not happy on the inside, customers will be served poorly on the outside.

3. Loyalty of customers. A far cry from satisfaction, customer loyalty is at the heart of growing the business and increasing percentages of profit. Loyal customers will do business with you again and refer others to you.

4. Loyalty of employees. The secret to loyalty is to hire smart, happy, self-starting people with a history of success. Treat them well, pay them well, and give them success training not just on-the-job training.

5. Competition. Not YOUR competition for the sale – THEIR competition for THEIR sales. What do you know about them and how can you help?

6. Market conditions/future. If you are able to talk market conditions and the future with the CEO, you will have their total undivided attention and respect. As a salesperson you cannot ask for more than that.

7. Profit. Everything I’ve just talked about has, at its core, profit and profitability. CEOs do not want to ‘save’ money. They want to ‘make’ money. If you understand their profit, you will earn their business.

7.5 Intellectual exchange. Most CEOs are smart people. They like talking to smart people – people that make sense, provide value, offer useful information, and want a relationship (not just a sale). Is that you?

Here are the real-world to-dos that will get you in the door PREPARED to give your presentation:

  • Get personally ready. Most executives have some kind of bio online. Find it and figure out what you can talk about that fits with who you are or what you do.
  • Get familiar with the 7.5 things CEOs are interested in and have something meaningful to say about each. You have to know about each one from the perspective of the customer, and then add your wisdom or your thinking.
  • Have a reputation they can find. Be mindful that the CEO will Google you, find you on Facebook, look you up on twitter, check out your LinkedIn profile, look for your blog, and look to see if you have any testimonial videos on YouTube. And, you can’t stop them. What they find will impact the decision that they’re about to make. How’s your reputation?
  • Your first question must be emotional. It will lead you to the second – and may even lead to early rapport or common ground. Ask, “Where did you grow up?” This one question sends the decision maker on an immediate, stream of conscious, emotional journey. Thoughts will flash about siblings, parents, friends, and growing up life. If there’s a smile on his face, continue a little bit. Notice immediately that the atmosphere between the two of you is relaxed. If you have something in common say it right away. NOTE: The first question is based on your preparation and research.
  • When you go from personal to business, ask before you tell. When it’s time to segue into business, ask him for his knowledge of the history of his company’s use of your product or service. Get his wisdom and experience and get him talking about himself and his company in terms of you.
  • Ask “who else?” It is likely you will not be working with the CEO once your sale has been made. Ask, “Who would be in charge?” Then ask, “Are they available now?” By meeting with the lower-level person you automatically have an endorsement.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

Why It Is Important To Train Your Staff

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Why It Is Important To Train Your Staff
Photo courtesy of Highways Agency

At the root of most companies’ success is the skill and knowledge of its staff. If your staff are experts in their respective roles, this will have a positive impact on the whole of your business. Well-trained staff get better results, are more efficient, and are happier in their jobs. With a knowledgeable workforce, customers will perceive your company as well-informed and trustworthy. This will help sustain your relationship with them. Further, by providing regular coaching for your personnel, you will give your business a competitive edge.

However, providing regular staff training can be a task that is easier said than done for some businesses. It can eat into valuable time for busy enterprises, and it can drain the limited resources of small businesses. But it is important to weigh this disruption with the benefits that training can produce. Training your staff will not only result in a knowledgeable organisation, it will also provide opportunities to improve and expand your business. Say you are a small business with a weak online presence. Training staff in online marketing may help you to improve this area of your business and, in turn, attract new customers.

Offering regular training opportunities to staff will go a long way to boost team morale and will prove that you have good leadership skills. Training assures employees that their role is important. It also gives them an opportunity to develop existing skills and interests and develop new expertise. Your staff will also appreciate the opportunity to do something different during their working day.

If you are considering establishing a training programme for your staff, it is a good idea to make a plan in the first instance. Be clear on which areas you want to provide training in and how much your business is willing to spend. The next step is to work out which training provider or providers you wish to supply the training to your staff. It is a good idea to look for coaching professionals who specialise in particular skill areas. For instance, Spearhead Training specialises in sales training, Dale Carnegie Training in leadership training, and New Horizons in project management training. Before selecting a provider, it is a good idea to ask other businesses and entrepreneurs in your network for a recommendation.

If you are worried about the effect that staff being away from the office for training purposes might have on the performance of your business, there are ways around this. You could encourage your staff to complete training courses via e-learning or distance learning. This means that staff can complete courses when there is a quiet time during the working week, or in their spare time. However, this way of providing training could result in courses being neglected or employees taking a very long time to complete them. If this is happening, it might be worth scheduling frequent time slots for training and making sure you follow up regularly with staff to monitor their progress.

Upskilling your staff should be one of your top priorities as a business. Although it can be expensive and time-consuming, it is clear that the benefits outweigh these challenges.