 Fuel, food, raw materials and intermediate products are getting more expensive. It's the best time to renegotiate your own terms. If you don't, you'll miss valuable opportunities to improve your business position - and let others take the lead.
In this article, you will learn why the human brain dislikes negotiating, why compromise is always the worst choice, and why empathetic negotiators can beat even the toughest negotiators. I will also share five concrete negotiation tips to help you find the best solution for both parties without compromising. These tips are based on the US bestseller "Never Split The Difference" by former FBI chief negotiator, entrepreneur, and negotiation coach Chris Voss. The human brain does not like to negotiate. If you're like me, the thought of an upcoming negotiation doesn't necessarily make you excited. If we think about it for a moment, that seems strange. The chance of getting what we want after a negotiation should be reason enough for us to go into such a situation with joy. Yet we feel inner resistance rather than excitement; this is the case even with the best salespeople. Brain research explains why this is so: every negotiation means hard work for our data center – and that contradicts the core goal of our brain to save energy. Negotiation situations are a balancing act between the joy of getting something (gain) and the pain of having to give something up (loss). Since gain and loss are processed in different regions of the brain, these regions must communicate intensively with each other during negotiations, requiring an enormous amount of working memory. Understandably, our brain would rather avoid such a neural feat of strength – thus forego the chance of winning a successful negotiation. The good news is, like any muscle, you can train the interaction between these two neural systems. So it's worth regularly putting yourself in negotiation situations and challenging your brain. Compromises are always the worst choice. Negotiations are successful when both sides emerge as winners. In other words, they aim for a classic win-win scenario. And that's a good thing. However, many people confuse such a win-win scenario with making compromises. That's wrong! "Negotiations are not about compromises, but about finding out the other party's red line," says former BKA negotiator and current negotiation coach Thorsten Hoffmann. It's not a case of "I'll give you a little, and you'll give me a little." That way, everyone gets something, but neither gets enough or what they actually want. Losses outweigh gains What makes things even more difficult is an exciting psychological phenomenon: loss aversion. When making compromises, everyone must give up something important to them. That is not easy because nobody likes to lose - even if they gain something else in the process. Think about it for a moment: You win a contract worth 50,000 dollars. Are you happy? Indeed – for a day or two. You lose a contract worth 50,000 dollars to a competitor a week later. Does that annoy you? And how – probably for the whole week. Our brains have double standards regarding gains and losses, and it has been proven that losses are more important than gains. This is why compromises such as "we meet in the middle" do not feel like success but leave a bitter aftertaste. Tactical empathy beats "tough dogs." Hollywood films have shaped our image of successful negotiators. They are the tough guys who stick to their position without compromise—the cunning opponents who spot the weakness of their negotiating partners and then exploit it cold-bloodedly. The atmosphere is tense; the camps harden, no one trusts the other, and no one gives in. Who stands firm? Who gives in first? Please put yourself in such a negotiation situation: To which person would you be more likely to make concessions?
In his bestseller Never Split The Difference, former FBI negotiator Chris Voss writes that people are more likely to make concessions and deviate from their own negotiating position if they feel understood, respected, and valued by their counterparts. He shares nine negotiation principles that have made him successful over the years. I want to introduce you to five of them. Five tips on how to negotiate successfully without compromising How can two parties reach an agreement if they don't make concessions and compromises to each other? Instead of trying to narrow your two conflicting ideas until you reach the lowest common denominator, work out a new, mutually acceptable agreement. Tip No. 1: Break down the barriers. Don't think in terms of fronts and avoid language that conveys "mine" versus "yours," "right" versus "wrong," "good" versus "bad." Presenting a solution as your idea versus your counterpart's, as right versus wrong, creates an antagonistic environment. Neither party can make concessions without sacrificing autonomy and integrity in such an environment. Instead of presenting your solution at the beginning of a negotiation, focus on building trust and gaining a more comprehensive understanding of your counterpart's point of view. Read the following four points to learn how to do this. Tip #2: Get the other person to say, "Yes, exactly!" You've probably experienced this before: While your counterpart is still arguing, you're already preparing your counter-argument in your head. What happens is that you stop really listening; this prevents mutual understanding from developing. If the person you are talking to does not feel heard and understood sufficiently, they will not be able to absorb what you have to say because their mind is still focused on themselves and their concerns. So listen carefully, ask questions, and paraphrase what the other person says until you really understand their core motivation. Only then can the other person say, "Yes, exactly," and be ready to listen to you from now on. Tip #3: Collect valuable information using the mirror technique. You want your counterpart to open up and give you more information about their real motives, their goal, where the no-gos are and where you can find hidden levers that can positively impact your negotiations. The mirror technique is easy and excellent for getting the other person to talk without interrogating them. It works like this:
What happens: This simple questioning technique allows you to dig deeper and gather helpful information without being intrusive. Your questions make the other person feel heard and valued. The fact that you use the exact words brings you closer together again and breaks down the barriers. Tip No. 4: "Label" your conversation partner's feelings. Decisions in negotiations always involve emotions. Discover your counterpart's emotions, address them, and give them a "label." For example, "It sounds to me as if…" or "That sounds to me as if…" With this technique, you can get your conversation partner to talk about these feelings and explain themselves further. Not only do you collect valuable information, but you also build trust and can, therefore, steer the negotiation in the right direction. Tip #5: Find the "black swans". Chris Voss calls the hidden information about our negotiating partners "black swans" that show us what they fear or desire most. They are usually beyond our assumptions, flash up as fragments of information during the talks and have the potential to turn a negotiation entirely in our favour. There are three types of such levers:
Consider:
If you cannot find levers in your preparation, use the mirror technique and labelling described above to gather more information about your negotiating partner. If you want to understand your counterpart's motives, listen carefully, ask questions, and paraphrase, you will sooner or later discover "black swans." Use them. Conclusion If you – like me – like to scroll straight to the end of an article, here are the essential findings summarized again:
If you're interested in reading more of Olaf articles please visit the website link above. (Please note that Olaf's site is in German but Google translate does an excellent job of instantly translating it to English.) How can a great business, growth & executive team coach help you grow a thriving company? To find out what areas a qualified executive team coach can help you improve in to grow more easily, quickly and profitability, AND enjoy the ride, try our complimentary Agile Growth Checklist. This self-service questionnaire takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete. You'll receive the checklist with your responses immediately. Within 24 hours, you'll receive a compiled report highlighting areas to improve. Find out how your company is doing in each of the 7 areas needed to produce more rapid, profitable and sustainable growth. This report is complementary and involves no obligation.  Growth companies cannot afford to wait three months to fill a key position. They need young talent, lots of it - and as quickly as possible, so that they can drive growth. These talents should have the right skills, be committed and, of course, fit into the company culture. Not an easy task.
