An author, presenter and world-class coach, Rick Jensen, Ph.D., is the founder of Dr. Rick Jensen's Performance Center and is an internationally recognized performance consultant and sport psychologist.
Have you ever been asked to participate in one of those kumbaya
exercises that test your willingness to trust others?Well back in 1986, I did...as part of my Group Therapy class
in graduate school.The professor
asked each class member to select a partner whom they did not know well.
Immediately, a male student to my left who fit the description pointed to me
and asked "Do you want to be my partner?" Being a fairly trusting individual, I
replied "Sure, why not!"
The professor then walked the class outside into a nearby park, passed
out blindfolds to each pair of students, and asked one partner to blindfold the
other.I volunteered to wear the
blindfold first in my partnership.
Those of us wearing blindfolds were instructed to take the hand of our partner
and allow them to lead us around the park as we explored what it was like to
trust that person.Once we had
done so for a few minutes, the instructor suggested that the leader speed up
and move a bit faster.My partner said
aloud "Trust me!" and proceeded to accelerate into a slow jog.I followed his lead, let go of my
fears, and even took pride in my ability to keep up. Until, out of nowhere,
something hit me smack in the face and I found myself on the ground bleeding!
I tore the blindfold from my face, looked up, and discovered that I had
been led right into a low hanging tree branch.I looked bewildered at my partner who leaned over me and
said "I'm so sorry; I forgot to tell you to duck!"
I don't know if the lesson I learned was the one my professor intended,
but I do know that gaining one's trust requires a lot more than simply saying "Trust
me!"I wanted to touch on the
topic of trust, because it seems to
be at the core of so many issues in the news (e.g., Bernie Madoff's multi-billion dollar Ponzi-Scheme, the passing of health care legislation, Tiger Woods' transgressions).
On a smaller scale, trust is so often at the core of our individual success.If you are a
financial advisor, how important is it to earn the trust of your clients and centers of influence?For touring golf pros, maintaining trusting relationships with your sponsors, your agents, your members, and your spouses is critical to your long-term success.
So, take this moment to conduct a quick assessment of your ability to
develop and maintain trust among those who most matter in your life.As you consider your interactions with these
important people, ask yourself the following questions:
Do you
show empathy for their points of view and circumstances?
Do you
deliver upon your word / practice what you preach?
Do you repeatedly
demonstrate competence?
Are you
open, clear, and transparent in your communication with them?
Do your
actions reflect integrity, honesty, and a genuine interest in their welfare?
Do you
behave in a consistent, predictable manner?
These questions get to the heart of what it takes to earn others'
trust.Simply saying "trust me"
just doesn't cut it.To earn
someone's trust, you must create an expectancy that they can rely on you to act in a way that is beneficial to them without the need to monitor you.Trust is based upon the intention,
consistency, and predictability of your behavior.
Take the necessary steps to ensure that you can answer 'yes' to the six questions above.Over the past few years, volatile markets, questionable mortgage practices, employment challenges, and retirement account losses have resulted in people feeling like they've been led into a tree while blindfolded. Understandably, these people are asking themselves "Who can I trust?" Rather than simply saying the words "Trust me!" consider how you can behave in a way that will earn their trust.
Champions
are smart enough to know when they need help, and they are not embarrassed to
ask for it. World-class athletes turn to coaches, athletic trainers, sports
psychologists, biomechanists, physical therapists, and sports optometrists for
the assistance they need to stay on track.
After
winning his second U.S. Open in 2004, Retief Goosen was asked how sports
psychologist Jos Vanstiphout had helped him prepare for his earlier victory. "I
always felt my swing was pretty much there," Goosen explained, "but I knew on
the inside I wasn't thinking right. I wasn't positive enough, not focusing
enough on what's in hand and thinking of too many other things going on around
the course. That's when I started working with Jos."
Jack
Nicklaus has spoken many times of the debt he owes to his longtime teacher,
Jack Grout. Nicklaus told me that he started working with Grout when he was
only ten, and that relationship continued through most of Nicklaus's career as
a PGA Tour player.In other words,
even after Jack Nicklaus had become one of the most successful athletes in the
history of the game, he still needed his teacher's advice.
Part of the
reason was because Grout was able to help Nicklaus understand the "whys" of a
particular situation. If Nicklaus was in a slump, he knew that he was in a
slump. That wasn't the problem. What he didn't know was why he was in a slump.
But once he did know, with Grout's help, he could start to do something about
it. By the same token, if he was performing well, Nicklaus wanted to understand
why he was performing well. Jack Grout was able to bring that kind of
perspective to the situation that Nicklaus couldn't do by himself.
