Its late evening and a long day. Red and I sit on the couch and start flicking through the channels looking for something to unwind with.

 

A lovely women with a high soprano voice is doing “Over the rainbow” in A cappella when another and then another lovely high soprano joins until there are five of them in perfect unison, harmony and pitch!

 

If you have never experienced your emotions being pulled out and the hair standing up from the exquisite sound of a high soprano, I would encourage you to put the experience on your “things to do before I go” list! This particular performance was “Celtic Woman” and featured many of the old Celtic songs that really pull you in when performed by the haunting sound of a high soprano. It’s coming live to Fargo in November.

 

Unfortunately this was on TV and we did not have surround sound!

 

The performance continues with more great sounds and fantastic music. I begin to think about what can a business learn from such a great performance?

 

What can we learn from a group of performers that can be applied to business today?

 

Here are four key ideas that any business has to apply to be successful….

 

Expectations, is the first key. I would take this bet to Vegas, if we were to poll all of the employees in any given company and ask them what they see as being expected from them, most would not match what the executives or managers want!

 

Yep, there have been hundreds of studies on this. Most show 80% or more of employees have a very different view of what is expected of them versus what the leadership would like them to understand.

 

Is it any wonder there is communications and performance issues!

 

Now take this musical performance, what might the expectation of the performers be? To be a world class performance might the expectations be different than the local bar band?

 

The law of expectations states that people will rise or fall to the level of expectations presented to them. (Ten laws of persuasion, Dr. Kevin Hogan)

 

So the question becomes:

There are organizations that have accomplished this and very easily once they got it!

 

Imagine a world class performance where all the performers had different expectations, would it be world class?

 

There are several articles on this in our archives at www.busarconline.com/page/page/4045793.htm

 

Emotion is our second key. Ok, where are we going with this? I’m a hard nosed business owner and we need cash flow, profits and productivity!

 

You are absolutely right, and you need your people to do this! Let’s take the people out of your business; the employees, customers, supplies and others, what just happened?

 

Yep, no business, no cash flow, no productivity!

 

People are emotional creatures; that’s why a world class musical performance has such an impact. As the cameras panned the crowd you could see the emotion in their eyes, face and actions. Some even had tears in their eyes they were so engaged in the experience!

 

Imagine if you could, have a team of performers that were able to engage your customers, vendors and other team members at this level!

 

Yet so many business leaders tend to focus on spread sheets, cash flow and production numbers.

 

It’s really not their fault, this is what our culture tends to focus on, and yes these are important aspects of business!

 

So consider this, a salesman I know just started working in the software industry. After eight months he is so busy closing business that has been open for over two years that the company was not getting closed. The majority of the company is technical people that take a rather factual approach to the customers.

 

This guy comes in with his high “I” type profile and puts a great deal of emotional appeal into his conversations and communications. He is able to engage these customers at an emotional level and move them forward.

 

Now the rest of the team sends him their communications prior to sending it to the customers and ask him to put some “lipstick” on it for them. Emotion does have a dramatic effect!

 

That’s why the Vision picture that is presented to your team needs to have an emotional element for them to grab on to!

 

Right Skills for the right performance, during the performance there was another woman that played the violin while running from one part of the stage to the other. She smiled, danced around, played the violin flawlessly yet never sang.

 

Now there were numerous violins in the full orchestra that could probably play as well, yet she had a phenomenal skill of playing while dancing. I have no idea of her singing ability, yet did she need to? The other five singers were already overwhelming!

 

I was talking to a small business owner about performance based job descriptions the other day. Our conversation went like many I have on this subject. He wanted to write the position based on his current employee. I said to write it to the job and what the company needed!

 

If you write it to the current situation are you necessarily focusing on the right skill sets needed? If this person leaves, do you now look for the same person or do you look for skill sets that fit the position the company needs?

 

Imagine the producer of the show saying any violin player will do. The sound might have been just as good, but the performance would have suffered! She had the crowed dancing in their seats! Expectation, Emotion, Right Skill!

 

So, do we have the right skill sets in the right place? If not might we want to make some adjustments?

 

Practice, is the fourth point. I believe it was Vince Lombardy, the foot ball coach that indicated he could hand his play book to the opposing team and still beat them. Why, because his team executed with flawless precision! They practiced!

 

I can only imagine the hundreds of hours of practice these professional performers put in to make this show look so easy!

 

The question becomes, do we ever practice in business? Do we stop and consider how we can perform better and practice it? Do we train ourselves or our people enough in the right areas?

 

In a recent Leadership Strategies program with several business owners, we worked on some communications techniques that were new to them. After several practice runs, they still had only begun to develop the skill, much less master it! They indicated the technique was unbelievably powerful, yet without practice it would go unused.

 

Leaders need to allow their team to practice skills and new ideas. This means they most likely will make mistakes as they learn and master the new skill.

 

Unfortunately many leaders will not tolerate or allow this. Thus the team does not increase its skill or performance.

 

So Leaders need to either develop “coaching” ability to help their people “practice” or find ways to have “coaches” do it for them.

 

To sum it up, having the right expectations, add emotions that move people, be sure the right skills are in place and then practice everyday! Perhaps your performance will also be World Class!

 

Till next week, keep growing!

 

Harlan Goerger, National Director of Training

 

© Harlan Goerger 9-2007