The TV character Harvey Specter in the legal drama “Suits” commented to his offsider, “People respond to how we’re dressed.” Whether it be personal appearance, the workplace or a digital profile, humans instinctively make a judgement in a very short timeframe.  As I reflect upon this topic I begin to realise that the power of the senses to perceive, analyse and categorise is phenomenal.   In a corporate capacity, this leads to the question of the impact of the reception area of a workplace on visitors, customers and future employees.

Colour

Countless studies have been undertaken on the psychological impact of colour.  Munsell’s (1912) work stated that colour contained three components, hue, value and chroma. In other words, the overall name of the colour (eg red, green, blue), the brightness and the saturation. When someone walks into your office reception area what are they seeing? What is the overall dominant colour, how light or dark is it and how vivid is the particular colour? Valdez & Mehrabian (1994) assessed a variety of studies and ranked blue as the most preferred colour, with the brighter and more saturated blue eliciting the greatest pleasure.

Thin Slicing

Thin slicing refers to the small (or thin) interactions that we have in which a judgement is made. Ambady et al (2000) claims that thin slicing has the tendency to be immediate, automatic and quite often valid based on our initial judgements. Whilst traditionally thin slicing has referred to the perceptions we make about individuals, the psychology of consumerism has indicated that branding and digital presence are also affected by thin slicing. Our immediate judgement when looking at a website or at a product on a shelf are often immediate and accurate. The same when walking into an office space. The reaction we have when entering a physical environment can be long lasting. Organised, engaging, bright and professional areas affect an individual’s initial reaction in a different manner to dark, crowded and drab areas. Is it always a valid reflection of the company? No, however, research indicates that the physical reception area is a representative of the brand and as such captures the emotions of the visitor, customer or contractor.

Physical Layout

Medical facilities are investing heavily in planning, designing and restructuring welcome and reception areas to accommodate the ever changing needs of the health consumer. Large sterile medical receptions are being altered to facilitate designs that will reduce and lessen anxiety and create a more positive atmosphere. More importantly, studies have indicated that the waiting room environment is perceived as indication of the quality of healthcare provided (Arneill and Devlin 2002). Considering my childhood GP was a highly accredited and skilled medical practitioner who had a waiting room full of old magazines and primitive wooden blocks should I be worried about my vaccinations? Logically no, but from a psychological perspective, definitely.

The same can be said of a corporate reception area. Practical, comfortable and welcoming reception areas are vital. The initial impressions on a visitor are significant and should never be underestimated. A simple method of welcome and an impressive design is vitally important. Research has shown that potential employees make judgements about a company when waiting in reception area, often asking that simple question of, ‘‘do I want to work here based on what I see in the reception? ‘(Park 2005)

What does this all mean to business?

The demands of business are phenomenal. From recruiting staff to generating long term customers, the varying pressures placed on organisations to grow and develop is considerable. The psychology of consumerism tells us that the initial impact of a brand, a colour, a physical layout and a welcoming employee can never be understated. First impressions do count. The overall appearance of a work environment, the utilisation of technology and the layout and design of a reception area have an immediate and long lasting impression. It is worth the effort to get it right and to have a competitive advantage within the marketplace. As Tesla CEO Elon Musk said, “Brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time. Sometimes it will be ahead, other times it will be behind. But brand is simply a collective impression some have about a product.”

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In his bestselling book Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcom Gladwell wrote about the average number of hours an individual needs to become an expert in their chosen field. The 10,000-hour rule of “achievement [equals] talent plus preparation” has entered popular culture as the key to success in a field. Does this apply with sales? Yes. As sales leaders, we spend time coaching, mentoring, and developing our teams to ensure we give them the best possible opportunity for success.

I was never in the military. The closest I came to be was attending the Air Cadets with some friends from high school a few times. It wasn’t the most inspirational experience, as far as I could see it involved static drill and marching in formation for hours on end. Sometime later, one of those friends graduated from the Royal Military College in our nation’s capital. I distinctly remember that cold Canberra morning as the passing out parade occurred. My memory is of a dignified ceremony, a grand spectacle, an excellent brass band and the cadets all resplendent and beautifully drilled.

