Stabilize Your Company

A good economy can hide organizational problems.  A good economy will allow many companies to tolerate a lack of teamwork, poor leadership, sloppy management practices, underproductive performers, undisciplined sales people, product defects, poor customer service, ineffective product research and development can be tolerated when revenue comes it. 

You can’t ignore or avoid problems in a bad economy.  Every decision and action, good or bad, is magnified and scrutinized.  The effects can be widespread.  As a result, in a bad economy, there is the temptation to pull back and slow or shut down parts of the business. 

The Real Problem

As when driving a car in snow or ice, the temptation is to swerve by turning away from the skid.  In water skiing, when you sense danger, there is a temptation to pull you arms in.  In snow skiing there is temptation to lean backwards.  In all three instances, you lose control, swerve, and crash and/or fall down.  When skidding on the highway, the counterintuitive thing to do is to turn into the skid.  In skiing, the right thing to do is to lean forward, rather than leaning back.   Leaning in will keep you upright or afloat.  Pulling back or away is a panic reaction and will invite failure.

In tennis, when you encounter a hard-hitting opponent, the natural thing to do is to back up to the baseline; or, if you are at the net, to move back to the service line.  However, what coaches teach is to move up to the net to defend a hard hitter. 

A good economy will allow you to get away with much sloppiness, lack of preparation and discipline, and lack of accountability.  A bad economy will force or highlight errors.  In a bad economy, there is the temptation to swerve and get out of your lane.  Make sure your company stays in its lane and avoids the swerve and skid.  Before you swerve, anticipate and get prepared.  Make sure that your organization understands, plans and acts with the knowledge about what we know about panic and overreacting.         

What to Do?

Do the counterintuitive for your organization and learn to overcome your basic instincts to pull away from danger.

You may not be able to pay your employees more right now and you may not be able to promise year-end bonuses, but you can keep your employees focused and productive and maintain high morale during these uncertain times by developing their skills in a meaningful manner.

The economy will turn around, but bad times will be here for a while (economists are now saying 2010). Be ahead of the curve and invest in the future of your company.  Demonstrate your commitment to your employees and the organization by systematically preparing for the future.

Performance Vertical understands the pressure, the demands, and the stress of weathering the economic storm and the uncertainty that it brings.  We are ready to assist your company to deal with this new landscape.  Our training and consulting services can get your organization ready for the turbulence. 

Training Objective:  Turbulence Inoculation

Our Navigating Turbulence Training based on the Peak Performance System.  This system uses what we know about peak performance and peak performers.  The system provides tools to help your organization focus and perform under pressure.  It is also designed to help business to utilize their talent effectively, survive the economic downturn, and prepare for the future.  The goal is to keep things moving forward and be ready to thrive as soon as possible, regardless of the overall condition of the economy.    Is your organization ready to meet the challenges facing it?

Navigating Turbulence Training Curriculum

In Navigating Turbulence Training, the participants will learn:

Emotional Resilience

1. Dealing with adversity
2. Understanding Emotions:  Stages in Crises
3. Using emotional intelligence
4. Choking vs. Panic
5. Taking business off hold
6. Meeting the challenge

Mobilization Skills

1. Running the business vs. changing the business
2. Identification of roles and competencies
3. Team deployment skills
4. Team dysfunctions
5. Delegation issues

Skills for Energizing Self/Energizing Others

1. Motivation:  Gut Check 
2. Characteristics and Profile of Peak Performers
3. Collective Energy
4. Sense of Urgency

“Fast-Forwarding”:  Anticipating More Change

1. Anticipation
2. Preparation
3. Feedback

Communication

1. Impact Communications
2. Controlled chaos
3. “Rumor” Central vs. Communication Central
4. Credibility

Front Line Presence

1. Awareness
2. Authenticity
3. Authority
4. Accountability
5. Action

Clear Purpose and Mission

1. Visioning
2. Effective Game-Planning
3. Meaning
4. Confidence

Decisiveness

1. Thriving vs. Surviving
2. Decision-Making Model
3. Character
4. Risk Metrics
5. Emotional vs. Substantive Issues
6. Paralysis through Analysis
7. The Known and the Unknown

Taking the Long View

1. Strategy vs. tactics
2. Speed and Agility
3. The effects of Organizational Myopia
4. Sustainability
5. Creativity
6. Innovation

Execution and Delivery

1. Results and metrics
2. How do you measure success?

Each module presented will have activities designed to facilitate learning and skills acquisition.  Each module will consist of:

1. Identification of critical issues in your organization.
2. Solution-based discussion of key issues relevant to your business.
3. Media presentations to highlight issues or skills involved.
4. Action learning to provide participants opportunities to learn and practice new skills.
5. Action planning activities to ensure learning transfer to the workplace and continuity of learning through follow-up and accountability.

