Written by Tom Beasor, Managing Director of the Personal Strengths, South Africa

One of the pleasures of using SDI is that it is so flexible in its use. Very few people use SDI on its own… it’s more a matter of choosing the right environment to incorporate it in to. We have many people using SDI to help with their coaching in South Africa and I’m using it next week to help people with their communication and influencing. I’ve a course in September where we’ll use it for improving sales skills.

This shows a balance between its developmental use and its commercial use. Read the rest of this entry »

The Sales Division of a construction service organization was impacted by a serious conflict between the Director and his Sales Manager.

The Sales Manager, a 25 year veteran of the company, was asked by the Director to support and introduce their new Sales Performance System to his Sales department. Although the Manager understood the business necessity for the change, he also believed this new system would not be well received by his Sales team. As a result, he communicated the changes to his team in a way that, from the Director’s viewpoint, clearly undermined his authority. As a result, a serious breakdown developed in what had previously been an effective working relationship. Read the rest of this entry »

A General Manager, reporting to the company’s Senior Vice President, had 15 years experience with this large manufacturing organization, and a total compensation package in excess of $240,000.  During his tenure, this high potential executive was consistently rewarded with numerous “fast track” promotions and cross functional experience. Over the years, he consistently achieved superior performance ratings and was recognized for his demonstrated drive, intellect, commercial judgement and passion for the business. As a result, he was positioned as one of three high potential candidates for the CEO role.

Then, suddenly, his career took a turn.  People began to question his ability to manage his relationships up, down and across the organization.  His ratings, particularly on “leadership behaviour” began to drop – signals that there were issues with what some referred to as his “aggressive” communication style.  Read the rest of this entry »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Carlsbad, CA — June 24, 2008  – B&B Company (formerly Barney & Barney, LLC)  has selected Personal Strengths North America for management and leadership development services.  Personal Strengths offers assessments and services that help people improve relationships and effectively manage conflict.  Training featured the SDI® (Strength Deployment Inventory®), a tool that explores a person’s motives and values while building understanding and appreciation for an individual’s strengths and the strengths of others. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Tom Beasor, Managing Director of the Personal Strengths, South Africa.

One definition of negotiation I like is that it is about the division of scarce resources. When resources are scarce we need to negotiate about them. When resources are not scarce then everyone gets want they want and negotiation is not needed.

I’m not sure whether…in many cases…I live in a world of scarcity or a world of abundance. If I perceive the world to be one of abundance then I’m not too fussed about negotiating about fees or time or good will. All of these three are readily available. If I perceive a scarcity of these items then I’m going to be more likely to wish to negotiate. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Tom Beasor, Managing Director of the Personal Strengths, South Africa.

If people want to feel good about themselves then what happens when they’re cut off from this feeling and don’t feel good about themselves… conflict.

Conflict can exist for people when they are in a situation that doesn’t reward them and give them the outcomes they want. Here are a few examples:

• Red people can be in conflict when they’re not in control of the situation.
• Green people can be in conflict when their desire for getting things done right is disregarded.
• Blue people can be in conflict when their helpfulness is not required or is disregarded.
• Hubs can be in conflict when their desire to be flexible in a team is absent and a rigid approach applied. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Tina Mertel, SDI Master Facilitator

I just finished reading a Chief Learning Officer magazine article called “Trust is a competency” by Stephen M. R. Covey. http://www.clomedia.com/features/2008/May/2197/index.php

Often times when I administer the POPS, I observe how “trust” is a strength that participants don’t usually put at the top of their portrait. This article touts the need for trust in organizations. In support of those of you working with executive teams, this article in combination with our portrait makes for a interesting intervention on the culture of the organization. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Tom Beasor, Managing Director of the Personal Strengths, South Africa.

People who spend time working with teams often like to quote the concept that there’s no “i” in team…no room for the selfish individual who brings nothing to the common good.

Dr. Meredith Belbin had some thoughts on teams and here’s what is said about one of his 9 team types, the Specialist:

Specialists are passionate about learning in their own particular field. As a result, they will have the greatest depth of knowledge, and enjoy imparting it to others. They are constantly improving their wisdom. If there is anything they do not know the answer to, they will happily go and find it. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Tom Beasor, Managing Director of the Personal Strengths, South Africa.

I’ve done two deals with two clients recently where the client has allowed me to earn a proper fee and has respected my professionalism and not chiselled me a few bucks on the fee.

This is has put me in a frame of mind where I am looking at how I can add value to my training to reward these clients and the irony for them is that they’ll receive a dollar value far in excess of the dollars that they provided me. It’ll prove a good investment for them.

These are seller’s tips but I know that many buyers read them. The lesson is this…why spend hours beating up people on the price of the product or service when you could be looking at how to create value for both
parties far in excess of this price battle.

I really respect buyers who understand this. I’m always ready for a robust discussion on fees if necessary but I’d much rather think about value added instead of price discount as the key driver for the sales transaction.

Written by Tom Beasor, Managing Director of the Personal Strengths, South Africa.

This is a quick tactical note about emails…the lifeblood of much modern business communication.

I often read emails that are written with two major faults: One is that the writer used too few words…it reads like an old fashioned telegram where each word used to cost money. The other is that the writer doesn’t read it over to themselves to check that the tone is right. How many times have you heard about friction caused by an email being read in a different tone to the one in which it was written. Read the rest of this entry »