How many hours of rehearsal did it take to perfect those marches? Numerous.

The lesson for salespeople is simple, to be the best, practice is critical. Each step in a sales process has multiple intricacies and ensuring your team performs to their best level at every step along the way is critical. Like military cadets learning a quick step, we need to assess our processes and examine the skills and capabilities of each individual team member to home in on development opportunities.

In Learning and Development, we use various methods of practice, rehearsal, role-playing, and discussion to effect skills and competency development, and reinforce a sales training program. Educational theory gives us significant insights into the importance of practice to excel in skills, Psychologist Anders Ericsson famously studied violin students at the Music Academy of West Berlin. By the age of 20, the top performers had practiced an average of 10,000 hours; the good violinists an average of 8,000 hours and the least able only 4,000 hours. Gladwell took this research further. And though some have claimed flaws in his methodology, the key premise is the importance of practice. Is 10,000 hours a magical number? No, but it emphasises the fact that for most of us, natural skills and abilities are developed and improved upon through hard work, practice and skilful coaching and mentoring.

Is there a nature vs nurture debate in the world of sales development and enablement? Do some people just have the “it” factor? What does a successful salesperson look like? These are all important and powerful questions. Businesses I have been part of have attempted to analyse and theorise the ideal salesperson. In reality, it is near impossible to visualise and find the so-called “perfect” salesperson. Rather, an investment in an individual’s development to enhance certain skills is a far better strategy.

Let’s review three skills that can be taught, practiced and measured; questioning skills, social selling and product knowledge.

Learning how to ask relevant and salient questions is a skill that can be taught. The ability to learn when to ask an open-ended question or to seek clarification through a closed question is one such example.

Social selling, whilst it may cause fear and trepidation for some, is a skill that a sales professional can learn. Appropriate posting, commenting and engaging is a proven method for prospecting, rapport building and client engagement.

Finally, product knowledge. Learning the features, functionality and competitive benefits of the product or service you sell is of vital importance and builds credibility and confidence when dealing with a client.  An individual salesperson can practice all these skills again and again, and they all can be assessed and measured.

Though a salesperson may never achieve the 10,000 hours of practice on anyone of these, they can develop a degree of proficiency, expertise and fluency in that skill.

As sales leaders, how do we enforce practice and make it part of an ongoing professional development program?

Here are three practical scenarios you can implement immediately:

1. Understand the term, deliberate practice.

That is, when a sales professional is guided by an expert, skilled coach, or mentor, “someone with an expert eye,” as bestselling author Daniel Goleman would be inclined to say. Poor practice results in poor results. When coaching an individual in a prospecting scenario, for example, begin by asking three questions – Who are you calling? Why are you calling them? How are you going to open the conversation? Then ask the rep to practice their opening line, if it is not to an acceptable standard, have them practice again. By the time they make the call they are informed, confident and prepared. Is that a significant investment in time a for a leader? Yes. But once the mindset changes to follow this method the rep will instinctively follow these steps prior to picking up the phone.

2. Role Playing after micro-learning session.

Learn a new skill, competency or method and then rehearse. Enable your team to implement a skill immediately after it has been championed. Run the training, have the salesperson reflect on it and then immediately put it into practice. The power of practicing immediately after a new skill is learned is critical in slowing the forgetfulness curve. It also helps in the accumulation of a skillset. Proficiency is achieved in one area and then another is piled on until a full customer engagement scenario is explained, practiced and internalised.

3. Build a cohesive “we-are-all-sales” organisation.

Use real customers, other leaders within the business or members from non-sales teams to accentuate reality and to ensure that salespeople can communicate and practice with a wide variety of personality types and business roles. There is an additional benefit for other leaders within a business (think finance, ops and marketing), as this method provides greater insight into the daily experience of a salesperson’s life and builds a more cohesive “we-are-all-sales” organisation.