Another
great golfer, Phil Mickelson, offered this high praise for his longtime caddy, Jim "Bones" McKay, in a 2005 interview:"He's been very helpful in a lot of areas, but he is very clutch and comes
through at critical times with pulling the right clubs or reading the right
breaks on the greens, and I'm very fortunate to have him. He's saved me a lot
of shots and has been instrumental in a number of my wins, if not all of them."
Effective
businesspeople do much the same thing. They know how to draw on the best
expertise from all levels of their organizations. And when necessary, they
reach outside of their organization for expertise it doesn't possess.
Top performers know that their efforts multiply exponentially as they learn to rely
on others. Winners are able to let go of control where their control isn't
absolutely essential, to empower others, to delegate tasks and responsibility,
and to thrive on the accomplishments and efforts of those around them. In
business, as in sports, champions must build effective teams that collectively work
toward a common goal. Individuals who are unable to let go of any control, who
feel compelled to micromanage every last detail, or do not have the ability to
empower and trust others to succeed, as well, will never reach as high a level.
Excerpt
from Mark Magnacca's book - "So What?: How to communicate what really matters to your
audience"
Winging it Versus Orchestration
"I skate
to where the puck is going to be."- Wayne Gretsky
It was cold day in Geneva, Switzerland in 1985 when Ronald Reagan did
something that helped create his nickname "The Great Communicator." He was
meeting Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to discuss a potential reduction in
the arsenals of the United States and the Soviet Union.
When the subject of arms negotiations came up during their meeting,
President Reagan did something that surprised everyone in the room. He turned
to Mr. Gorbachev and said, "Why don't you and I go for a short walk and get
some fresh air, and let the rest of our people talk about some of the details
regarding a potential arms treaty?"
Mr. Gorbachev immediately got out of his seat even as his diplomats
expressed surprise about this seemingly impromptu change in the formal agenda.
In an interview later, President Reagan revealed what happened next. He
escorted Premier Gorbachev to a lakeside cottage where there was already a fire
burning.
As they sat alone before the fire, President Reagan said, "We don't
mistrust each other because we are armed, we are armed because we mistrust each
other. While it's all right for us to talk about reducing the number of
warheads we have, why don't you and I see if we can eliminate the things that
cause the mistrust?"
His point being, of course, that if both countries truly trusted each
other, they would be able to significantly reduce their nuclear arsenals.
The rest of the conversation that took place that afternoon was simply
designed for the two world leaders to get to know one another.
On the way back to the general meeting after their hour and a half
together at the cottage, President Reagan said, "Why don't we agree that next
year the summit will be in the United States?"
"I accept," said Mr.
Gorbachev who added "then the following year the summit will be in Moscow."
President Reagan said, "I accept."
Ronald Reagan's action to change the political dialogue between these
super powers was the beginning of the end of the Cold War. His preparation,
orchestration and delivery of the right words at the right time helped make
this possible.
Ronald Reagan's action to change the political dialogue between these super powers was the beginning of the end of the Cold War. His preparation, orchestration and delivery of the right words at the right time helped make this possible.
President Reagan said later, "I told my people in advance that I was
going to do something like I did. When we left the building and I made it sound
like it was all impromptu." Before he went to Geneva, as part of his pre-meeting planning Reagan not
only orchestrated his questions but also the location and environment to
achieve the desired outcome.
Webster's Dictionary defines "orchestrate"
as follows: To organize a situation or an event unobtrusively so that a desired
effect or outcome is achieved.
When you interact with a prospect, or someone you are hoping to connect
with, are you more likely to orchestrate what you want to have happen or do you
wing it? Every day good people fail because they "wing it" rather than invest a little time and attentino in orchestrating the right questions to ask before they start to speak. One small piece of information (from a search on Google, LinkedIn, etc.) about your audience can help you create the right
questions to ask so that you can begin to understand what matters to them. Just like The Great Gretzky focused on where the puck was
going rather than where it was, you need to think about where your
communication is going and not just where it is.
Mark Magnacca, President of Insight
Development Group, is a recognized industry expert who specializes in helping
advisors create a personal brand and effectively articulate their value
proposition.Mark has worked with
a wide range of financial services companies including Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley Smith
Barney, and Pacific Life, and his programs have been featured in The New York
Times and the Wall Street Journal.
By Mike Bender, PGA of America's 2009 National Teacher of the Year
Golf can be a very lonely pursuit when you're trying to make it to the top of the PGA Tour, but one of the things that I have learned over the years with my players is that coaching them to reach their peak requires much more than just working on swing mechanics.
