Most sales training and advice is based on a fundamental premise: the seller is in control. Think about it: a lot of what's taught focuses on what sellers should be doing to persuade, convince, and drive buyers toward closing a sale. The seller is responsible for bringing the deal to a close. Therefore the seller must be in control. The problem is, things have changed. Sellers aren’t in control anymore. Buyers are.     Related StoriesThe 6 Buyer Personas (and How to Sell to Them)5 Decision Roles in Every SaleRisky Business: 4 Areas Buyers Perceive Risk in Sales 

Big plays are major actions you can take to win your most important sales opportunities and grow your most important accounts. Read: What is a Big Play and When to Use One The first step in creating a Big Play is to define the goal you're trying to achieve. It could be that you need to: Strengthen your relationship with the key buyers. Create new relationships in order to win the sale or grow the account. Maximize the buyers' perception of the value of moving forward, or choosing you. Displace or win against a strong competitor. All four of these challenges can be overcome with the right Big Play. Here are examples of Big Plays that address all 4 areas.     Related Stories[New White Paper] Optimizing Sales Opportunity Management: 12 Critical Questions Sales Leaders Must AskHow to Win Big Sales Opportunities with Big Plays6 Ways to Build Client Loyalty 

I just read a great article in Training Magazine, L&D Best Practices: Tuition Reimbursement.  It isn’t often that I find an article focused on tuition assistance programs so this one caught my eye.  The article provided examples of how two companies that recognize the value of their tuition assistance programs are leveraging them to promote and reward employment, engagement, productivity and support continuous learning and development.  At a time when many HR and learning leaders are struggling to justify the value of their tuition programs this article demonstrated how simple it is to realize the benefits that are inherent in these programs.  Tips from the article included having a flexible, user-friendly, far reaching program, a well-defined policy,  and strong relationships with educational providers.  For more insights, please read my latest white paper titled "10 Tips to Education Assistance Program Excellence". If you have any tips of your own, please share! I’d love to hear them.

Going mobile is all the rage. It’s the technology of choice, and organizations are falling over themselves to get into the game. And why not? It’s a technology that consumers love. But, technology in itself is not an answer. It’s a facilitator. When implementing a strategy for mobile learning within an organization we need to consider the technology platform, the content that we build, and the people that will use it. Click the play button below for the full podcast.     

Sustainable change—it sounds like an oxymoron, but the phrase is creeping into our vocabulary more and more. It starts with the premise that change is constant. Once we admit that, it does not mean that we should just surrender. On the contrary, we should identify strategies and actions that are also constant to help roll with the changes and enable workforce adoption. Effective models to support changes to organizations, business processes, markets, the workplace, or even our compensation rely heavily on our leaders to facilitate the changes and employee adoption. However, our leadership ranks are just as vulnerable to attrition (voluntary or involuntary) as any other members of our workforce. Therefore, our strategies to sustain an environment with constant changes are more important than ever. The "leaders" of the day must embrace these strategies and make them work for their teams. Obviously, our leaders are important, but what must persist in our businesses and work environments is a solid, effective strategy to recognize the need to change, help the workforce enable their own performance changes, and measure the outcome. The phrase "sustainable change" now takes on the connotation of "sustainable change management strategies." The most effective leadership development initiatives I have seen have included this concept rather than managing the current business environment only. Is your organization ready for constant change? Are your leaders ready? Don’t Forget! On September 19th we will be adopting the GP Strategies name, logo and tagline. As a part of this transition, we will be migrating our blog with the GP Strategies blog, which means you’ll be able to get twice the thought leadership and industry insights in one place! Though we may look different, we’re still putting innovative learning strategies and transformative performance solutions into motion. Start following the GP Strategies blog today!