The motivational sales guru Grant Cardone, frequently espouses the mantra to Practice, Drill, and Rehearse. Practice cannot be simply repetition or rehearsing with obvious errors. It needs to be deliberate, guided by a coach or mentor, corrected where necessary. As we know from education if a fundamental step has not been grasped, go back to the basics and build up to that higher level of proficiency. If a member of the military learned a quick step march incorrectly, then on that Canberra morning there would have been an obvious flaw that would have stood out to the assembled crowd. We don’t want our sales people to be robotic, but we do want to give them the best possible chance to succeed in a competitive environment and to provide clients with the best possible engagement experience.

“It’s not necessarily the amount of time you spend at practice that counts; it’s what you put into the practice.” … Eric Lindros (professional ice hockey player)

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Through the power of algorithms (and yes, I am fully conscious of what plays behind these) my digital world is personalised and targeted. In the era of what some call meism and meology this sits quite comfortably.

So, what has this got to do with sales? Everything. B2B and B2C customers are continually bombarded with an avalanche of messages. The demand for personalisation is greater than ever in the world of sales; to enable cut through with a message, it needs to stand out. Credibility statements, value propositions and elevator pitches are all great and essential, but the initial piece of contact and the information shared needs to be targeted and relevant to the person with whom you are trying to engage. The medium of the message is irrelevant; phone, email or social, the importance is the content and the initial grab.

As humans develop, egocentricity changes and alters, as a baby we are completely egocentric and this is perfectly acceptable. As we move through early childhood we become more aware of others, our community and the needs of those around us. If we are left in a state of egocentricity, we develop narcissistic tendencies. That said, throughout our lives we always crave attention and as customers we seek a better experience directed specifically at our needs and requirements. From a business point of view, we are dealing with conflicting strategies; financial, personal, political and social. A salesperson who understands and can rank these priorities will be in a far better position to connect and engage with their client.

As sales professionals we need to be acutely aware of how to personalise a message. Netflix, Uber and Google all achieve this, by adopting various levels of what is known as the Cocktail Effect of Psychology. In other words, the ability for the brain to filter out noise to focus on the things that matter and are relevant to us. If I am in finance, make your message relevant to finance, if I work in agricultural production, craft your message to my sector, if my business is expanding then share content that correlates with my requirements.  For the mathematically or visually minded use this formula to anchor this principle: Interest = Benefits x Curiosity.

Finally, the statement that busy people are always busy rings true. As an objection, the phrase “I’m too busy at the moment” is heard all too often by salespeople. Recent research has shown that people dread idleness and that busy people are happier than those who are idle. It is known as the concept of Idleness Aversion. Uber and Netflix understand this, they make screens busy and engaging. And as salespeople trying to craft a message, we must do the same. Our emails and social messages must not only be directed towards the individual, but they also must engage. A link to a white paper, a graphic, a request for further information; the art is to make the time they spend participating in your message valuable and rewarding. And this will happen if it is customised.

To try and make this accessible for all, here are some thoughts on methods to ensure you have the content and knowledge to be relevant and personable in your messaging.

5 Tips to Customise Your Messages

1. Insights from LinkedIn Groups

I am continually surprised that sales executives who focus on verticals or specific markets do not interact on LinkedIn groups. They are a powerful way for one to become informed and knowledgeable about specific sectors within the economy. The big tip is DO NOT SELL YOUR PRODUCTS on LinkedIn Groups. Use it to contribute, discuss and share your insights. I know a salesperson who slowly built up an incredible brand in a niche LinkedIn group, by providing genuine comments and interaction he was the ‘go to’ person for advice and recommendations on software

2. Philanthropic Links

Many businesses support various philanthropic endeavours as part of their broader social responsibility. This is a means to develop rapport and be able to customise information. If there is a real link between the charity they support and you, your network or your business, then this is a way to personalise messaging. 

3. Know Your Prospects Customers and Competitors

In a market economy we need to know our prospects well – as you begin to interact with a business ask yourself:  Who are their customers/clients? Who are their competitors? And if you don’t know, research. You then look for commonalities as this builds credibility and demonstrates the experience that will instil greater confidence in both you and your product/service.

4. Industry Trends and Compliance

Change is a constant in all industries. Regulators and authorises move and alter compliance and reporting standards. The ability to be informed and aware of these will make you stand out from, other sales professionals. Government departments, standards associations and industry bodies are powerful means by which to stay updated.

