"Your Associate Said What and It Got Picked-up by ESPN, the AP, and the World?" How Training + Development Can Overcome a Disaster!

The number of organizations that bring me in to help them with their communication skills usually have a "challenge" or "obstacle” that they are trying to overcome. I think of it as a deficiency that they are trying to “bulk-up” on! After all, who doesn’t want to equip their team with the best skills possible?

So what do you do when a disaster occurs? Witness the Dallas Police Department’s Officer Robert Powell. On Wednesday, March 18th he was on duty and witnessed a vehicle running a stop light. He did what any police officer would be expected to do… He flipped on the patrol car lights and pulled them over for this minor traffic violation. However, there’s more to this story because of the situation. Watch the video on ESPN here http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4017382.

So how can your Training and Development help when situations like this occur, and perhaps even more important how can you prevent them from occurring in the future? There’s a host of opportunities for you to take, both reactive (it already occurred) as well as proactive (it hasn’t occurred… yet!) Here’s my “Top 7” for you…

1. Assess each team member on desired Communication Skills
a. Presenting…
b. Speaking…
i. Crucial Conversations
ii. Sensitive Conversations
iii. Performance Conversations
c. Listening…
2. Identify the areas of “weakness” from the assessment and develop training
3. Perform Training with video feedback
4. Assess each team member post training to insure desired results are present
5. Coach Leaders/team members on communication
6. Present positive communication “episodes” or examples to the organization to remind them of the importance
7. Re-do annually!

Situations like this happen, granted it’s not every day ESPN or the AP picks them up! Most communication simply goes “under the radar” or unnoticed except for the individuals that are participating. Regardless of reactive or proactive stance, the above roadmap should allow you to set the proper tone for future desired communication.

If you’d like more information about my “Influential Communication” workshops send me a note to info@pathosleadershipgroup.com It may be the difference between showing up on ESPN with the caption “Weekend Warrior Looks To Go Pro!” or “Executive Explains What Went Wrong”…

Sam Palazzolo, MBA, CPLP
Pathos Leadership Group – Home of the Influential Edge!
www.pathosleadershipgroup.com

So What's Your Title? - How the Science of Influence Effects You!

I received an email today...Not that big of a deal right? You probably did too! I read the message, but noticed something unusual that I wanted to bring to your attention. It was the "title" underneath the person's name that stood out...Here it is:

Peer Assistance and Leadership and Link Crew Sponsor Communication Applications, Psychology, Sociology Gallup Strengths: Self-Assurance, Focus, Learner, Relator, Ideation

You are probably asking the same question I asked myself..."What?" I'd ask each of us to look at our signature that gets sent out on each and every email that we send and reflect "What does this say about me?" or more importantly "Do I have a call to action that I want the person receiving my email to perform?"

A few years ago I had the experience of attending a workshop where all we did was develop our signature lines. I never realized the importance of that workshop until today! This one email signature strikes me as both odd and overly-informative simultaneously.

Now I know what some of you are going to say "Why do you care?" The reason I care is that in our Influential Communication workshop we discuss the accuracy of how every-little aspect of our public/private persona is multiplied by 10x when put into a non-verbal format. The reason being that we as human beings tend to "Dr. Phil" each and every email/text message/website that we encounter and analyze them six different ways 'til Sunday! What comes across as perhaps an "insiders Rosetta stone" turns into an outsiders puzzle. We often times are left guessing, and when it comes to "guessing" we generally do not guess correctly!

So what does your email signature line say to everyone, both insiders and outsiders? I'll bet you'll look at making a modification after reading this!

If you'd like more information on our upcoming Influential Communication session, please send me an email at info@pathosleadershipgroup.com... I'll be looking for your signature line!

Sam Palazzolo
President & Chief Influence Officer
Pathos Leadership Group
http://www.pathosleadershipgroup.com/

Look Who Was Listening to Mr. Influence?

Earlier in the week I had a great time presenting to the TRMA (Telecommunications Risk Management Association) at their annual meeting in Alexandria, Virginia. I gave a keynote presentation on "Influential Customer Retention" and the people were really appreciative. I got one of my favorite quotes from an audience participant saying "My only regret is that we didn't have enough time together - - I want more!" I love talking about the Science of Influence, and in particular how using the study can advance your business leadership position. This one was no different. I made a claim during the presentation, that if you put to use the Science of Influence you'll have the opportunity to use it to your advantage on even the most skeptical of clients, your kids!

So what did I do yesterday? You guessed it...I spoke to a group of High School Students here in Dallas, Texas. Our topic was a splinter of Communication, one of the 10 Critical Skills I identified in "The Influential Leader", that being effective listening. The group was awesome and we had a good time. We identified several interesting ways in which they perform "Visual Listening", perfect if you are trying to sell to, or just plain communicate with this Generation Z group! If you'd like more information, please send me an email at sp@pathosleadershipgroup.com.

Next week is the last week to enroll in the "Influential Leader" webinar series which begins October 14th and runs for 10 consecutive weeks. During each week, we'll cover one of the 10 critical skills identified in "The Influential Leader". Each week, there will be a one-hour webinar on Tuesday that will overview the weeks topic (Perfect for the Chief Executive, Company President or Business Owner to see how they want to position the material in their organization.) On Thursday of the week there will be a four-hour workshop (Perfect for the Key Leaders in the organization.) If you want more information on this, please email me at info@pathosleadershipgroup.com.