Recruiting has changed a lot in recent years. In today's applicant market, top talent decides for themselves which company they would like to work for - not the other way around. You won't get very far with traditional recruiting methods such as job advertisements in the major job boards. The young generations Y and Z in particular need more to become aware of your company. Today I will show you six alternative recruiting strategies that will help you efficiently and precisely attract the talents for your company that will drive your growth company forward. Recruiting strategy #1: Recruit mobile-first! Millennials and Generation Z organize their entire lives via smartphone. Take advantage of this behavior and make your recruiting process mobile-friendly. This not only makes it easier for talented people to apply to you. Mobile-optimized websites and career pages are also rated better by search engines. This means that your career page will end up higher in Google search results and will receive more attention from potential applicants. A few tips that will help you get started with mobile recruiting:
Recruiting strategy #2: Retain talent before they enter the job market. Don't wait until young talent enters the job market and you have to compete with hundreds of other companies for their attention. Build trusting relationships with your future employees before they even start looking for a job. Student job portals such as jobvalley , connecticum or studentjob are good platforms for getting to know your employees of tomorrow early and without obligation. If you have found someone who convinces you, continue to cultivate the relationship even after the temporary job ends and make this talent an offer they can't refuse at the right time. Recruiting strategy #3: Use smart recruiting technologies. Many HR processes can be improved or automated using artificial intelligence. Self-learning algorithms like these offer great opportunities, especially in recruiting - for companies and applicants. AI applications have the potential to speed up and simplify your application process and also increase the chances of a "perfect match". Helpful AI applications in recruiting are:
Recruiting strategy #4: Offer video and voice applications. Since COVID-19, companies have become more video-savvy than ever. Video is also an excellent additional opportunity in recruiting to get to know applicants personally. According to a Bitkom survey, three out of four companies are already using digital job interviews via video call. Most companies have so far used classic video providers such as Microsoft Teams, Skype or Zoom. If you want to take your video and voice recruiting to the next level, you should look at video recruiting tools like Talentcube or voice-controlled chat application tools like Talk'n'Job . Recruiting strategy #5: Activate passive applicants. Instead of placing job advertisements and hoping for suitable talent, actively search for suitable candidates and contact them directly. 85 percent of all employed professionals worldwide would be willing to change jobs. Use this passive talent pool as a source for your recruiting. On LinkedIn, for example, you can create a recruiter profile and use it to search for candidates who match your exact requirements - without your name appearing in the search results. This way, you can send direct messages to suitable candidates who currently have a job but might be willing to change companies. Tips for contacting us:
Recruiting strategy #6: Search specifically in niche job boards. You don't always have to use the big job boards to find suitable applicants. Niche job boards are an excellent tool for segmenting the employee market. These platforms may not be as busy as big job boards, but they are great for hiring experts in specific fields. An added bonus: they are also more affordable.
Conclusion You have 5, 10 or even 50 vacancies to fill – preferably today rather than tomorrow. As a growth company, you can no longer make progress with conventional recruiting methods.
https://justgrow.eu/blog/ If you're interested in reading more of Olaf articles please visit the website link above. (Please note that Olaf's site is in German but Google translate does an excellent job of instantly translating it to English.) How can you have more A-players in your company? To find out how to have stronger talent and leaders to grow more easily, quickly and profitability, AND enjoy the ride, try our complimentary Agile Growth Checklist. This self-service questionnaire takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete. You'll receive the checklist with your responses immediately. Within 24 hours, you'll receive a compiled report highlighting areas to improve. Complete section 2 to check your talent processes. Or complete all 7 sections to find out how your company is doing in each of the 7 areas needed to produce more rapid, profitable and sustainable growth. This report is complementary and involves no obligation.  Many companies today first test a minimal version of their product or service (MVP) to see whether they could be successful on the market with it. This makes sense when you consider that nine out of ten innovations are doomed to failure.
