Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com August 17, 2015 • Hartford Business Journal 21 BIZ BOOKS 10 steps to create a healthier business "W orkplace Wellness that Works: 10 Steps to Infuse Well-Being and Vitality into Any Organization" by Laura Put- nam (John Wiley & Sons, $35). While Putnam's focuses on wellness pro- grams for employees, business also suffers from many of the same health problems as their workers — like poor vision, obesity and fatigue. When a business isn't healthy, the results can be seen in poor decision- making, declining produc- tivity and low morale. Her 10 imperatives pre- scribed for creating employ- ee wellness apply to creating business wellness as well. 1. Changemaker — Fess up to the fact your business isn't healthy. Doing nothing (i.e. maintaining the status quo) won't cure your ills. Initi- ate change by explaining why things must change and solicit feedback from employees at all levels. Their input helps identify the unhealthy habits the business has developed and wellness alternatives. It also creates buy-in to the change process. 2. Imagination — With an eye on the alternatives, develop a vision of "becoming our best selves." It's all about "get smarter, get happier, get heathier." This "we" approach acknowledges that individual choices impact colleagues and the organization. 3. Culture — The organiza- tion's culture drives the engage- ment of employees. Examine how the culture must change to support the new vision — especially with respect to processes, decision-making and collaboration. "Gather the stories behind the data." Solicit feedback and use it to feed forward. 4. Optimism — Fix- ing what's wrong starts by building from what's right. Why? Attitude. Continuing to build on their strengths and input starts the change process on the positive footing, which makes fixes easier to implement. Think in terms of a performance review: If you start with a focus on the negative, employees will feel down- trodden. If you start with their strong points, acceptance of areas needing improvement will come easier. 5. Interdisciplinary — Tear down silos. Common goals require cross- functional solutions. To be effective, collaboration requires the knowledge and appreciation of various perspectives. When teammates learn from teammates better, solutions are thought through and unexpected consequences are minimized. Outside stakeholders must be involved, too. 6. Go Stealth — Salespeople know that the hard sell rarely works. By focusing on what's important to both the organization and its employees, a needs/benefits construct can be developed. It needs to address the resil- ience required to change the ways things are done and de-emphasize the stress that change brings about. By emphasizing devel- opmental opportunities, employees will see the challenge and not the newness of doing different things and doing things differently. 7. Engagement — "Behavioral change: Easy to start; hard to sustain." Success depends upon the "why" people need to embrace change. To motivate, find out what employees care about and tap into it. There's no one size fits all. 8. Make it easy; make it normal — Living the new culture involves walking the talk. Be a role model. Others will follow your cues and synch with the new normal. When it comes to spending money when times are tough, make it easier for people to do their jobs. Technology and proximity to interaction come to mind. 9. Experimentation — "It's the often messy but productive part of creativity, innovation and, ultimately, success." When it comes to initiating change, there's no way it can be successful coming out of the gate. Launch, then iterate. Learn by doing and make adjustments. The iterative process will get employees engaged because you'll need feedback to develop the next iteration, and their willingness to execute it. 10. Go global — The cloud provides businesses with a way to share best prac- tices. Don't limit your search for answers to those in your industry. Find other sources who found answers to your questions and adapt them to your situation. Key takeaway: "Start the Movement, Build the Movement, Make it Last." n Jim Pawlak is a nationally syndicated book reviewer. Jim Pawlak THE RAINMAKER 3 steps for producing revenue from good relationships By Ken Cook A n obstacle for anyone who focuses on relationships is the reluctance to take advantage. There is a great investment in building a relationship. There is trust built over time. Capitaliz- ing on a relationship for a deal can feel as if you're tarnishing the relationship. It can feel as if you are taking advantage of the trust that some- one places in you. If you approach relationships from a selling perspective, this can often be the case. So, to identify opportunities to generate revenue from good relationships, think about the "Family Member Standard." At the intersection of relationships and sales, I always advise salespeople to think about a family member, a sibling or parent who you really care about and are close to. Would you feel good presenting the deal to the family member if the family member were in the same situation as the customer? If the answer is no, reconsider what you are presenting. In a strong relationship gener- osity is the key, and helping the other person needs to be the mindset. When selfish motives take hold, the abil- ity to trust someone can be put on hold, and in some instances, take a hit. The motivation for a deal has to emanate from a desire to be generous and to help. To get to this point requires an under- standing of what the customer is dealing with — what are the challenges and concerns? As any great communicator will tell you, seek first to understand. Once you know what the other person is experiencing and what is motivating them, you can then contribute value. Otherwise, you're contributing information that may or may not matter. Consider the following three steps to help identify opportunities where relationships can result in revenue. First, learn about the person. Go beyond traditional sales research on an account. Everyone selling solutions is trying to fig- ure out the industry challenges a customer is facing. They all look for articles or informa- tion that relate to those issues, and then send the information on with a note that says something like: "Saw this article and thought of you. Hope you find it helpful." Go beyond account research and focus on the person. Review a person's online profile, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Do a Google search about them. The purpose is to learn about the person and connect to them on a more personal level. Second, be generous. Based on your research, stockpile ways to be generous with this person. The acts of generosity should be a mix of business and personal. Talk about a charity they are involved in, ask about their school, or talk about com - munity organizations or events. When appropriate and a good fit, be gen- erous about your offerings. Your products, services and solutions might be just the answer the customer needs to overcome a problem. Don't let a fear of tarnishing a relationship get in the way of improving a relationship. Third, ask. Over the course of time the customer learns more and more about you. You learn over time more and more about the challenges and issues the customer is facing. Bring the two together with a simple question such as: "You know what I do. Is there any way I can be of service?" Two things about this question: One, using "I" instead of "we" personalizes it; two, it is open-ended and should be left that way. Don't be tempted to add a follow-on such as "Maybe I can help with the opera- tor training issues you're dealing with on the shop floor." The open-ended nature of the question invites a wide array of responses. It is also a good test of how receptive the customer is to moving on to exploring a transaction of some type. Turning relationships into revenue is a matter of research and understanding, gen- erosity, and asking for an opportunity when appropriate. If you do these three things you will find that doing business together will strengthen a relationship, not capitalize on or tarnish it. n Ken Cook is the co-founder of How to Who and co-author of How to WHO: Selling Per- sonified, a book and program on building business through relationships. Learn more at www.howtowho.com. Ken Cook ▶ ▶ Experimentation is the 'often messy but productive part of creativity, innovation and, ultimately, success.'

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