July 2018
This skill development method guarantees results!
I often write of John Wooden because….uh, do I have to actually explain? John Wooden was a legend who won tons of national basketball championships while coaching UCLA. He achieved amazing results, but it was his approach that engaged and fascinated me: he “managed performance, not results”, which is one of my favorite business aphorisms.
I fell in love with Wooden’s philosophies (and winning) at a very early age, and as a result, applied only to UCLA as a high school senior. By the time I got to Westwood, the hoops program was a far cry from the Wooden years, but I swear I heard his whispers all around me. I still do. His teachings work as well today as they did when he was winning hoops titles, and I’m not ashamed to admit I’m a Wooden “copy-cat”. To Wooden, practice time was like being in the classroom, and as a former teacher himself, he took it very seriously. He cherished the idea of focusing on modifying and improving behaviors and habits as the pathway to success. His most famous saying proves how he felt about process and winning: "Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming." Also, Wooden popularized a Ben Franklin line, “failing to prepare is preparing to fail” – it’s a classic saying and refers to the importance of preparation and practice, but what exactly does “good practice” look like for B2B selling orgs? For Wooden, it meant stopping his basketball practice when a player made a mistake, showing him what he did wrong, then modeling the behavior (move) Wooden was looking for. THEN he ran the drill again. Can that method work for your sales team? Yes, but table stakes here means you're actually running regular role-playing exercises for your team. If you’re not regularly leading your team through formal “practice sessions” for upcoming meetings and business situations, stop reading! (And, the best of luck to you developing your talent.) Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming." - John Wooden I have run training and skill development sessions – REGULARLY – for a long, long time and conclude Wooden’s methods, plus some a few of my minor additions, are a guaranteed approach that will teach your sellers how to do it right. Here’s what you need to consider if you want to run practices that get the results you need:
Number four above is a very sophisticated technique necessary for successful role-playing and learning. I’m going to end this post now for two reasons: …first, number four is a hard concept to teach through this forum; and second, it’s a big part of what I teach in my practice and why I get paid the “big bucks”! ;-) I can help individual sales managers learn and apply this crucial, and successful approach to developing talent…so email me at michael@core6advisors.com and we can set some time to talk about how to make your practices better! Go Bruins! |
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