But even investing in an MVP is risky. Here too, companies first make advance payments and invest development time and budget in an idea before testing whether anyone would actually spend money on their solution. A risk that can be avoided. How, you ask? There's a way companies can get customers before they even have to invest time and money in an MVP. The concept I would like to introduce to you today is called pretotyping. A step-by-step guide to pretotyping Pretotyping Step 1: Define your offer. Even the best sales are of no use if you have not clearly positioned your product or service. So first of all, ask yourself:
Pretotyping Step 2: Create a landing page. Your product doesn't even exist yet. But that doesn't matter. Because you know exactly what problem you can solve with it and who the people are who have this problem. Now put these insights into words and create a landing page for your future offer. Your landing page needs these elements:
Pretotyping Step 3: Give your visitors something of value. Free additional offers that provide significant added value for your users are called lead magnets. You are giving something valuable to your users who are interested in your offer but are not yet ready to respond directly to your call to action. In return, these users give you their email addresses. You will use this in later nurturing (step 7) to further maintain them and provide them with helpful information until they are ready to buy. Case studies, white papers, checklists, templates, calculators, webinars, videos and much more are suitable as lead magnets Pretotyping Step 4: Find Potential Leads. In step 1 you clearly defined your target group. Now look for real people who fall into this target group. Social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Xing are suitable for this, where you can search for free by industry, position and title of your target group. The LinkedIn tool Sales Navigator (paid) offers an even more effective way to identify leads. This allows you to define your search precisely, for example by industry, zip code, number of employees or seniority. Start broad and get narrower in your search until you end up with a list of 3,000 to 4,000 leads. Pretotyping Step 5: Write to your leads. Now get in touch with your target group. Send contact requests to your leads and write short, friendly direct messages in which you pitch your free lead magnet. Target the leads with whom you have the most common contacts first. Save the leads without common contacts for last. The more people accept your request, the higher the likelihood that new mutual contacts will arise with those leads with whom you initially had no connection. A clever snowball model. Also helpful: Ask good contacts for an intro to a potential customer. And: Follow up again in a friendly manner after seven days if leads have not responded to your request. Such direct messages often simply get lost in the inbox. Pretotyping Step 6: Send your lead magnet. I know from my own campaigns that around 30% to 50% of the people you write to will accept your contact request. Half of them will show interest in your lead magnet. Now send your lead magnet to these leads by email. You can do this manually or automatically, for example with the Brevo emailing tool . Pretotyping Step 7: Nurture your leads in a nurturing campaign. Over the next few weeks, you will nurture your leads with a nurturing campaign. To do this, send them a short, valuable tip every week that will help them solve their problem. In this way, you establish yourself as an expert in your field and remain present not only in the inbox, but above all in the minds of your leads. Pretotyping Step 8: Determine willingness to buy using lead scoring. When can you finally make your offer to your leads? How do you know when a lead is ready to buy? You can determine the willingness of your leads to buy using so-called lead scoring. In a points system, you determine which interactions of your leads with you and your content are “worth” how many points. I myself work according to the following points system:
Pretotyping Step 9: Make your offer. How you want to make your offer is a matter of taste. Some people like to pick up the phone and simply call your leads. If that's too direct for you, take a close look in your CRM system at what interactions your lead had with your content, what content they spent a particularly long time looking at, and what links they clicked on. Then formulate a personal email that is tailored precisely to these interests and interactions and make your offer. The offer is your email’s call to action. Another way to make an offer to your leads is with a sales campaign. To do this, write five sales emails in which you tell your offer as a story in five acts - each one with a clear focus: Sales email 1: What is the problem and how do you solve it for your customers? Sales Email 2: Have a testimonial tell you how you solved their problem. Sales Email 3: Anticipate and refute the biggest objection that could stop your leads from making a purchase. Sales email 4: Surprise your leads with a paradigm shift. Describe a common prejudice about your offer and refute it. An example: “A personal trainer is a luxury that only rich people can afford.” A paradigm shift could be: “It is not a luxury to invest in your own health. If you can’t manage to change your exercise behavior on your own, get support from an expert.” Sales email 5: Briefly summarize the key messages from the previous emails and end with a specific call to action, e.g. arrange a non-binding consultation, try it out for free for 1 month, etc. Conclusion Pretotyping is a sure-fire way to attract new customers even before you've invested time and money into developing an MVP. The nine steps summarized again:
This lead list is your most valuable asset. Because you can scale this list and identify new leads from it. For example with lookalike audiences. If you have a size of 1,000 people or more, you can create so-called lookalike audiences on Facebook and LinkedIn from your lead list. This helps you identify new audiences that have similar characteristics to your lead list and that can be up to 15 times larger than your original list. You can now target this target group again and increase your email list tenfold. https://justgrow.eu/blog/ If you're interested in reading more of Olaf articles please visit the website link above. (Please note that Olaf's site is in German but Google translate does an excellent job of instantly translating it to English.) How can you elevate your people to the next level? To find out what you can improve in your leadership team to grow more easily, quickly and profitability, try our complimentary Agile Growth Checklist*. This self-service questionnaire takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete. You'll receive the checklist with your responses immediately. Within 24 hours, you'll receive a compiled report highlighting areas to improve. This report is complementary and involves no obligation. Complete section 1 and 4 to check your leadership team* and accountability processes*. Or complete all 7 sections to find out how your company is doing in each of the 7 areas needed to produce more rapid, profitable and sustainable growth.  You work 80 hours a week for your company. However, you still don't get around to taking care of the big, important issues such as sales development, process optimization or talent management? In short, your efficiency is very low? Welcome to the club!
Many successful entrepreneurs feel the same way as you. Every day you are overwhelmed by 100 pressing issues that demand your immediate attention. And yet another day when you couldn't take care of your actual, important tasks. Urgent does not mean important You guessed it: the urgent issues are not always the most important. And the big, important issues are rarely urgent - and that is precisely why they are so often postponed. This is a risky maneuver: 1. You fail to continually develop your company and set the course for future growth. 