by Bill Paxton
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7:30 - Mary begins her day by checking
her calendar, responding to emails, and picking up voicemail. Looks like a
full day. Again.
8:00 - The first task of the day is to
decide who to hire for that all-important Sales Manager opening. She’s a
lot more confident than she used to be in hiring. In addition to the
typical Job Description listing the skills, experience and credentials
required for the job, Mary had a profile created showing what motivated
talents will ensure success in this spot. After interviewing all the
candidates, she had the top three assessed with a Personal Design Review (PDR).
As she studies the PDRs this morning, she sees that one candidate is more
highly motivated to supervise others. That’s what she needs! Someone who
can coach the sales team, and not long to be an individual producer. With
the decision made, she moves on to her next appointment.
9:30 - It’s an annual review for Bob, a
struggling sales person. She knows he doesn’t need a pep talk or a
reprimand. During their meeting, they decide to take a closer look at the
Bob’s Personal Design Review to help diagnose the problem. Together they
notice that Bob is non-confrontational. This leads to a discussion of
selling styles. They realize that Bob will be more productive using a
consultative selling style than the company’s traditional approach. Mary
calls the Training Department and confirms that they have a program that
teaches this technique. She sends them the Educational Analysis portion of
Bob’s PDR so they can tailor the program to his learning style, thus
maximizing the time Bob spends in training.
10:30 - Mary’s next meeting is with a
project team she leads. Their charter is to find ways to increase the
number of customers without increasing overhead. They’ve had some
progress, but they seem to be at cross-purposes with each other, and team
has bogged down. Mary has asked each to bring their Personal Design
Reviews with them today. She walks them through an exercise showing that
some team members are natural change agents, and some are change-adverse.
Some are big-picture thinkers and some are detail oriented. They see how
their differences have been misinterpreted as bad will. With a better
understanding of how each person is wired, they divvy up the tasks based
on their strengths, and the team begins to move forward again.
1:00 - Mary picks up a voicemail from
Mike, an employee who is now back to work after being on medical
disability for burnout. He called to thank her for being willing to change
the content of his job to match his Personal Design. Now he is doing what
he was designed to do, and instead of feeling burned out, he is energized
and hopeful. Mary smiles with a sense of satisfaction.
2:30 - She’s glad Mike is OK, but she’s
a bit worried about Heather who seems to be retired-in-place. She is
completely unmotivated. Mary pulls out Heather’s PDR to help diagnose
the problem. After a few minutes she realizes that Heather is motivated by
projects that have definite beginnings and ends. She gets a kick out of
reaching the goal. Since her promotion, Heather has been in the middle of
a process that never ends. Someone feeds her work; she does it, and passes
it on. Endlessly. When Mary brings this to her attention, the relief is
visible on Heather’s face. They make an appointment to brainstorm on
what they can do to get Heather involved in more projects.
4:45 - Just before she leaves for the
day, the phone rings. It’s the regional vice president offering Mary a
new position. She’s flattered, but she puts her ego in check, and asks
some pointed questions. Before hanging up she requests a few days to think
about it, even though she knows she’ll decline it. It is more money and
prestige, but it is also a role that will prevent her from reaching her
Payoff. She knows that on a daily basis it will be more draining than
satisfying, and she will eventually hate it.
She’ll wait. There will be other
offers. After all, her department has the highest productivity and the
lowest turnover in the entire company.
Wishing you every success,
Bill Paxton Paxton Consulting, Inc.
612-237-8689
www.PaxtonConsulting.com.
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© The Donvër Corporation
2000
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