Mobile Platform Adoption ROI: Save Time, Remove Obstacles and Frustrations

Take a minute to think about what it felt the last time somebody either in your personal or professional life made it clear that they did not trust you. You know how that feels? Now think of an experience, either professional or personal, when you were able to establish mutual trust and work on an endeavor, overcome some obstacle, or meet a challenge with another person. Now, how did THAT feel? How did those two different situations translate into the results you were looking for? According to Steven M. R. Covey, research shows that only 49% of employees trust senior management, and only 28% believe CEOs are a credible source of information. That’s a pretty unfavorable view of leadership in business. Just as there’s no real relationship without trust, without trust there is no real leadership. Real leaders build and inspire trust. Anything else is what they call management. Further, Mr. Covey advances the idea that lack of trust actually adds a "tax" to all activities in business that require human interactions, meaning that lack of trust actually inhibits the speed and flow of transacting. From my own experience and from what my customers tell me, it also reduces the quality of the output. So, our lack of trust is actually impeding our efforts to create greater levels of success for ourselves and those we would lead. What are we to do? This is an important question for many of us who are faced with getting more out of our workforce and developing our future leaders. We have a lot on our plates these days, but the good news is that there are more and more great resources available to help us as we wrestle with this question. Some basic advice from Peter Jensen in his book The Winning Factor is that we shouldn’t assume that trust will occur automatically, even for a team that has been together for a long time. In his book, Jensen cites coaches who were very intentional in their development of trust. Just as important to their success is that they were also the first to extend trust. Easy peasy, right? Not! But that’s okay. Like all things worthwhile, it will take a little work. It will take a little practice. It may seem like a steep climb to change some old habits, but if we are to truly lead, develop future leaders, and achieve the success we are looking for, then we need to start somewhere. As Samuel Chand is famous for saying, "…without trust and respect, even the smallest molehill morphs into an Everest," and that’s an even steeper climb if you ask me.

The Role of Traditional Mentoring The concept of mentoring in the workplace has been around for generations and has always been defined as when "a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person." Topics and subjects may vary by industry and job category, but essentially the definition has been widely agreed upon. Many organizations have leveraged mentoring programs as a component to their Learning and Development, and Leadership initiatives. However, some high-impact learning organizations have taken it a step further and begun developing reverse mentoring programs. Reverse Mentoring Reverse mentoring is actually where someone has a skillset that you do not have regardless of your experience and success. The concept is not exactly new, as Jack Welch championed the idea when he was CEO at General Electric. The idea is fairly simple when you consider the millennial workforce. Executive- and senior-level managers are teamed up with younger (most millennial workers) in an effort to increase knowledge in technology, social media, and the latest workplace trends. For the first time, organizations are seeing young people as resources of information and even tutors (to senior people in the office) that possess new and original skillsets, especially in social media. For me personally, I get constant requests from older colleagues to help explain the value of social media and other technology that may assist them at doing their jobs better. Why It’s Important and Effective An effective reverse mentoring program is a "win-win." The mentee gains valuable insight in areas of expertise that may be unattainable otherwise (for example, how to make their tweets more meaningful). The mentor realizes direct fulfillment by working with someone higher in the organization (even in another business unit at times) and providing a learning opportunity that increases chances of exposure within the company for the mentor. Consider the below table, which is an excerpt from When Generations Collide: Who They Are. Why They Clash. How to Solve the Generational Puzzle at Work by Lynne C. Lancaster and David Stillman. Perhaps even more important than specific subject matter, reverse mentoring allows mentors an opportunity to share with mentees the fundamental differences between generational workforces in many areas and how they apply to their business. Tips to Success Avoid subordinate-manager relationships - Like a traditional mentor program, I think the best value in reverse mentoring comes from pairing individuals who are not directly linked within the organization. Meaning, the mentor is not a subordinate to the mentee. This ensures more openness and less stress, which increases the likelihood of success of the relationship. This type of relationship also avoids the chance that the mentee is threatened by a younger worker who may know more on a specific subject. Set expectations - It should be clear from the beginning on what the mentee is aiming to get out of the relationship. Identify areas where knowledge or skills are lacking, and make them a priority to the mentor. Make it more than just about technology - Technology is an easy subject for older colleagues to receive some assistance. However, there areas that may be explored during this relationship. Identify those that are equally as important. Entertainment? Popular Music? Tips for managing millennials? Utilize successful techniques from traditional mentor programs - A successful mentoring program isn’t supposed to be a mentor sitting on one end of the table talking while the mentee takes furious notes unquestioningly. There’s supposed to be a shared dialog, shared learning, and the goal of bettering both participants in the long haul. Report the success - Like any successful Learning and Development program, it will be important to report the success through company communications and other mediums as necessary. This helps increase leadership buy-in to provide more support for the initiative throughout the entire organization. Several successful companies have already formalized reverse mentoring. Have you taken your mentoring programs to the next level by implementing a Gen Y reverse mentoring program?