2. You risk burning out too quickly due to the persistently high workload. Every second manager worldwide regularly feels exhausted at the end of their working day - a sure warning sign of burnout. That's just how it is as an entrepreneur, don't you think? But it doesn't have to. I would like to show you seven ways to increase your personal effectiveness. This creates time to tackle the major levers in your company. And you suddenly have time for your family and private life again. Finally time for your big topics Increasing efficiency Way No. 1: Say no more often! Everyone wants something from you, and everything seems urgent. Don't let others dictate your priorities. Decide for yourself which tasks you want to tackle - and which you don't. For each task, ask yourself: Does the task really advance your company? Are you really the one person who can do this job best, or would you be better off somewhere else? What bad thing would happen if you don't complete this task? Don't fill your day with busy tasks. These always seem urgent, but they don't get you anywhere. It's better to say no again and use the freed up time to tackle the big levers in your company. Increase efficiency Way No. 2: Do unpleasant things according to the “first in – first out” principle. Are you one of those people who initially cleaned the apartment or went to sports during your studies in order to avoid unpleasant tasks (study for an exam, start your master's thesis)? Even as an entrepreneur, there are always tasks that are at the bottom of your popularity scale. Just the thought of it makes you uncomfortable. The same mechanism is triggered here as it was during our studies: our brain tries by all means to avoid unpleasant feelings. Therefore, it will reliably provide you with all sorts of rational justifications why you cannot do this unpleasant task now, but instead a completely urgent other task. The result: you push unpleasant topics to the back of your mind. Important tasks remain unfinished. And because you know that this avoidance behavior is wrong, the hole in the pit of your stomach grows deeper every time you think about the task. A real vicious circle. What has helped me to tackle unpleasant tasks consistently is an uncompromising “first in – first out” principle. I work through my tasks in order from bottom to top - either as emails in my inbox or as a to-do list. The order of these tasks is not prioritized and is therefore negotiable. This is how I managed to complete unpleasant tasks one after the other, like a machine. Pro tip: If you have experience with mindfulness meditation , direct your focus specifically on the negative feelings that an unpleasant task triggers in you. If you're like me, you may notice that these feelings are nothing more than physical symptoms (fast pulse, queasy stomach, heat, tingling fingers, etc.). And these often become weaker just by specifically feeling them. Increase efficiency Way No. 3: Only work through your inbox once a day. Are you proud of how quickly and reliably you answer emails? Many people confuse this speed of response with professionalism, reliability and quality of their work. But with every email you answer in between, you allow yourself to be distracted from your actual tasks and impose other priorities. Here's how to spend as little time as possible in your inbox: Set a block the day you work on your inbox. Inquiries that you can answer within two minutes can be dealt with immediately. Leave the remaining emails in your inbox and deal with them chronologically when you get to them. (You should communicate this procedure to your team beforehand.) Increase efficiency Way No. 4: Set yourself fixed blocks for important tasks. You cannot work on any topic that lasts longer than two hours according to the “first in – first out” principle. Because you hardly have time blocks lasting several hours, and these tasks would otherwise clog up your system. Set aside fixed 30-minute blocks each day for longer tasks like this. I like to set blocks like this in the early morning when I have a lot of energy and no meeting requests can get in the way. This way you work slowly but steadily on larger tasks. The constant progress you make will motivate you day after day. Increase efficiency Way No. 5: Only take on as much as you can do in a week. Nothing is more demotivating than long to-do lists. And nothing seems more unprofessional than making team members wait weeks for your response. Therefore, only take on as many tasks as you can safely complete in a week. Plan 80% of your time and leave 20% free for unforeseeable things. This 20% will be filled quickly. For example, I keep Friday free to work through my to-do list, so that the oldest item on my list comes from Monday at most. Increase efficiency Way No. 6: Keep your team up to date. Nothing makes people more uneasy than the feeling of not being up to date. Therefore, give your team an update on the status of all projects, tasks and topics at least once a week. For each task, give a rough estimate of when you will take care of it. But don't get pinned down and say straight away that it could take longer. In this way, you relieve yourself and your team of unnecessary pressure of expectations. If you don't complete a task by the estimated date, don't let the deadline pass silently, but inform the other person as quickly as possible. People don't mind if appointments are postponed. But they want to feel like you're in control of your tasks. Increase efficiency Way No. 7: Don't get tied down to deadlines. Deadlines are poison for your to-do list. Because they act like an accelerant for urgent to-dos that you have to do because they promised. However, these deadlines often distract you from your actually important tasks (e.g. the daily 30-minute blocks). Something will always fly in with a shorter deadline. Don't give in to this activism and take back control of your to-do list. Instead, give your team rough time estimates and update them weekly. This means you can work on your own issues calmly and with concentration and find time every day to take care of the really important tasks. Conclusion The important tasks are never the most urgent. And the urgent tasks are rarely important. Once you have recognized this, you can restructure your calendar so that your work achieves more impact in less time. https://justgrow.eu/blog/ If you're interested in reading more of Olaf articles please visit the website link above. (Please note that Olaf's site is in German but Google translate does an excellent job of instantly translating it to English.) How can you elevate your people to the next level? To find out what you can improve in your leadership team to grow more easily, quickly and profitability, try our complimentary Agile Growth Checklist*. This self-service questionnaire takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete. You'll receive the checklist with your responses immediately. Within 24 hours, you'll receive a compiled report highlighting areas to improve. This report is complementary and involves no obligation. Complete section 1 and 4 to check your leadership team* and accountability processes*. Or complete all 7 sections to find out how your company is doing in each of the 7 areas needed to produce more rapid, profitable and sustainable growth.  You don't have to be a natural speaker to tell good stories. With this simple 7-step guide to storytelling, you can formulate your next pitch, presentation, lecture or speech as an exciting story - and make your customers the main character.
Customers and investors become convinced with good stories Everyone knows them: gifted storytellers. You come into a group of people, start talking, and in no time a bunch of listeners are hanging on their every word. Well, who do you think of from your circle of friends? What seems innate to some people pushes many entrepreneurs to the edge of their comfort zone even after years: investor pitches, customer presentations, speeches in front of the entire team. And what sounded so clear and convincing in your head simply doesn't come across correctly in front of an audience. The good news: You don't have to be a natural speaker to tell good stories and master the art of storytelling. Today I'll show you a simple 7-step guide with which you can quickly wrap your product presentation, your investor pitch or your next all-hands speech into an exciting story. Your listeners will be hanging on your every word – bet!? The framework I would like to introduce to you is called StoryBrand and was developed by US bestselling author Donald Miller. With this simple 7-step guide, you can package any product or company message into a story that is guaranteed to stay in the person's mind. From message to story in 7 steps What do the films Star Wars, The Hunger Games and Dirty Dancing have in common? Nothing? But! They all work according to the same structure: The main character (1) has a big goal that she really wants to achieve. She comes across a seemingly insoluble problem (2) . When her problem seems greatest, she meets a wise mentor (3) . He gives her a plan (4) and then gives her a push to put this plan into action (5) . In the end, the main character manages to prevent the impending defeat (6) and to be successful (7) . What Donald Miller is doing with his StoryBrand framework is not new. He uses the elements of the classic hero story and transfers them into the business context. Because why shouldn't a narrative structure that captivates millions of people in books and films also work in business communication?! So use this guide to structure your next talk, pitch or presentation as a story and make your customers the main character. Storytelling Step 1: The hero and his goal You, your company or your product are not the heroes of the story: your customers are. So before crafting your story, ask yourself:
This way you think about your customer's needs and avoid writing pages and pages just about yourself. Storytelling Step 2: The Problem Good stories thrive on conflict. What problems does your customer have? What keeps him awake at night? Where does he urgently need support? Such problems exist on three levels:
Storytelling Step 3: The Mentor Now you finally appear. As a wise mentor, you show your client that you understand them and their dilemma and can help them achieve their goal. To do this you need two things:
So ask yourself:
Storytelling Step 4: The Plan You have shown your customer that you understand him and his problem and have demonstrated your authority. Now describe exactly what happens next and give him a clear, simple plan:
No matter how many steps your plan actually has, boil it down to three steps. What you want your customer to remember is: Oh, how wonderfully easy it is to work with you. Storytelling step 5: The call to action Your customer now knows the next steps and knows what happens next. Now it's his turn. Tell your customer clearly what he should do next. What do you want to achieve with your presentation, lecture, conversation? This is the call to action that your story is coming to a head! Storytelling Step 6: Imminent failure What to do if your customer doesn't want to? Movement means expenditure of energy. That's why people only move if they can either get something positive in return (the goal) or avoid something negative (defeat). Gently remind your client what's at stake if they don't work with you. (problems as before) Such failures are common in the B2B sector:
Storytelling Step 7: Success At the end of your story, paint a clear picture of the bright future where your customer has achieved their goal. Describe clearly:
Conclusion No other communication approach focuses on its audience more consistently than StoryBrand's 7-step plan. Make your listeners the main characters in your story. As a mentor, help them achieve their goal and successfully eliminate problems along the way. Give them a plan on how to get there and get them moving in a targeted manner. You do this by carefully reminding them of what is at stake if they do not work with you and by painting a clear picture of the bright future in which your listeners have successfully achieved their goal. Follow this simple 7-step plan and structure your next pitch, lecture or conversation as a hero story. Do you notice how much more attentive your listeners are to you? Take advantage of this attention and bring your message home. https://justgrow.eu/blog/ If you're interested in reading more of Olaf articles please visit the website link above. (Please note that Olaf's site is in German but Google translate does an excellent job of instantly translating it to English.) How can you elevate your people to the next level? To find out what you can improve in your leadership team to grow more easily, quickly and profitability, try our complimentary Agile Growth Checklist*. This self-service questionnaire takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete. You'll receive the checklist with your responses immediately. Within 24 hours, you'll receive a compiled report highlighting areas to improve. This report is complementary and involves no obligation. Complete section 1 and 4 to check your leadership team* and accountability processes*. Or complete all 7 sections to find out how your company is doing in each of the 7 areas needed to produce more rapid, profitable and sustainable growth.  If there is a problem in the growth of a company, it may be due to the filling of important key positions. A problem that is often overlooked. Who likes to admit that their loyal colleagues in their management team are not the right ones for a position? If you also have a personal relationship with each other, that doesn't make it any easier. The fact is: the longer you let such bad appointments go on, the longer your company will run with the handbrake on. Keep – develop – let go How do you find out which of your managers are particularly helpful to you, which you should develop, and which are hindering rather than helping your company's growth goals? I sit down with my clients and together we evaluate each individual in their leadership team. These seven questions will help: Six questions to evaluate your managers
A simple matrix has proven successful for evaluating management teams. They define the central criteria that an optimal manager should fulfill in their role. These can be the criteria from the seven questions, but also others that are suitable for your company. Then evaluate each manager individually according to strong (green), weak (red) and neutral (gray). You can also assign points and then add them up. You rate strengths with 1, weaknesses with -1 and neutral characteristics with 0. This gives you a nice graphical representation of how the desired leadership skills are distributed in your leadership team, where there is development potential and where you should perhaps also critically question whether a person really fits into your leadership team. You can find a template of this evaluation matrix here .  This way you can measure and track the development of your managers.
An effective tool for quickly and sustainably increasing the performance of your managers is the Manager Feedback Survey from Google . Managers are evaluated by their employees every three months based on 13 leadership traits that Google has identified as key through studies. The answers range from one to five – strongly disagree to completely agree. Not only can you quickly and reliably determine the development needs of individual managers, you also have a tool to track the actual development curve of the managers over the course of the year. Each manager picks a development topic from the survey results that they would like to work on and discusses this topic with their team. This creates commitment and increases the chances of success. Google Manager Feedback Survey
How to find and hire the right managers. Maybe you had to part ways with a few managers and are now looking for suitable successors. Or you have additional need for managers thanks to your company's growth. No matter what scenario you find yourself in, you want to ensure that the new leaders will move your company forward and make it better. How can you find out whether candidates will not only perform in the interviews, but also be successful in their jobs later on? In his bestseller “Work Rules!” Ex-Google CHRO Laszlo Bock describes which hiring methods are particularly meaningful with regard to later performance in the job - and which are more like a game of chance. The most important tip in advance: When recruiting for executives, don't just use one instrument, but combine several instruments with each other - ideally ones that very reliably predict the future performance of your candidates. According to extensive Google analysis, the most reliable methods for predicting the subsequent performance of candidates are, in % probability:
Ask for work samples. Give your applicants a task to solve that they would also find in their future position. Then evaluate your candidates’ performance together in a personal conversation. Test general cognitive abilities. This method is a good indicator of people's later performance because general cognitive abilities also include the ability to learn. This combination of intelligence and learning ability is what makes people successful in their jobs. This makes these tests particularly meaningful. Conduct structured interviews. In structured interviews, job interviews follow a predetermined schedule. The questions are of course tailored to your job profile. This way you can test competencies that are important for the respective position. Use behavioral and situational questions. For behavioral questions, ask applicants to describe previous achievements and compare them to the requirements of the current position (“Tell me about a time when…?”). In situational interviews, you ask questions about hypothetical situations relevant to the open position (“What would you do if…?”). The advantages of structured interviews: You can evaluate candidates particularly objectively and compare them with each other. The disadvantages: Structured interviews do not produce a natural conversation. In addition, the effort required for preparation and follow-up is significantly higher than with unstructured interviews. The US Office of Personnel Management uses structured interviews when hiring and offers a number of free materials . Always make decisions by committee. Don’t let your managers decide who to hire on their own. Create a hiring committee that is as diverse as possible and consists of the applicants' future managers, colleagues and employees. In this way, you prevent unconscious biases from influencing the decision to fill a position. Do reference checks. If you still have