The Millennial Solution | Gabrielle Jackson-Bosche

Welcome back to Season 1, Episode 2 of the Convene Podcast. This week, Brian Bosche and Gabrielle Jackson-Bosche joined Greg Leith to discuss The Millennial Solution, the title of Gabrielle's book and company. The Millennial Solution is dedicated to helping CEO's and businesses bridge the generational gap that has been created with the influx of over 80 million millennials joining the workforce in the past few years.

Searching for a "David"

In the world of Christian ministry it is common to search for someone who can grow into the senior leadership position. Much like the biblical David, one might have abilities evident in one area that translate into being a foundational skill needed in another application. The challenge is identifying and then effectively grooming these “Davids” for what God might have for them as future leaders.

Observing David and identifying his characteristics could be helpful in finding such people to groom and grow. David had a healthy sense of self-confidence anchored to an understanding that ultimately the confidence needed to tackle “bears, lions and giants” came from God, the provider of skills, insights, courage and wisdom to tackle any problem. He understood his limitations (e.g. the fact that Saul’s armor was not appropriate) but had confidence to tackle new and bigger problems, trusting in God’s provisions.

David was a man after God’s heart because, while imperfectly manifested from time to time, he was motivated primarily out of a desire to love, honor and serve God. His motivation to be a leader came from this driving purpose to follow God’s leading.

One factor in David’s qualifications was his respect for leadership, recognizing that even if a leader is not perfect (Saul) that leader is still due respect and deference where appropriate. David also had a teachable spirit which is essential for maturing and effective leadership. At various points of correction (most notably Nathan’s confrontation regarding Bathsheba) his response was not self-defense but ownership of his “sin” and immediate steps to seek reconciliation.

Scriptures cited David as “as a man after God’s own heart,” a person who practiced following God and seeking ways to stay close to him. Demonstration of this characteristic translated into being authentic and transparent and not self-serving. Showing an exemplary life and demonstrating a passion to do what God is directing can lead to a contagious enthusiasm, trust, honesty, integrity, and leadership that causes others to wish to follow. David was also an over-achiever (i.e., beating the bear and lion) and was willing to take risks.

Other desirable “David” characteristics might include: being comfortable in the limelight but not dependent on it (humility); being at ease with people, power or wealth (self-confident); attracting people (being charismatic); adjusting one’s approach to be most effective (having excellent “EQ”); displaying a willingness to ask for prayer or a donation (boldness); knowing what one doesn’t know and purposefully seeking input (self-awareness); having a strong work ethic yet with balance (self-discipline); doing the right thing even in the face of opposition (courage); valuing continuous improvement (life-long learner); embodying knowledge and wisdom coupled with people skills, team building and understanding how organizations work (business acumen); learning and improving from criticism (openness); and striving for excellence (high standards).

Searching for “Davidic” qualities is important but should always be tied to the realization that God is continually working in individuals. A person can become far more effective and influential as they grow in their career. God can see potential and the attitude of one’s heart.

--

If you enjoyed this article from Bruce, you'll enjoy hearing him at our live learning venue even more. Join him and hundreds of leaders learning together how to operate their company well, all on a biblical platform at the Leadership Summit 2017 in Hilton Head, SC.

Can't make the Summit but crave more learning? Tune in to our Convene online leadership learning portal!

Strengths-Based Selling (And Why Sheep Make Baah-d Salespeople)

Congratulations!  You've just hired someone onto your sales team.  Over the next few weeks/months/years, you will teach your company's recipe for making the perfect sale and all the  qualities of an ideal salesperson.  Just follow closely along with your company's series of streamlined sales steps, and your salesperson is guaranteed to succeed.  Or, are they? The tried and (not so) true approach to selling assumes that all “good” salespeople are cut from the same cloth and that a company's success lies in the careful repetition of proven patterns.

Take Kay Jewelers, for example, the largest jewelry retailer in North America—and slipping!  Kay sales people from California to Maine follow an identical training program based on mastering Sterling Incorporated's strict selling strategies and acquiring technical expertise through the Diamond Council of America.

Yet, Kay's sales are starting to slide and employee turnover is flying high.  Why?  Maybe it's the new kid in town—the strengths revolution—which exposes the myth of the “perfect” sales person and turns the tables on traditional training programs by smashing the sales records of every company to take it on.

Bestselling books like Now, Discover Your Strengths, StrengthsFinder 2.0, and Strengths Based Selling by Tony Rutigliano and Brian Brim signal a step forward in selling psychology as companies start to realize that it is their salespeople's uniqueness, not their ability to follow the fold, that will help contemporary organizations survive—and conquer—in these turbulent economic times.