For the past few years my long-time student Zach Johnson, 2007 Masters Champion, has brought together all of the key people in his inner circle for an end of the year meeting. While everyone is together we assess the previous season's performance and determine if we hit the performance goals set from last year's meeting. This meeting includes Zach's caddie, who spends the most time with the player and is able to provide feedback on practice habits and to verify weaknesses (sometimes what the player thinks are weaknesses are not the same as the caddie's perceptions). Zach also employs a mental coach, fitness trainer, putting coach and a head coach (myself in this case) who is the main sounding board and the director of the team along with the player.
The meeting begins by pouring over all of Zach's statistics from the entire season. The PGA Tour's Shot Link system records every shot hit by every player down to within a foot of where each shot ends up and then breaks the results into more than 100 statistical categories, ranking all the players in every category. Part of the coaches' job is to know which statistical categories have the largest bearing on positive outcomes. For a player at Zach's level on Tour, it comes down to identifying the three or four categories that will have the greatest impact on the next season's performance. Once we determine the key areas that we want to see Zach improve, we establish very specific goals and benchmarks that we will be able to measure against during the season.
Once the goals have been established, the real effort shifts to the practice drills, workout regimens and mental adjustments that will be necessary to attain each of the improvements Zach is going to work towards. We look at Zach's current practice regimen and we decide where to add or subtract items to better focus on the new plan
Sometimes it is just a matter of spending more time on a critical segment of the game and other times it requires changing the way Zach practices them. Other times it requires a new mental approach or strategy or a change in the fitness routine.
The next layer in the process is to build a plan to incorporate these changes into both tournament weeks and off weeks when Zach has more practice time available.
Once or twice during the season, I'll send out an update with the current statistical measurements included to compare them to our established goals and to keep everyone focused on the season long plan for improvement.
The results of these meetings have been a huge part of Zach's success. For example, at the 2006 meeting we noticed that Zach was not hitting his pitch shots close enough to the hole to convert a lot of birdies, especially on the Par 5s where on the PGA Tour you need to be making birdies nearly half the time to be competitive.
After that meeting we built a special Wedge Range at our academy where Zach could come out every day and practice to evenly spaced targets from 30 to 100 yards. By the time the Masters rolled around a few months later, Zach had his wedge game dialed in better than ever. At Augusta, Zach had one of the greatest pitching weeks in history birdieing 11 of the 16 par fives during the tournament without ever going for any of the Par 5s in two shots! It was an extraordinary performance and it earned Zach his first major title.
That win really solidified for me the importance of understanding all of the aspects of my players' performances then setting the proper goals and matching the training to those goals. Now most of my Tour-level players hold similar year-end meetings and are seeing more improvement.
Mike Bender is the 2009 PGA of America National Teacher of the Year and is ranked among the Top 10 Greatest Teachers in America by Golf Digest magazine. His students include Zach Johnson, Jonathan Byrd, Robert Damron, Lee Janzen, Seon Hwa Lee and Vicki Hurst. Mike's academy is located in Lake Mary, FL (www.mikebender.com).
Throughout the year, I spend a significant amount of time delivering keynote presentations and training workshops for business organizations. As we are entering the second quarter of 2010, the focus for many is "How do we jump start growth in this economy?"
Below is a description of a seminar that I designed specifically to provide business professionals with the strategies, motivation and game plan to grow their companies this year. If you are interested in how this seminar can be tailored to help your organization, contact me directly using the button in the right hand column at the top of this newsletter.
The 7 Disciplines of
Growth:
How Top Professionals
Consistently Take their Business Outcomes to the Next Level
Are you looking
to grow your revenue, your sales, your profitability or your client base? Reviewing
case studies from the world of business, Dr. Jensen discusses how to implement The 7 Disciplines of Growth.As you learn to maximize your growth efforts, you will be challenged to
take a critical look at the mindset and behaviors that limit your business
growth.
Additionally, Dr. Jensen will draw from
his experiences with top performers within the world of professional sports in
demonstrating what it takes to build repeatable and sustainable habits that
lead to consistent growth.Dr.
Jensen will help you:
Break Through Existing Non-Producing Growth Paradigms
Position Your Practice for Growth
Structuring Your Business for New Opportunities
Differentiate Your Practice
Structure Your Business around the Lifecycle Needs of
A-Clients
Deliver a Unique Value Proposition
Maintain Consistent Contact with A-Clients and Prospects
Develop Repeatable Client Service and Client Acquisition Systems
Primary Markets Served: Financial Services, Direct Sales Organizations
An author, presenter and world-class coach, Rick Jensen, Ph.D., is the founder of Dr. Rick Jensen's Performance Center and is an internationally recognized performance consultant and sport psychologist.
It was cold day in Geneva, Switzerland in 1985 when Ronald Reagan did
something that helped create his nickname "The Great Communicator." He was
meeting Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to discuss a potential reduction in
the arsenals of the United States and the Soviet Union.