5. Knowledge of Thought Leaders

Within most industries there are commentators who are recognised as thought leaders. Some provide best practices whilst others push the boundaries and try and advocate change. Trade journals, conference keynotes and academic papers are often ways to become aware of who these people are and then to follow them on a social platform.

Salespeople who can personalise a message using these psychological tools will not only surprise their clients but also provide value. Time is a finite resource. An investment in preparing a customised message is worthwhile. Quantity vs quality is a perennial argument in sales but as our global cocktail party grows, we want to gain attention and block out the noise of others. Research into your prospects shows that you are committed to be a consultative professional and demonstrates your understanding of how your product or service will benefit them.

Technology provides a myriad of tools that allow you to aggregate information and then find relevant content to share. In a way you need to become a Netflix. Know your customers, know what drives and motivates them and truly know what information they engage with best. The difference is you provide human engagement rather than an AI driven algorithms. Stay personal, stay connected, stay well and enjoy the Cocktail Party of life.

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I then asked how he was travelling, and his response took me aback as he looked downward and mumbled, I’m not working now, my wife and I have separated, and my son has taken out an AVO against me. Wow. We went into a coffee shop and spoke for more than an hour. For many years he had been extremely successful in his sales career and from afar things looked wonderful, but after our conversation what I thought looked like a perfectly happy story was very different. From the outside I saw a beautiful family, successful career, grand home and slick car, however these possessions were masking a life of pressure, sadness, and despondency. After our conversation I said we must keep in more regular contact. And we tried. But we all know that life gets busy.

Happiness is perceived differently by different people. This article will reflect on the concept of authentic happiness, from the lens of salespeople and mental health. As sales leaders, we have a commitment to ensure our salespeople achieve in an environment that is nurturing, challenging and rewarding. To assist with this, I will be providing practical tips to assist.

Let’s begin with a definition from the World Health Organisation:

“Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.”

Mental health and wellness are critical issues for Australian society. Anxiety and depression rates continue to creep upwards. In 2018, 4.8 million Australians had a mental or behavioural condition, an increase from around 4.0 million Australians in 2015. 

According to PWC untreated mental health conditions cost Australian workplaces approximately $10.9 billion per year. This comprises $4.7 billion in absenteeism, $6.1 billion in presenteeism and $146 million in compensation claims. 

For a moment let’s review presenteeism, in short, presenteeism is “being present at work while sick”. The rise of mental health issues in the workplace has also fuelled the rise of presenteeism. It is true that mental health issues are, often, long term rather than short term. Once limited leave entitlements are fully utilised, an employee with long term mental health issues is really forced to attend the workplace or risk not being paid.

Greater than any economic cost is the tragic personal cost of death. The Australian Bureau of Statistics found that suicide rates in Australia increased by more than 9 per cent during the last reporting period. Suicide is an incredibly complex phenomenon. The circumstances that lead someone to think about suicide are never alike for two people. For instance, people who die due to self-harm are thought to have a significantly higher rate of mental illness — yet not everyone who takes their own life meets the definition of having a mental disorder. More than 3000 Australians end their lives each year — about 8 people a day.

Studies from the 1970s through to today have indicated that salespeople suffer mental health related issues above the norm. Very few professions suffer a greater prevalence, in fact the US National Survey on Drug Use and Health ranks the sales occupation in the top 10. So why, let’s turn to literature and the arts for more insights. 

The Wolf of Wall Street, Glengarry Glen Ross even the sitcom Modern Family all provide stereotypes of salespeople. However, for me the most poignant portrayal has been Willy Loman, the lead character in Arthur Miller’s classic play Death of a Salesman. 

As he enters his 60s, he has heavy debts, failing health, and strained relationships with his sons. He hasn’t accomplished very much in his life. When he loses his job, he’s forced to admit that he’s a failure, and he kills himself in a car accident.