The participants will also receive online access to the Peak Performance eCoach.  This coaching and development tool will assist in learning and will provide valuable performance management and personal effectiveness.  The Peak Performance eCoach is designed to and will enhance individual, team and organization performance.  The tool is also designed for executives and managers to help in the motivation and management of their subordinates. 

 Peak Performance eCoach is here.  Have you been trying to light a fire under yourself or your team?  Are you trying to take your performance to the next level?  Are you ready for the challenge of peak performance?  Do you have what it takes?  Unleash your championship talent!  Now you have no more excuses for less that stellar performance.      

As we all know, in business, revenue is king.  The reality is that the recent economic indicators suggest that we are entering a recession.  To make things worse, your organization’s sales figures have been uninspiring, and next years’ projections are not bringing any comfort.  What do you do?   

In a recent survey of nearly 200 companies, Accenture found the root cause of mediocre sales performance in the past few years has not been the economic environment, to which companies have failed to respond successfully, but rather, limitations and shortcomings in the capability of the sales people themselves.  Sales revenue is directly tied to a sales person’s or a sales team’s ability to perform effective and successful sales behaviors.  

Your organization may have an impressive sales philosophy (i.e., vision statement, mission statement), and written sales procedures, processes, and policies that required much work and many hours of brainstorming, discussion and “wordsmithing.”  However, just putting them on the website, placing them in the annual report, attaching them to the sales figures, printing them on business cards, or mounting them on the walls of the office to gather dust does not ensure the right behaviors will be exhibited to drive sales performance, nor does it necessarily foster valuable employee buy-in and commitment. 

The PerformanceVertical Sales Experience by Performance Vertical Consulting (PVC) is designed to help participants better understand the mindset and behaviors behind sales peak performance, gain insight into the values and motives that drive sales, effectively assess the customer, and learn how they can become consistent and valued contributors to the organization’s sales success.

The OBJECTIVES of The PerformanceVertical Sales Experience are to:

• Increase the speed, agility and strength of your sales organization.
• Drive sustainably successful sales behaviors in your organization.
• Foster a culture of peak performance throughout the organization.
• Reinforce the sales philosophy and values of your organization.
• Provide insight and understanding into the behaviors and competencies that drive sales. 
• Provide employees with the self-awareness, mindset, skill, knowledge and motivation to consistently exceed customer expectations by displaying consistent superior customer-oriented, service-focused sales behaviors.
• Engage employees through valuable experiential learning (lecture, role playing, engaging discussion, interactive team activities and action planning) that can be immediately applied in the workplace.
• Help employees and leaders understand their personal accountability for sales performance and enhance their personal commitment.

The mission of the 12-hour PerformanceVertical Sales Experience (for all employees) is to foster and create a successful mindset, increase individual and collective awareness and, ultimately change behaviors.  The objective of the 4-hour Leadership Enhancement Session is to build leadership accountability and draft departmental action plans for improvement.

The PerformanceVertical Sales Experience

Program Overview

The PerformanceVertical Sales Experience (8 hours)

Module 1            The PerformanceVertical Sales Experience (All Employees)

                        Understanding Peak Performance in Sales

• Laying the Groundwork for Peak Performance
• Defining Peak Performance in Sales
• Assessing Your Peak Performance Sales Mindset
  1. Your Personality (Strengths and Limitations)
  2. Personality Characteristics vs. Behavior
  3. Do you have to be a “driver”?
• Understanding Peak Performance (Individual, Team, Organizational)
• Installing Your PerformanceVertical SystemÔ
• Testing Your Sales Performance Knowledge
• Behaviors and Actions in Peak Performance Sales
• Buying is Not Rational, It Is Emotional – Your Buying and Sales Experiences
• What is an Effective Sales Professional?
  1. Personal Effectiveness
  2. Time and Energy Expenditures
• Who are Your Customers?  How, when and why do they buy? 