doubts about a candidate, call two former superiors or work colleagues and ask them for their opinion. Important: Ask specifically five times about the candidate’s weaknesses. Most people in Canada are simply too polite to tell you the blunt truth right away. Tool tip: 3 providers that can help you choose the right manager are the assessments from Thomas , Topgrading and Hogan . Conclusion Growth is a leadership task. That's why, if your company's growth is stagnating, you should start researching the causes. Why or who is responsible for not achieving your growth goals? The questions from the Google Manager Survey will help you gain clarity. But only if you are mercilessly honest with yourself and in your assessment of your managers. Think carefully about what behavior, what characteristics, what strengths you expect from your managers - in the respective situation in which your company currently finds itself. If you know your expectations and have a clear picture of who on your leadership team is already meeting, partially meeting, or not meeting those expectations, you can make informed decisions about how you want to develop and change your leadership team. https://justgrow.eu/blog/ If you're interested in reading more of Olaf articles please visit the website link above. (Please note that Olaf's site is in German but Google translate does an excellent job of instantly translating it to English.) How can you elevate your people to the next level? To find out what you can improve in your leadership team to grow more easily, quickly and profitability, try our complimentary Agile Growth Checklist. This self-service questionnaire takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete. You'll receive the checklist with your responses immediately. Within 24 hours, you'll receive a compiled report highlighting areas to improve. This report is complementary and involves no obligation. Complete section 1 and 4 to check your leadership team* and accountability processes*. Or complete all 7 sections to find out how your company is doing in each of the 7 areas needed to produce more rapid, profitable and sustainable growth.  Why is it that you work wonderfully with some people, but keep clashing with others? In his 25 years of executive coaching, executive coach and bestselling author Patrick Lencioni has distilled three characteristics that make a successful team player. In today's article I will show you which qualities make an ideal team player, what happens if just one of these qualities is missing and how you can develop your team into ideal team players. The three characteristics of an ideal team player
 Trait 1: Be humble
Modesty is probably the most important quality that makes ideal team players. Specifically, “being humble” means :
On the contrary: Ideal team players consciously use their skills to advance their team. Only they do it with the necessary understatement, without calling for attention and applause. If people lack this form of modesty, it can make working in a team considerably more difficult. Trait 2: Be hungry Ideal team players are passionate about what they do and hungry for more.
Trait 3: Be smart Ideal team players are smart, namely "people-smart". This does not mean their IQ, their cognitive abilities or their professional competence.
Then it becomes difficult to work together Humble, hungry, smart: As simple as these three qualities sound. The key is that all three qualities must be combined in a person so that this person can become the ideal team player. If only one of the three characteristics is missing, working with this person becomes a challenge. Four examples from my practice Case study 1: When smartness is lacking Peter manages more tasks in the team than three other colleagues together. Status and recognition from outside are not important to him, because he is passionate about the cause and is hungry and passionate about it. What Peter lacks, however, is the sense of how his actions and his comments affect those around him. That's why it regularly happens that Peter unintentionally steps on his colleagues' ties, causing displeasure and confusion. Case study 2: When there is no hunger Paul is good with other people. He is people-smart and humble. Selfish motives are completely foreign to him. But he lacks the hunger to advance his team and try new things. Most of the time he only does what is absolutely necessary. This is frustrating for his teammates, who often work longer hours than he does and often have to ask him to contribute. Case study 3: When modesty is lacking Mary is hungry and smart. She says the right things at the right time, works hard and is a committed team player. However, she is mindful of her own advantage and influences her colleagues in her favour. She lacks the modesty that makes a good team player. Case study 4: When modesty and smartness are missing It is even more difficult to work with people who lack two of the three characteristics of an ideal team player. Ringo is hungry, but he lacks the humility and the sense of what his actions are doing to others. With his unbridled actionism, he often overruns his teammates like a bulldozer, regardless of the losses. This is how you develop your team into ideal team players Working in a team is easy for some people. Others find it harder to work collectively towards a common goal. No matter what spectrum you and your team are currently on: I am convinced that everyone can improve their ability to work in a team. What it takes is time, patience and good coaching. I would like to give you a simple 4-step plan that you can use to assess where you currently stand with your team and how you can continue to develop towards the ideal team player. In 4 steps to the ideal team player [Instructions] As with all management issues, the same applies here: If you want to improve cooperation in your team, then start with yourself. 1. Do a Self-assessment Assess yourself which of the three core characteristics of an ideal team player are the strongest, second strongest and weakest in you. You are welcome to use Patrick Lencioni's free self-assessment tool for this purpose. 2. Share Results Share the results of your self-assessment with your team and explain why you assessed yourself that way. What is your weakest trait, what is your strongest? Have each team member, in turn, present the results of their self-assessment and also explain why they assessed themselves that way. 3. Create a Development Plan Now go in twos, threes, fours…. with colleagues who had given the same quality as you in third place. Now consider together what each of you can do to become stronger in this area. Find one or two specific resolutions and record them briefly and concisely in your personal development plan. 4. Mutual Coaching Present this development plan to the rest of the team and ask them to point it out to you if you fall back into old patterns. With this openness and the trust that your teammates will support you in your resolutions, you will see the first development successes after a short time. Incidentally, I stick such intentions in a striking way on the monitor so that they are visible to me and the people around me. Conclusion You now know the three core qualities that make an ideal team player. What you can do with it is versatile:
Personally, I am convinced that everyone can become a better team player - with the necessary time, patience and the appropriate coaching. But not every manager and every employee fits into every team. It is all the more important that entrepreneurs and managers ask themselves the question: “Which culture is a conducive culture for my organization, in my market, in my environment and for our business model in order to achieve my corporate goals?” From this you derive what kind of team player you need in this context. From my point of view, two things should be non-negotiable:
https://justgrow.eu/blog/ If you're interested in reading more of Olaf articles please visit the website link above. (Please note that Olaf's site is in German but Google translate does an excellent job of instantly translating it to English.) How can you elevate your people to the next level? To find out what you can improve in your leadership team to grow more easily, quickly and profitability, try our complimentary Agile Growth Checklist. This self-service questionnaire takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete. You'll receive the checklist with your responses immediately. Within 24 hours, you'll receive a compiled report highlighting areas to improve. This report is complementary and involves no obligation. Complete section 1 and 4 to check your leadership team* and accountability processes*. Or complete all 7 sections to find out how your company is doing in each of the 7 areas needed to produce more rapid, profitable and sustainable growth.  Incorrectly staffed leadership positions can paralyze your company growth. Here's what you can do about it.