When Death of a Salesman debuted on Broadway in 1949, audiences and critics praised it for depicting America’s Everyman, who chases the goal of great wealth but finds himself destroyed by that pursuit. Death of a Salesman received a very different response during its revival 50 years later. According to an article in The New York Times titled “Get That Man Some Prozac,” the director of the revived version sent the script to two psychiatrists, who diagnosed Loman as having a depressive disorder.

A quick scan of Academic Research – both peer and non-peer reviewed, presents interesting insights into mental health and salespeople. in the 1980s researchers looked at alcohol abuse in salespeople:  results of the research concluded that the cause of disproportionate alcoholism in salespeople was due to constant rejection, freedom to set work hours, work addiction and required on the job drinking.

Research conducted by the Canadian Health Alliance concluded that the top 3 reasons for mental health issues in salespeople were:

• Micro-Management by Leadership
• Missing Target
• Working with Demotivated Salespeople

Interestingly, the bottom response of the 15 items in the survey was: 

• Rejection or Client telling me “no” 

Sales is high pressure – business demands, industry changes and compliance all impact on the ability to achieve targets. In this respect the tools of Positive Psychology assist in enhancing mental wellness and resilience.
 
Martin Seligman, the founder of positive psychology, developed five core elements of psychological well-being and happiness. Seligman believes that these five elements can help people work towards a life of fulfilment, happiness, and meaning, for those not familiar with the PERMA Model it is based on:

1. Positive Emotion
2. Engagement
3. Relationships
4. Meaning
5. Accomplishment

Positive Emotions help us in a myriad of ways, including being better able to tackle negative emotions or experiences when they arise. For positive emotions to be able to support us, we first need to ensure that our basic needs are met.

Basic need includes adequate food, water, shelter, and sleep. When these needs are met, we can then open ourselves up to exploring what can further fuel our positive emotions, such as intellectual and creative pursuits, relationships, and fulfilling work.

However, positive emotion is more than just ‘happiness’. There are a range of positive emotions, including amusement, hope, interest, joy, love, compassion, gratitude, and pride. Part of our capacity for experiencing positive emotions is genetic, but all of us can purposefully experience more positive emotion.

Rhonda Cornum US Army Officer, Gulf War POW and surgeon claims

“A measure of PERMA plus the trinity of physical health – physical, activity, nutrition and sleep – plus optimism builds resilience in people. PERMA plus optimism supports the “bounce back” from adversity that everybody needs to cope with normal life, let alone highly challenging events.” 

Activity:

1. Select a time in your future (e.g., 6 months, 1 year, 5 years from now) and imagine that at that time you are expressing your best possible self strongly.

2. Imagine it in detail where you have worked hard and succeeded at accomplishing your life goals and deepened your relationships. You might think of this as reaching your full potential, hitting an important milestone, or realizing one of your life dreams. The point is not to think of unrealistic fantasies, rather, things that are positive and attainable within reason.

3. After you have a clear image, write down three of the key details. Writing your best possible self-down helps to create a logical structure for the future and can help you move from the realm of foggy ideas and fragmented thoughts to concrete, real possibilities.

Critical to a healthy and authentically happy sales career is developing resilience. If you stop and think about sales it is an unrelenting expectation to perform at a high level all the time. It is our responsibility as sales leaders to start the discussion about mental health – an honest conversation with our sales team about what challenges we’ve had and sharing ways we’ve learned to overcome them throughout our career.

Even though the discussion around mental health has become less taboo in society, a salesperson will often still feel embarrassed talking about their mental health struggles in the workplace. As sales leaders we need to start the conversation and create a culture where it’s comfortable to openly talk about mental health. This is a valuable coaching opportunity and involves more asking than telling and more listening than talking. My former colleague, Christopher McColm, once wrote:

The support network I have here is beyond anything I would expect from any company. Not only am I surrounded by people who understand, they also actively support and console me through good times and the bad.

Not everyone thrives as a salesperson. Not everyone can thrive. And not everyone thrives all the time. We must first stop regarding salespeople as unfailingly resilient. That’s a harmful myth. We must acknowledge that significant emotional strains and hazards that accompany selling and understand that they carry deleterious mental health risks for high producers and low producers alike. No one is immune. We should care enough to learn and recognise the warning signs.

