Personal Note From Anne:

Can a garden produce top fruit if it is never weeded?
There is an eerie phenomenon going on in our society. It is starting at a tender age and creeping into the business world as well. If left alone, it will eventually lead us to mediocrity.

It is the idea that people can learn accountability without ever having correction. That would be like saying you could work two years at your job and not be given feedback on what you are doing wrong but we want you to assume accountability for doing it right.

In schools today they are wanting to preserve a child's self-esteem so many schools are not correcting spelling. They believe that spelling will be corrected by the computer so there is no need to "deduct" points or to correct spelling. What happen to red pens? Do you remember getting your story back with the red corrections on it? Do you remember having to rewrite it with the correct spelling? I do. It didn't demoralize. I KNEW it was expected. I KNEW it happened to EVERYONE. And the funny thing is, I learned to spell!

You can't grow a top level garden without pulling weeds. To simply ignore the weeds, or work around them undermines the fruit the garden is trying to grow. The weeds actually suck up some of the good nutrition from the soil and DETRACT from the actual outcome you desire.

I don't believe you can have accountability without correcting. The correcting is what TEACHES us the accountability. For if we never know what is the highest standard how can we ever reach it?

The 4 minute mile wasn't ever broken because every one believed it wasn't possible to achieve it. Then one man, one time, broke that record and the next year tons of people ran the mile under 4 minutes. Nothing changed except people's BELIEFS. People learned that it wasn't correct to assume you couldn't run the mile in under 4 minutes.

So why do we limit by trying to teach accountability without correcting? We need to strengthen self-esteem not by pampering it but by making it okay to make mistakes, to learn, to grow, to stretch. Accountability isn't learned in a vacuum and yes at times it hurts. It does mean at times you do your best but you still mess up. That's okay. All you need to do is stand up, dust off, and move on.

TAKE ACTION: When you are about to let something slide, realize the message you are giving the person is that you believe that is the best they are capable of. It means if you don't correct it now, don't expect them to be accountable for it later on. If you want accountability you need to expect it is your job to help correct and fine tune so that success can be achieved. Now, of course, the flip side of this means you must always be coachable yourself.

- Anne

What is the best way to open a presentation to quickly gain rapport with an audience?

Use as a training tool: Present the situation below to the group and have them brainstorm how they would best handle the situation. Then share the Outcome Focus® answer and see how it relates or differs from solutions the group found.

Situation:

Dear Anne,
I am presenting a new company concept at our annual conference coming up soon and I'm not sure where to start! I want to make sure I open with something that will capture and hold their attention.

Outcome Desired:

Most speakers begin their presentation by saying one of the following: "Good afternoon, my name is...," or "Thank you, I'm glad to be here today." Your credibility is established for the audience not through your credentials, acronyms, or high intellectual conversation, but rather through the audience's perception of the value you offer them.

Other Person's Perspective:

As a person in the audience, you simply stare, waiting for the presentation to begin. The above opening does nothing to engage you, entice you, or draw you into the presentation.

This means that you need to make the audience immediately feel that you understand who they are, the challenges and pressures they face, and that you will be open and honest in the time you have with them.

How to Handle:

You can either share a common situation that you have seen them face, something that you understand about them, a fun story that relates to the topic you are going to share, or by telling the audience how they will benefit from your presentation.

As soon as the audience knows that you understand them and their situation, your credibility will skyrocket.

Anne's Outcome Insights:

Quotable Quotes “You must do the things that you think you cannot do.” - Eleanor Roosevelt See Anne’s latest video "Presentation Skills for Business Professionals" http://bzdo.tv/watch/?channel=I23102AD53   How To Get Your Messages To Cascade Down For the last fifteen years, Anne Warfield has trained executives from around the world on "HOW TO" communicate, negotiate, and present so they are compelling, concise, and engaging. This process has generated questions from our clients that have resulted in some of the most insightful, inspiring, and invigorating parts of the Outcome Focus® Approach. What you hold in your hands is a compilation of those questions on how to understand and interact with your team in order to become MORE productive. Order Here: https://www.impressionmanagement.com/e-books

Outcome Focus® Guest Column Lighting your way with new perspectives!

Shoring Up Sales By Malika Zouhali-Worrall TA Wisconsin travel firm boosts its profits by offering top clients some tender loving care. When FSB last met with Julie and Barry Karp, their Glendale Wis., travel business, ShoreTrips, was seeking to boost market share in the cruise ship tour business. Revenue increased 56%, to $7.5 million, in 2007, but the Karps were convinced they needed to find more profitable new customers. Wrong attitude, one expert told them, encouraging them instead to devote more time to developing relationships with their best existing clients. Julie, 58, and Barry, 61, followed that advice to the letter and are pleased with the results. "We sent out gift certificates on Valentine's Day to the agents we felt were most important to us, and we now take time to chat on the phone with clients," says Julie, who notes that the company will also occasionally absorb costs, even those resulting from an outside travel agent's mistake, on order to maintain good will. That's gained them more business and even some referrals to new customers. "We've tried to build friendships, and that's paid off," Julie says. Before the Makeover, the Karps were having difficulty finding good employees, their record-keeping software bungled calculations, and their website crashed occasionally. Following another expert's advice, they have tried hard to sell their firm to job applicants. They now mention travel opportunities-a perk-in job posting, and have sweetened their starting salaries. As a result, the Karps recently snagged three great new employees. At the suggestion of FSB's tech expert, the Karps are about to launch a website that is more user-friendly, and they have hired a full-time IT technician to maintain it and the database. It's been a drastic improvement. "We have no downtime now," says Barry. With more travel agents on its client list this year, ShoreTrips expects about $10 million in 2008 revenue and an extra $100,000 in profit. The couple are also eyeing new horizons in Europe and hope to start marketing to travel agents there within the next year. All in all, the Karps are going places. Copyright 2009, Malika Zouhali-Worrall, All Rights Reserved About the Author Malika Zouhali-Worrall As a reporter for FSB: Fortune Small Business, Malika Zouhali-Worrall has covered a variety of topics including commodity prices, the toy industry and smart entrepreneurs for both the magazine and the website. Before coming to FSB, Zouhali-Worrall worked at The Financial Times in New York. She studied international affairs and international development as a graduate student at the Paris Institute of Political Studies in France, and has a B.A. in English literature from Cambridge University in the UK. Throughout her undergraduate degree she worked for the non-governmental organization Kenya Education Partnerships, making regular trips to rural Kenya to manage an educational development project. Zouhali-Worrall is a native of Great Britain.