When entrepreneurs come to me with growth problems, the question inevitably arises: Why? Is there a lack of market for the product or service? Is it the wrong strategy? Is it a lack of execution, or perhaps the leadership team? My counter-question comes off the cuff because it is unexpectedly direct and at the same time a very crucial question. I ask them: Who? Who sits in the management and leadership positions in your company today? If you were to fill these positions again, would you put the same person in that position again? And: Would this person be able to bring out their best, to have the best effect? Albert Einstein is said to have quoted the following: Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid . It remains to be seen whether Einstein actually said this or not. But let's expand on this point for a moment: what if the fish is already up the tree? Is he still learning to fly? Who is sitting in your tree right now? The question I would like to ask you at this point: Who is sitting on your tree right now – in the key positions in your company? And why is this person sitting there? Because of their leadership skills, because of their potential, or perhaps for other reasons? Is this leader, who may have been the right choice for this key position then, still the best choice today? Especially for the growth path you want? This question “Who is in the key positions right now?” is asked far too rarely - and usually only when all other attempts to solve the growth problems have failed. Why is that? Because the question is uncomfortable. You may even have been involved when these positions were filled. Who likes to admit that he or she has a personnel problem in the management ranks ? Many do not recognize wrong appointments immediately. Others tolerate them - out of friendship, lack of time (there are always more pressing issues that still need to be resolved) or lack of alternatives (a bird in the hand). It is poison to your business growth for two reasons: Reason No. 1: If you, as an entrepreneur, do not recognize your personnel problem, you will only notice the damage that the wrong people in key positions are causing when it is too late. Reason No. 2: As an entrepreneur, if you tolerate your personnel problem and hesitate to fill key positions, you consciously forgo the potential that more suitable candidates could bring and thus deny your company significant growth opportunities. Find the right people for your key positions What can entrepreneurs do now to ensure that the right people are working in your key positions? I ask my clients the following questions to honestly evaluate their leaders: 1. Does the person share the same values? Value-oriented leadership creates a common set of values that increases the cohesion and willingness to cooperate of all managers and employees. Knowing that a leader holds similar beliefs often encourages employees to follow them and increases the odds of success at each goal. This increases engagement, performance and even loyalty to the company – which in turn has a positive impact on growth and profitability. 2. Is the person behind the company's purpose? What does your company exist for and what is your specific contribution to make the life of your customers, our society, the environment, the planet, etc. a little bit better? When the "why" of a company is clear, it is easier for your teams to pursue your common goal. It is all the more important that your management team is 100% behind the purpose of your company. Because the more credible it is, the easier it is for you to tell an inspiring, gripping story and to set bold goals. The purpose is like the inner compass for everyone in the company. It brings people together, inspires them, gives them courage and the energy to think big, to defy setbacks and to keep going. 3. Has the person already gained experience in growth environments and do they bring the necessary skills for the position? Putting a company on a desired growth path is not easy. It's no picnic - neither for the company nor for the managers and teams. So you need people who are up to the challenge. It helps if they already have experience in such extreme growth environments. This way they understand what is required and expected of them. In high growth companies, managers deal with problems they've never had before. It's about trial and error, accepting mistakes, reflecting and learning from them despite the enormous pressure and ultimately turning failure into success. Noor van Boven, Chief People Officer at N26, recommends: "You should surround yourself with people who move in a similarly dynamic environment. You can be a painful critic, but honest feedback is helpful and has kept me honest as a leader." Who among your leaders walked the growth path? Who on your team may have just managed something big? Who is brave and not afraid of failure? 4. Does the person share the vision of the leadership you want? If a leader is to drive growth, then they must also think in these growth categories. Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Stanford University, coined the term "growth mindset" in the 1970s. Leaders with a growth mindset welcome any opportunity to learn new things. They are willing to unlearn their ingrained beliefs and proven strategies. You are resilient to failure. They embrace failure because they see it as a natural part of learning. Or as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella aptly put it: "We are moving from a group of people who know it all, to a group of people who want to learn it all." Who among your executives continues to demonstrate a high willingness to learn? Who shares the same growth mindset? Conclusion The most important thing for entrepreneurs and owners of fast-growing companies is to surround themselves with the right people - and put them in the right positions. If there are problems with growth, having the wrong people in key positions is often the cause. If you ignore such misappointments, you consciously accept the negative effects they have on the motivation, performance and commitment of your teams. At the same time, you prevent better-suited executives from being able to contribute their potential and thus deny your company significant growth opportunities. What can you specifically do? Look for individuals in your leadership team who share the same values as you do in your organization. Make sure your leadership team has internalized the "why" of your company (the what that gives us purpose) and carries it consistently and authentically to their teams. Surround yourself with leaders who have experience in dynamic growth environments and have already demonstrated the necessary leadership skills. Work with executives who bring the same growth mindset as you do. With best wishes, Olaf Sell https://justgrow.eu/blog/ If you're interested in reading more of Olaf articles please visit the website link above. (Please note that Olaf's site is in German but Google translate does an excellent job of instantly translating it to English.) How can you elevate your people to the next level? To find out what you can improve in your leadership team to grow more easily, quickly and profitability, try our complimentary Agile Growth Checklist*. This self-service questionnaire takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete. You'll receive the checklist with your responses immediately. Within 24 hours, you'll receive a compiled report highlighting areas to improve. This report is complementary and involves no obligation. Complete section 1 and 4 to check your leadership team* and accountability processes*. Or complete all 7 sections to find out how your company is doing in each of the 7 areas needed to produce more rapid, profitable and sustainable growth.  