Activity:

a. Authentically Happy Journaling Every night for a week, before you go to bed, write down three things that went well during your day. They can be relatively simple (“I had a great sandwich for lunch”) or more substantial (“I ran my first marathon”). Next to each one, write why that good thing happened (“I turned off the TV and went for a walk”). The act of recording the good things in life is a concrete way to make positive thinking a regular part of your schedule and to recognize your own role in making good things happen.

b. Using apps like Headspace to improve mindfulness.

c. Walking – my happy and healthy place, it improves self-perception and self-esteem, mood and sleep quality, and it reduces stress, anxiety and fatigue. Physically active people have up to a 30% reduced risk of becoming depressed and staying active helps those who are depressed recover.

Let me finish where I started. I recently caught up with my old friend for dinner. He and his wife have been to counselling and are back together, it is early days, but the signs are positive. He has a new role, is loving it and has a boss who is very understanding and supportive. In fact, he is working 4 days a week to maintain focus and balance. And finally, his son, this is a longer journey, but they are talking. They are seeing a counsellor together and what was looking like a very destructive relationship is showing signs of hope.

I asked my mate if he was happy, his answer was that happiness for him has been completely redefined. He is appreciating the moments, living in the now and taking care of himself physically and mentally. As for everything else, he has accepted what Alain de Botton refers to as Status Anxiety and instead of stressing about the more, he is content with what he has today.

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New Year, New Sight

As I pen these thoughts, I’m sitting on a beach, listening to the cricket, watching the waves crash in front of me, and feeling very grateful for all I have celebrated and experienced throughout the past year. So, what is around the corner, economically, politically, socially and environmentally? I’m not sure. Many of these things are out of my control, how will Brexit impact global trade? When my US sisters and brothers vote in November, who will they elect? And what will the Olympic Games do for the Japanese economy? The question of what is going to happen in 2020 matched with the pun about 20/20 vision is quite alluring but from a sales lens I want to slightly alter this perspective.

What is 20/20 Vision?

Many others have written about having 20/20 vision for 2020 and that is great and timely, but I want to think about this from a slightly different perspective. If I asked my ophthalmologist friend what is actually meant by the term 20/20 vision they would give me an explanation that went along the following lines. 20/20 vision is the standard measure of “normal” visual acuteness, it is the ability to recognise characters of a size on a chart (as in the graphic above) at a distance of 20ft (or 6m). In other words, a person with 20/20 vision can see what an average individual can see on an eye chart when they are standing 20 feet away. However, this is purely a measure of sharpness or clarity. There are many other factors that impact upon ‘perfect vision”, these would include peripheral awareness, depth perception, focusing ability and colour vision.

Changing your vision in 2020

Sales leaders perform exceptionally well in motivating a team, providing insightful tactics and backing this all up with rich data. There is the sharpness of 20/20 vision. My challenge for salespeople is to enhance your ability through three simple suggestions, to improve results and create more insightful business relationships.

1. Peripheral Awareness

When we are deep in the mechanics and negotiations of the sales process, often we can have such focussed vison we cannot see how things are changing on the sideline of the field on which we are playing. Ask yourself the following, how deep are your relationships beyond the key buyer? Do you have an executive sponsor, an internal coach, backing from finance, operations, technology and a power user? Many of us in sales have been left powerless in negotiations when our key contact leaves a business or is moved off a project. Ensure you have a multitiered relationship within any business. You need to be aware of what is going on around you at all times.

2. Depth Perception

A few years ago, I had an acquaintance who was been negotiating with Australia’s largest taxi company for a significant telephony contract. He had signed a Heads of Agreement and was beginning to roll out the initial test site. One morning he received a call from the CIO telling him the project was on hold, when the crushed salesperson asked why, the CIO replied, “Have you heard of this thing called Uber?”. Be very conscious and aware of deeply understanding the business you are dealing with, the happenings in their (ie the customer’s) industry and any external factors (regulatory, compliance and economic) that could possible impact upon your sale. Salespeople need to be informed broadly on geopolitical and business matters. That is the depth that is required.