Clifton's Strengths Finder assessment allows individuals to pinpoint their 5 signature strengths, based on the theory that focusing on one's weaknesses limits a person's growth, while applying one's strengths opens the door to endless upward potential.

According to Strengths Finder research, an individual's talents and strengths come naturally to him or her, while skill and knowledge can be acquired through repetition and practice.  Strengths based selling is about becoming a skilled salesperson through knowing and practicing one's strengths, not following an organization's one-size-fits-all formula. There is no one right way to sell.

Strengths based selling flies in the face of most conventional sales approaches, especially because of its emphasis on team selling.  In addition to monetary rewards like commissions and bonuses, many traditional managers motivate their sales teams with competition.

A strengths based model, on the other hand, promotes sales alliances instead of feuds and aims to partner individuals with contrasting strengths in order to maximize sales potential.

To shift towards a strengths based selling model, the first thing a company must do is assess each of its sales people's strengths. When the members of your sales team begin to focus on enhancing and building upon their strengths, you can look for an improvement in prospecting, cold calling skills, negotiating and closing, solidified client relationships and vendor partnerships, and higher customer loyalty.

Meanwhile, regular review is mandatory—not a problem for most sales people familiar with traditional performance systems.  While employee reviews in a traditional sales company tend to focus on where a sales person is going wrong, the review process in a strengths based system centers on a sales person's successes—and how to create more, making it an enjoyable process for manager and employee.

For even bigger results, sales teams can utilize strengths based development to rewire their entire organizational structure.

I have experience coaching sales teams and businesses trying to survive—and thrive—in a volatile economy. My coaching helps sales teams discover their top 5 strengths then applies their strengths to:

• Prospecting—utilize your company's strengths to overcome call reluctance push into new territory

• Assessing Opportunity and Identifying Solutions-recognize buying signals, buying cycle and knowing when to walk away

• Building Champions-create strong emotional relationships with gatekeepers and constituency

• Negotiating and Closing-how to build commitment, get to win-win-win, and don’t leave money on the table

• Team Sales-building a strengths savvy team approach to sales can help meet the customers needs

• Engaging Customers-how to leverage strengths to turn rationally satisfied customers to emotionally expansive relationships with customers

• Engaged Sales Force-sales managers want to keep on the cutting edge how to keep their sales force optimistic (which sale 56% more than pessimistic sales people) and fully engaged.

And remember, a company, unlike an individual, is likely to have all 34 strengths at hand; the key to making strengths based selling work company-wide is to use each of these 34 strengths strategically and flexibly, keeping in mind the Gallup maxim, “There is no one right way to sell.”

The most successful sales teams are collections of varying talents, not flocks of sales sheep bleating the same script.

Are you ready for your sales team to join the strengths revolution?

Bring me to your Forum Day or organization to turn your sales team's strengths into higher profitable sales.

Year-End Problems

--Because governments ask us to report at year’s end for the purpose of assessing taxes;--Because shareholders want a report on their investment to determine their income, and the government assesses their taxes too; --Because each employee must report wages and their use of benefits at the end of each year, again for the purposes of assessing taxes; --Because the employer must provide supporting documentation for all this; --Because, culturally, we mark days and ends of years, and tell our stories, accordingly; --And because, frankly, we gravitate toward mental shortcuts to make sense of things, even if it handicaps our problem-solving ability…

…we tend to collapse into managing enterprise and personal affairs with this same annual time frame in mind. Most of the above are government-mandated busy work exercises, and worse, bad habit reinforcements when it comes to running an enterprise. They leave you and I living and thinking inside an arbitrarily constructed time frame, making decisions as if year ends somehow matter disproportionately more than other days.

This is a problem. A besetting sin. A hazard.

Accrual accounting provides some possibility to think differently than solely in twelve month/annual increments. The tax code does also, allowing for appreciation and depreciation over multiple years. But, unless you: 1.      Develop your own reports according to your own, more useful timeframes , with the information you’ve learned through trial and error, and 2.      Use these reports to project forward rather than solely documenting previous actions, You will only be responding to what others want to know, using their non-related information to inaccurately evaluate your stewardship.

Does this poke at you? It should!  For just one example, consider how the information needed for decision making improves if you use a trailing 12-month income report, matched with a projection of the next twelve, rather than a year-to-date report in comparison to the previous year. The first gives you real time information in relationship to the future. It also helps you to note up or down trends immediately, rather than long after you’ve failed to correct a problem or seize an opportunity. The second looks backward only, telling you only how you did with nothing at all about your prospects.

Is this kind of information available for your management teams, for your board, for your investors? It should be, not just because it is more accurate and contextualized to your business, but because it helps to set an organization’s culture. It becomes a culture of foresight and wise adjustments, rather than ignorance, reactions after the fact, and searching for someone to blame.