 |
The "Remain standing if you..." game and
introduction to
Impact International fun facilitation
on VUCA
at the Topic Taster zone on
Thursday 26th April 2012 at HRD 2012 |
Last week I dropped into an intriguing session-taster entitled 'Leadership in a VUCA world' by Impact International at the HRD 2012 It got me thinking.
V.U.C.A. = volitality, uncertainty,complaexity and ambiguity
The short session started with
a group icebreaker. The leader got us to play a simple game based on a scheme
entertainer Graham Norton uses with his audiences from time to time.
First our facilitator asked everyone to stand up.
Then he asked a series of questions starting with“
Remain standing if you …”. I met a couple of very nice HR professionals at the session one from BA and the other from the Public sector. We formed a trio to discuss how VUCA related to our various businesses.
Our discussions got me to thinking how much B2B Selling takes place in a
VUCA world . Here is the exercise adapted. Imagine you are in the HRD conference in the Topic taster Zone,
“Remain standing if you are finding yourself selling in markets that seem to be
changing constantly and speedily”
“Remain standing if you are selling where there is a lack of
predictability in issues and events are peppered
with surprises,.”
“Remain standing
if your sales organisation is being
increasingly assaulted by a multiplicity
of forces and issues resulting in chaos and confusion that surrounds
the organisation.”
“Remain standing if the market you sell in a market where regulations, sector initiatives render unintended consequences.”
I suspect that is
quite likely that in your mind you would
be still be standing with me through several of the above. Perhaps
Sales has always been undertaken in a VUCA condition.
The contradictory pressures of both growth and control have
long created a paradox and require a delicate balancing act by sales leaders .
This paradox
is heightened even further by increasing pressures for growth, both in external VUCA conditions, and the internal processes behaviours and
capabilities that have their roots in a previous age of stability and
competition based on efficiency of 15 years ago.
The principles of VUCA tend to shape your own selling and
your sales organisation's capacity to:
1. Anticipate the
Issues that shape Buying and Selling Conditions
2. Understand the
Consequences of Issues and Actions to both your
Client journey and the matching sales cycle.
3. Appreciate the
Interdependence of Variables e.g. negotiating variables Time , Resource , Money
etc.
4. Prepare for
Alternative Realities and Challenges .e.g. contingencies and 'Plan B'
5. Interpret and
Address Relevant Opportunities – necessity is the mother of invention
For most sales organisations – VUCA can act as practical process for
awareness and readiness to improve your sales process.
Beyond the simple acronym is a body of knowledge that deals
with learning models for VUCA preparedness, anticipation, evolution and
intervention.
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VUCA Volatility ,Uncertainty,
Complexity and Ambiguity |
There are also
implications for those in full time sales training whether sales coaches or sales
managers in this VUCA world.
Rote memorisation of sales processes, skills routines and
remembering facts and figures are becoming less important. Salespeople can and do research
on their own.
"Just in time learning" via mobiles and tablets etc. is on the increase.
The question arises: If we sell in a V.U.C.A. world, what do
we do with regarding to sales training ?
“Martini moments of
learning” – any time – any place , anywhere
For Sales
trainers this means we will increasingly need to make our content much more
discoverable and able to be searched.
When designing training interactions they will need to be are more
self standing modules, so that delegates can access any piece/ session at any time and in
any sequence.
However the convenience of mobile learning may still require considerable support to the learner in terms of providing quality material suitably discerned and analysed.
The emphasis of trainers and sales managers in this VUCA environment should be in three areas of change: accepting, experimenting and embracing.
From some of the data in the new CIPD Talent Managment and learning Study 2012 there appears in some quarters a resistance to the paradigm shift in training and technology.
Many are still persevering with in house conventional tutor led interactions. Trainers should accept that the change is indeed inevitable, experiment with new and undiscovered methods for training and learning, and embrace the changes in technology and use them to the delegates’ advantage.
They will have to in any case because the delegates are driving it.
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Slide from the Impact International
Facilitation on VUCA session at HRD 2012 |
VUCA – Threat or
Opportunity?
If you believe that efficiency is the only basis for
performance and improvement ,that belief will require increasing control and predictability of your
sales environment .It is easy to see only the business world as one of just
risk. Life is a series of windfalls and body blows.
Yet the history of sales growth, indeed the innovative
persistence in selling, has been built on a combination /balance of two essential
conditions.
First, a proactive capacity
to make new connections with clients, finding new niches, exploring new ways
through the various obstacles of the sales process. Nurturing and developing new ideas is part of
a salesperson’s make-up.
Second, a volatile market that enables and rewards this
capacity to prospect and make new opportunities , will force and accelerate the
need for new combinations.
A VUCA world provides the second half of this equation,
bestowing on all Salespeople, markets (
and their buyers) crying-out for new insights, connections, and ideas – whether
we like it or not!
Tipping the effects of this from threat to opportunity
requires us to address the first half of the balanced equation. A capability to
continually make sense of a changing environment and seek out new and novel
ways of creating value requires a growth mind-set.
Such a mind-set used to be called PMA (Positive Mental Attitude )
Perhaps it's time for the publishers to reissue update books on PMA by Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone, Dale Carnegie * on ebooks . Time for motivational speakers like Anthony Robbins to return to top billing for more roadshows whether live or on-line.
* I will be reviewing the updated 'How to Win friends and Influence People' for the Digital Age next month
Related Links :
Impact specialises in developing and inspiring leaders; manage change effectively; identify, develop and retain talent. With over 30 years' experience , they operate across the world.
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