Stimulating the Desire to Change

by Jim Cathcart

Stage One in Creating High-Value Relationships (the Relationship Intelligence System tm) is:

Stimulating the Desire to Change.

People have to want to change, otherwise all the energy to affect a change will have to come from you. If the status quo is tolerable to folks then they won’t exert enough energy to affect a lasting change to better practices. So step one is to get everyone into the wagon and then one by one to get them to help you pull the wagon. The ultimate goal is to have everyone pulling so that the effort required from each one is so little as to be unnoticeable.

The two universal motivators are: Avoid Pain and Seek Pleasure. If it is going to hurt more to keep things as they are than it will to change, then people will be open to change. Conversely if they can see that the joy of achieving a new level of success is greater than the comfort of sustaining the current level, then they will cooperate to improve. So paint pictures of the possible futures and expose the potholes in the current road they are traveling.

Do the Math

Think in terms of Behavioral Economics: What is it costing you to continue performing as you do today?
Here are some questions to get people thinking about how valuable improvements can be for them.

Consider the value of the untapped potential within your existing relationships.

• How many more sales are there for you?
  
• How many referrals are you not yet getting?
  
• How many ideas for product improvement, process enhancement, cost savings, waste reduction, safety improvement, new opportunities, and faster results are already there just waiting to be tapped? Put a dollar value on your estimate.

• How many of your people bring attitudes to their work that literally cost you money and reduce your output? Guess what the financial impact of that might be.

• What habits exist within your workforce that keeps you from being more successful?
• Which standard practices need to be replaced in order to open up new levels of success?

• How many of the relationships in your organization are somewhat dysfunctional? What is that costing you in wasted opportunities and missed deadlines?
  
• How much of your absenteeism and your employees’ healthcare claims can be attributed to bad relationships instead of actual illness?
  
• How much does the “grief factor” in dealing with others take away from your people’s ability to perform at their best?

Where systems haven’t been put into place intentionally - work habits harden into systems anyway.

• How many of your existing systems for marketing, service, production, problem solving, communications, cost control, and planning are working for you and how many of them are working against you?

• What is your organization’s current reputation in the marketplace? How about among your coworkers and associates? Is that the reputation you intended to enjoy or would you like to see it evolve into something more ideal?
  
• What does your current organizational reputation cost you each year compared to what it could be?

• How loyal are your current customers and clients to you? How loyal are you to them?

• How often have you lost business due to not knowing the inner relationships and personalities within your targeted client’s organizations? What is that costing you?

We all know that things that get measured tend to improve. If you keep a constant vigil on where your money comes from and where it goes to, then you will become better at managing your money…even without financial skills training.

• Do you and your people have the right scoreboards prominently visible so that everyone can track what is working and what is not? What would it be worth to you if you always knew exactly where things stand?

As you discuss and explore questions like these you will begin to place a financial and strategic value on the ways in which people deal with each other. You will see that there is a direct financial impact felt from certain Attitudes, Skills and Habits. (Mindsets, Skill Sets and Systems.) These can each be improved through training and management practices that are targeted toward a specific Desired Outcome.

Jim Cathcart
copyright 2008 Jim Cathcart