3. Colour Vision

Occasionally we get caught in our own little world, media organisations discussing politics like to refer to it as the Canberra or Washington bubble. The same thing can happen in the world of sales. We talk to our sales manager, our sales director and our fellow salespeople about a prospect or a deal. However, in every business there is a myriad of other professionals who can provide insight and commentary to assist. Think of utilising marketing teams, customer service, solutions consultants, HR and finance teams. Every person in your organisation has a differing background, a differing network and a differing perspective. Engage broadly, move out of the bubble, learn from the collective wisdom of your organisation.  Don’t be colour blind but benefit from the rainbow of experience shining over the business you work in each day.

Focusing Ability

By adding peripheral view, depth awareness and colour vision to your sales skills – the benefits are significant. We always need to have the skill of being able to read the sales chart from 20 feet away but there is so much more. Keep learning, engage deeply with your prospects, stay abreast of what is happening in the broader business world and connect via LinkedIn with your non-sales peers. Stay focused on the metrics but realise that the professional salesperson needs so much more in a customer-centric, technology driven world.

Further Learning

https://www.b2bnn.com/2019/10/an-experienced-b2b-leader-eyes-2020-predictions-for-2020-sales/

http://www.ram-charan.com/books/what-the-customer-wants-you-to-know/

https://www.coursera.org/specializations/managerial-economics-business-analysis

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1oDmcs0xTD-dJN1PL2N1urX0EKupBJCQ

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In an ever changing and dynamic workplace the need for ongoing capability building is an essential requirement. As a Learning and Development professional I have a vested interest in both encouraging and facilitating ongoing capability development. Technology, access to education, peer support, and a plethora of tools and websites enables today’s learner to be able to build and develop their skills in a format that  suits an individual’s preferred learning style. There are four broad areas of capability building opportunities highlighted for consideration; formal education, informal learning, peer support and books.

1.Formal Education

Universities today offer a broader range of courses and modes of learning than ever before.  Diving into an MBA as a way of improving a skill set is not necessarily the best option. For many individuals in the midst of their careers looking for capability improvement (and potential career advancement) an MBA can become a significant and onerous task. The financial cost, study stress and pressure on work-life balance may not necessarily deliver the desired outcome. I am a fan of tertiary and formal study. However, there is merit in “dipping the toe in the water” prior to commencing a formal study program. A single subject of study taken either face to face or online will create an opportunity to see how assessments and exams, coursework and reading, balance with all of the other demands in life. Talk to an academic advisor at a tertiary institution, they are very helpful.

 2.Informal Learning

Where were we before TED? The ability to hear and watch some great contemporary minds expound a wide variety of technical, social and business issues is a rich and inspirational method of learning. The availability of the extensive resources of the Khan Academy, Podcasts, MOOCS etc enable individuals to improve their capability at a convenient time and in a convenient media. With the guidance of learning professionals to aggregate the information available, social and online media are a powerful opportunity to improve one’s capability.

3. Peer Support

Organisations provide both formal and informal opportunities to improve skills and knowledge through the sharing and imparting of knowledge with colleagues, mentors and other contacts. As we know, learning can take place in many ways but the power of anecdotes and experience is an important way for capability to increase and develop. LinkedIn also provides a way by connecting with industry and skill experts who are often happy to share ideas and experience, sometimes as simply as a fifteen minute chat over a cup of coffee.

4. Books

There are many great books that assist in improving capability. Carnegie, Covey and Robbins are but a few of the authors whose writings have inspired entrepreneurs, business leaders and students. The New York Times and Amazon lists of top selling business books are a great place to start. As is asking around with colleagues and friends. The simple question “what book have you read that really inspired you?” may conjure up a list that will range from autobiographies to children’s novels through to the great works of global literature.

Irrespective of the method of improving ability, the challenge is to actually set aside some time to enable this to happen. Reading, listening and discussing are all methods to improve one’s skills set, knowledge and professional attributes. Learning is changing at an unprecedented pace, we are writing our own curriculum and drawing upon all the resources available to enable this to happen. Enjoy the learning and capability improvement journey and please share your own experiences so that others may build upon your foundations.

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