Do you know this situation? You have delegated a task to a manager or employee. This person knocks on your door after a few days because they are stuck somewhere and asks you for advice. You are familiar with the topic, maybe you have even solved a similar problem before. As a former expert, you mentally jump straight into finding a solution or ask detailed questions to explore the problem while the other person is still talking. But because you don't have the time right now, say you'll take care of it and get back to the person. Let's take a quick look at this situation in terms of monkey management. what just happened The problem (i.e. the “monkey”) of the person suddenly no longer lies with them, but sits on their shoulders, grinning broadly. Congratulations on your new job. In individual cases, this may not be critical. But let's spin the scenario a little further: Let's say you have a management team of five people and each of these people comes to you with a problem once a week. Suddenly you have 20 strange "monkeys" sitting on your shoulders every month, driving you mentally crazy, distracting you from your actual tasks and increasingly crushing you with their weight. Your evenings are getting longer, the hours of the week more and more. Coaching Example: Monkey Management and Unwanted Patterns This is exactly what happened to a coaching client of mine recently. Let's call him Jan. Jan is the founder of a successful startup that has raised millions in funding and has grown to 25 employees in a short time. As a natural scientist with a doctorate, Jan has extremely high expertise in his field and loves to solve complex challenges. Jan came to me because he was frustrated and stressed about having to do the work of his young leaders again. It has often happened that managers and employees came to him with problems and difficult tasks and sought advice. Due to his high level of expertise and his solution-oriented thinking, Jan was immediately drawn into the details and usually had a good solution ready quickly. All of his managers and employees appreciated this and word got around. Jan's executives now came to him more and more often when things got tricky. His employees were also happy to present difficult tasks and topics to him from time to time - with or without prior registration. And Jan often took on a particularly tricky part - and he already had the whole task on his desk. Since there is now no shortage of challenging tasks in fast-growing organizations, Jan quickly became a valued expert and sparring partner for his managers - and suddenly he was working more and more often for his management team instead of the other way around. In the course of our coaching session, two key questions emerged to which we sought answers together:
What Jan's team did was certainly not done with malicious intent. His employees simply knew that Jan had an extremely high level of expertise in his field. They had also learned that he had an answer or a good impulse for most questions. This had several negative consequences:
This is how Jan got rid of strange monkeys and unwanted patterns. During the session I presented Jan with the seven coaching questions – a coaching tool from Michael Bungay Stanier's bestseller “The Coaching Habit”. We then adapted these questions together in such a way that they would help him with his two challenges “Monkey Management” and “Avoiding Unwanted Patterns”. Jan's seven coaching questions First of all, I advised Jan to buy himself a few seconds for future calls for help from his team with a rescue question or a comment like: "Oh, that's an exciting question!" This should help him not immediately fall into his unwanted problem solver pattern. The following seven – slightly modified – coaching questions should help Jan to not let a strange “monkey” sit on his shoulder again. Question No. 1: What exactly is on your mind here? Jan thus plays the problem back to his employees and helps them to articulate it more precisely. Question #2: And what else? Jan asks this question three times in a row - in a slightly different form - and helps his employees to get to the root cause of the problem. Question No. 3: What exactly is the specific challenge for you here? With this question, Jan focuses the attention of his employees on exactly the point where they are stuck. Question #4: So what exactly do you want to achieve? Jan helps his employees to fast-forward and to develop a concrete vision for their solution. Question #5: If your problem were solved, what exactly would be different? How should the result look? What is the value of the solution? What might the solution look like? Here I consciously exchanged the original coaching question "How can I help" so that Jan does not fall back into his unwanted "problem solver" pattern. Question 6: Who else can solve this problem besides me and you? Who can point out a solution? Who of those affected or outside (suppliers, partners, acquaintances, former colleagues...) can still help? I replaced this question so that Jan could show his employees an alternative. Again, I swapped out the original question to get Jan out of his "helper syndrome". Question 7: What do you pull out for yourself? What do you take away from the conversation? With this question, Jan is supposed to help his employees to reflect. The aim is for his employees to recognize how they will tackle problems in the future and find solutions independently. Mastery through repetition These coaching questions initially sounded very strange to Jan. So that he could make them his own and find individual formulations, I recommended that he look for a buddy in the organization. That was a colleague or a friend he could try out these questions on. As with so many things in life, practice and repetition makes perfect. At the same time, this buddy from the organization should always watch with him when he slips into his original pattern and remind him what he wanted to do instead. Each time it will be easier for Jan to find his own formulations for these questions. And if he falls into an unwanted pattern again, his coaching buddy will point it out to him. Conclusion Do you sometimes struggle with the strange monkey on your shoulders or do you find yourself too quick to find a solution in conversations? Simply develop your own version of these seven coaching questions. Find a buddy in your organization with whom you can try out and practice these questions. Over time you will find your own formulations that sound less and less practiced. This buddy will also point out to you if you go straight into finding a solution instead of listening to your counterpart and helping him to find the answers himself. I wish you every success and enjoy trying it out! If you would like to learn more about coaching habits and unwanted patterns, I recommend these two books: “ Multipliers – How the best leaders make everyone smarter ” – Liz Wiseman " The Coaching Habit - Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever " - Michael Bungay Stanier With best wishes, Olaf Sell https://justgrow.eu/blog/ If you're interested in reading more of Olaf articles please visit the website link above. (Please note that Olaf's site is in German but Google translate does an excellent job of instantly translating it to English.) How can you elevate your people to the next level?
To find out what you can improve in your leadership team to grow more easily, quickly and profitability, try our complimentary Agile Growth Checklist*. This self-service questionnaire takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete. You'll receive the checklist with your responses immediately. Within 24 hours, you'll receive a compiled report highlighting areas to improve. This report is complementary and involves no obligation. Complete section 1 and 4 to check your leadership team* and accountability processes*. Or complete all 7 sections to find out how your company is doing in each of the 7 areas needed to produce more rapid, profitable and sustainable growth. |
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