Module 2            Where Are We Headed – Understanding Sales Philosophy

• The Mission Statement:  Making It Come Alive
• Developing Personal Sales Standards
• Is There Meaning, Engagement and Purpose Behind Your Work?
• Barriers and Challenges to Peak Performance

                        Training Review/Integration/Wrap Up

• Applying What You Have Learned
• Developing Action Steps and Making Commitments
• Closing Remarks / Training Evaluation

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The PerformanceVertical Sales Leadership Workshop (4 hours)

Module 3            Leading and Sustaining a Culture of Peak Performance (for Leaders only)

• Our PerformanceVertical Sales Leadership Philosophy – Recap
• Defining Leadership:  Function vs. Purpose
• Supporting our Peak Performance Sales Standards
• Barriers that Prevent Us form Achieving Peak Performance
• Employee Empowerment and Accountability
• Creating a Personal Peak Performance Development and Implementation Plan
• Facilitating Follow-Up Meetings and Line-Ups
• Creating a Departmental Plan to Support Peak Performance

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The Peak Performance Sales Competencies

A basic component of this training experience is the PerformanceVertical Sales Competencies.  These competencies are a key ingredient in the design of the program and serve as a focus for learning and action.

Practical Problem Solving and Decision Making:  Balanced long and short-term thinking; identifying the critical elements of a situation; defining problems in terms of their root causes; integration and balance in and using quantitative information in sales situations to answer business-related questions. Key facets of this competency:  cognitive complexity, realistic appraisal skills, strategic thinking and tactical execution skills, and pragmatism.

Sales Orientation, High Standards and Drive. Interest in optimizing individual and organizational profitability; self-initiative:  making constructive action with little or no direction from others; tenacity and persevering until the mission and objective is achieved; consistently performing at a high level; focus on exceeding expectations; and focusing on and closing sales.  Key facets of this competency include achievement orientation, initiative, results orientation, resilience and self-confidence.

Interpersonal Presence, Influence and Persuasion:  Interacting comfortably and sensitively with different types of people; communication skills or attending to and demonstrating an understanding of key elements of conversations; sensing others’ reactions and behaving accordingly; responding to customer needs; and using interpersonal and communication styles to persuade and influence key decision-makers.  Key facets of this competency include self-awareness, empathy, interpersonal interactions, listening, persuading, self-presence, service orientation, and successful track record and sales experience.

Creativity, Adaptability and Innovation:  Situational flexibility or capability for modifying behavior and knowing when to depart from traditional methods in favor of alternative courses of action; utilizing resources to accomplish objectives; and generating practical, creative, and unique approaches to ambiguous situations. Key facets of this competency include adaptability, creativity, energy, seeking new experiences, and resourcefulness.

Integrity, Reliability and Follow Through:  Acting professionally, ethically, and with integrity in all business situations; working productively in difficult situations; accepting responsibility for actions and details; and striving to meet individual commitments and obligations. Key facets of this competency include dependability, accountability, persistence, decision-making, and ethics.

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The PerformanceVertical Sales Philosophy

The PerformanceVertical Sales Philosophy is a basic and easy to follow approach and foundation for our training.  The philosophy has three main tenets:

Learning:  A successful sales organization develops the right environment for learning.  The organization provides support and challenge to foster peak performance behaviors.

Knowledge:  A successful sales organization focuses on acquiring the data and information necessary for sales people to exhibit the desired peak performance behaviors. 

Performance:  A successful sales organization clearly specifies, measures, and reinforces the behaviors and actions necessary for peak performance and business results.

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TANGIBLE TRAINING OUTCOMES

Participants Will: 

• Increase their understanding the meaning of Sales Peak Performance and the importance of installing the PerformanceVertical System. 
• Increase their ability to identify the characteristics of an Effective Sales Professional (ESP). 
• Increase in effectively displaying the successful Peak Performance Behaviors and actions that drive sales revenue and sustain peak performance.
• Increase in their understanding and application of the organizational PerformanceVertical Sales Philosophy(including the vision, mission, and sales standards) and making it come alive for each of them.

  ______________________________________________

The PerformanceVertical Training Promise

Our PERFORMANCEVertical SALES EXPERIENCE will:

• Establish a successful peak performance sales culture
• Increase employee engagement, positive morale and self-motivation to drive sales
• Create greater organizational alignment and synergy
• Provide a common peak performance language and create greater communication across organizational divisions and teams
• Elevate the mindset of employees from that of ordinary workers to highly engaged sales professionals
• Clarify everyone’s role in driving the vision, mission, and goals of the organization
• Help employees see how their efforts make a difference and emotionally connect with the purpose and function of their jobs

Our PERFORMANCEVertical SALES LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP will:

• Increase sales productivity and profitability
• Connect leaders with their personal role in driving excellence
• Provide the leadership skill and knowledge necessary to drive and sustain employee engagement
• Help leaders commit to an action plan for improved employee performance and customer loyalty
• Provide leaders with proven and simple techniques to hold themselves and others accountable

The difference between a good team and a great team is the ability to sustain performance over a long period of time and through adversity and pressure.  A great team attains its potential and finds ways to achieve beyond its perceived capabilities.  A great team is at its best under pressure and when top performance is most needed.  Pulling a talented team is not enough to ensure success.  This program will identify the ways in which great managers get great performance out of others through their performance management skills.

