commitment

Commitment is More than Consensus

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Achieving strategic goals requires a team commitment. Commitment is more than consensus. Pursuing consensus, or shared agreement, can be alluring because it’s more expedient than the hard work of securing commitment on a goal or critical business issue. It avoids confrontation to preserveharmony, enabling team members to surrender to the majority opinion rather than exposing themselves to the risk of expressing their views. Without the whole team engaging in the healthy, essential discussions about conflicting …

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Why Leaders Are Trusted

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Without trust you cannot lead. Trust is the basis of every relationship.  Trust is the foundation of your credibility, empowering your ability to get things done.Trust bonds your team together to share commitment and accountability.Trust motivates your people to challenge the status quo, pursue innovation and improve performance.  Your success as a leader depends on the willingness of your people to trust you. There are numerous questions they may ask to help make and sustain this decision:  Can I trust …

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Conflict and Commitment

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There can be no team commitment without a dialogue that captures every team member’s opinion. And without commitment, there can be no shared ownership of a decision, and no shared accountability.  As a leader, you may believe that you already know the best way forward. You may be reluctant to open a discussion which could generate information that is inconsistent with your preconceived conclusions. You might even feel that your ideas are threatened by such a …

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Moment of Truth

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In every customer relationship, there is the moment of truth – the moment when something goes wrong.  It’s in that moment, when your promise has been broken, that your customer experiences the real nature of your business. What your company truly values is exposed.  When a business is young, every customer relationship is precious. Promises made to customers reflect a personal commitment and depth of caring that adds value to an offering and cultivates a customer’s trust.  As …

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3 Factors For Leaders Driving Change

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Three factors enable leaders to drive change:  The leader is perceived as genuine and credible, consistently demonstrating conviction and modelling values-based behaviors, while being positive, transparent and open to feedback.  People trust that their leader has their back – that he or she understands what motivates and concerns them, and keeps this in mind when setting high, but realistic, expectations of them.  People feel respected and appreciated for their contributions, driven by the leader’s confidence …

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3 Questions About Choosing to Follow

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Bob Schultek Author of The Gauntlet rschultek@staging.elfin-bead.flywheelsites.com 216-272-4449     People act in their own best interest. Before choosing to follow your lead, your team will assess your credibility (are you genuine?) and your intentions (why should I follow you?), asking themselves these 3 questions: 1. “Can you help me?” The number one reason that people choose to follow is because the leader is credible. More than vision, or communication skills, or other effective leadership characteristics, people need to believe that a leader has the credibility …

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What Drives Customer Loyalty

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Bob Schultek Author of  The Gauntlet Surveys assessing business-to-business customer loyalty, measured as increased sales per customer over multiple years, consistently cite “selling experience” as the primary driver with a response rate that exceeds 50%; a “lowest price” response typically receives about a 10% rate. Additional response choices include better products or services, brand familiarity, higher performance than competitors, and others. When seeking to explain how “selling experience” creates this positive impact, it becomes clear that the …

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Transaction or Investment

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Bob Schultek Author of The Gauntlet When a customer requests a proposal, how do you respond? If you propose a solution that merely resolves the stated problem, then you may relieve the customer’s immediate pain without ever discovering how your solution could help the customer succeed in the longer term. Your solution is a transaction, a one-time resolution that wastes an opportunity to reveal your organization’s broad experience and competency in a way that differentiates you in the …

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3 Steps to Ensuring Team Commitment

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  Leaders seeking commitment from their teams regarding the implementation of a decision often encounter delays as a team pursues consensus and certainty. Living with the reality that decisions must be made promptly, and typically with limited time for research or analysis, is a fact of life for leaders; they understand that these circumstances could lead to a decision being wrong. But their teams may struggle with this reality as they work towards committing to the …

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Inspiring Improvement

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Bob Schultek Author of The Gauntlet rschultek@staging.elfin-bead.flywheelsites.com 216-272-4449     Pursuing improvement means tackling change. Change is hard work…it requires commitment, perseverance and discretionary effort.   Commitment, perseverance and discretionary effort cannot be commanded…they must be inspired. Inspiration rises when people believe that their work is meaningful…that they are making a difference. The awareness that work is meaningful springs from the expression of a Company’s Purpose and how consistently its leaders and people act in accordance with …

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