One frequent question I hear is "What is your favorite (or what is the best) book on Change Management"? This question surfaces in conversations, in Linked-In forums, and in desperate hopes for a magic pill that will cure all. While this is one of the more frequently asked wrong questions, I empathize with people who ask this because I know they are truly looking to help, to make a difference, or to fulfill a difficult assignment handed to them. They are typically reaching out because of the belief that change can be managed. And, to some extent, it can. However, when the expectation is that change can successfully be managed, leadership is often left out of the equation. A good friend and colleague frequently puts it this way, "Change is an act of leadership and individual choice." Once leaders have successfully won people’s hearts, the actions that help and enable people to change become important. That is where the planning and management enter. That is also why I typically recommend John Kotter’s international best seller, Leading Change. Dr. Kotter is one of the most renowned authorities on leadership and change. His work does not sacrifice leadership’s important contributions to change for the tasks and actions of managing the change, nor, does he omit the planning and management aspects from the equation. Leading Change describes eight steps for leading change. Rather than repeat them here, the following link takes you to a site belonging to an organization led by Dr. Kotter. This site describes the eight steps and provides an explanation of each: http://www.kotterinternational.com/our-principles/changesteps/changesteps. The leadership contribution is well represented in the eight steps. The management side of change is also represented. An example is in Step 6, Generating Short-term Wins, where the importance of careful planning and effort (planning, not praying) is highlighted. Beyond recommending the "best book," I would have to qualify that there are many others on nearly the same plane that also deserve serious attention. Another question to avoid asking is "How do I get our leaders to lead the change?" If you are asking either of the questions posed in this blog, you have likely been asked to or aspire to be an agent of change. The right question to ask is "How do I become a leader of change?" Change agents both lead and enable others to effectively lead change. There is no simple answer to the question, but you can work on, develop, practice, and finely hone your leadership skills. As a start, refer to my last blog, Personal Leadership at http://blog.gpstrategies.com/leadership/personal-leadership/. Ultimately, the questions being asked are likely not going to be fully answered with an assignment or a book—the truest answer is through a lifelong and life-changing journey. What better time to start than now?

Organizational Change Management (OCM) is not new. I know because I was there when it started. The first change management model was developed by McKinsey’s Julien Phillips and published in 1982 in Human Resources Management. This was known as the "McKinsey 7S Model" because all of the seven components began with the letter "s." However, no one noticed and nothing happened for about five years. The mid-80s saw the growth of Manufacturing Requirements Planning (MRP) systems that, along with Japanese manufacturing techniques, brought wrenching change to American industry. This movement collided with Michael Hammer’s powerful reengineering ideas in 1990 to create a perfect storm of change. Consultants were all over it. In 1988, the visionaries at the Consulting firm I used to work for established a Change Management practice to take advantage of the new opportunities. They did not know what it would look like or what it would do, but they knew they had to have one. When I joined the practice in 1988, it was mostly made up of people with training backgrounds, and consequently, most change management activities involved training of one stripe or another. We struggled mightily. I recall talking to a partner in the firm who wanted to know how we could help resolve a sticky organizational problem. When I told him, he said come back when we had "matured" some more. Throughout 1988 and into 1989, we were desperate to invent or acquire ideas that could be quickly and effectively applied to complex organizational issues. We developed a methodology, we went to seminars put on by other consultants, we read books, we developed internal training, and we never stopped looking for that "silver bullet" that would work for every client change initiative. Finally, we decided to stop trying to learn and start doing. With the cooperation of some non-risk averse partners in the firm, we began to try things out in client organizations. I remember reading a particularly influential (on me) book entitled Figuring Things Out by Tom Kramlinger and Ron Zemke. Among other great information on how to do organizational diagnostics, I learned how to apply the nominal group technique to running focus groups. A light bulb appeared over my head, and I said, "I’m going to do this at (client name)." Needless to say, the focus groups were a resounding success and the information gleaned was used to transition the company from traditional to cellular manufacturing. I continued to use this technique with other clients until it stopped working and then moved on to something else. The reason I mention this learning experience is because everything we know about OCM today came from similar learning experiences. Regardless of what some people believe, OCM, as practiced by consultants in the real world, did not follow in lockstep behind John Kotter and the other researchers in the field. It grew up organically through trial and error. If you are new to OCM and would like to learn more about it, be sure to see my upcoming article Why OCM? which will appear on this Blog in December.