Managers will receive feedback about their personality characteristics, individual tendencies and preferences, and management strengths and limitations.  They will also receive specific tips, techniques, and management skills that will immediately assist in their becoming the best manager that they can be.  At the end of this training, they will be able to identify the specific skills that they currently have, will need to use or to improve to achieve success through others.

Curriculum Overview:

Description:  The Performance Accelerator Management Training course is designed to help supervisors and managers more effectively, efficiently creatively and flexibly manage, coach, and develop their team members to the highest levels of performance possible.  The course is designed for a maximum of 24 participants and two facilitators. 

Schedule:  Performance Accelerator Management Training is a designed as a 2-day program, but can be lengthened depending upon specific training objectives and which modules are chosen.  The core modules for the 2-day program are the Leadership Catalyst module and the Igniting Peak Performance module. 

Ignition Modules include:

• Leadership Catalyst:  assessment of leadership skills and development planning
• Igniting Peak Perfomance:  understanding the basics of individual peak performance and motivation through the use of the peak performance system
• Advancing Communication Skills:  uncovering communications problems and developing skills to prevent communication issues
• Harnessing Energy:  awareness of the true barriers to effective use of time and energy with individuals and organizations 
• Peak Performing Teams:  understanding the purposes and dynamics of teams
• Coaching and Managing:  developing coaching skills to manage peak performers or to develop peak performers
• Performance Management:  understanding the use of performance monitoring and metrics to achieve peak performance in individuals and organizations
• Character and Integrity in Leadership:  understanding business ethics and developing a culture of excellence and integrity.   

This program brings together the discipline of sports and business and explores the best practices of world-class athletes, teams and coaches that can take individual, team and organizational performance to the highest level.  We have experience in providing our clients with a high impact experience for executive management teams.  This program is designed to take its participants to a high and sustainable level of performance. 

These highly active and interactive training camps provide the meaningful experiences that facilitate learning, individual and team development, and team cohesion.  It helps participants to identify and understand critical factors in performance and behavioral management, effective intervention strategies, and change management techniques that stimulate performance improvements.

Peak performance requires assistance.  Our coaching and development services apply best practices and are designed to achieve top team performance through the integration of our profiling and assessment process with our coaching and team facilitation process.  Our coaching and team facilitation provides the guidance needed to quickly implement and direct the peak performance team action plan.

Performance coaching integrates the best of the disciplines of sports and business and provides understanding as to how sustainable best practices can take individual, team, and organization performance to the next level and beyond.

Whether developing a high-potential manager, on-boarding a newly hired executive, or bring a newly-formed team together, our performance accelerator will get results.  You and your team will be coached and challenged by the best management development professionals who have significant experience in assisting clients to achieve a high level of performance.

The PerformanceVertical Approach

This approach requires a strong commitment to performance and success, as well as integrity. World-class performance in any endeavor requires fortitude, persistence, discipline and courage.  Our Peak Performance System provides a model for sustained performance. 

PerformanceVertical focuses on:

• Thorough and accurate assessment:  Baselining
  1. The viability of the desired outcome
  2. The potential of the people to achieve the outcome
  3. The tools and resources necessary to achieve the outcome
• Getting the best out of individuals and teams
• Developing a sound understanding of the foundation of motivation, behavior, and change management
• Providing accurate and up-to-date information and feedback about relevant performance indicators and metrics 

Profile Architecture:  Performance Profiling 

For an individual, team, or organization to be successful, a profile must be developed to understand what is being desired or what outcome is to be achieved. We do this through our profiling system.  When an Ideal Performance Profile is developed, PerformanceVertical looks at the both the current and future desired state and specific outcomes that are required by the individual, team or organization.  This profile is developed to best understand what the performance requirements of the client. 

A profile is developed for the individual, team or organizational situation.  An assessment is conducted and then a comprehensive, written Scouting Report is delivered to you describing how the individual, team or organization meets the profile.