SCALE A SUCCESSFUL CONSTRUCTION COMPANY
BUILD A CONSTRUCTION BUSINESS PLAN
Creating a business strategy brings the focus to your company’s 1 year, 3 year, and long term goals and helps a team like yours expand with actual intention and focus on the mutual goal. The main point is a planned path to get you there with your team. Transparency is key. Communication is the common issue in most companies. Being open with your staff helps them to “Buy In” to your vision.
BEGIN BY ASKING YOURSELF THE FOLLOWING:
- What are the company’s values?
- What is the expected growth in gross revenue and net profit margins?
- What key hires will we need to get there?
- What else is needed to attain your goals? (Financial, Culture, Accountability?)
Now drill down into the specifics. Get very granular and create the environment of collaboration and communication with your top tier staff.
The key elements of a strategic plan will include:
COMPANY VALUES
The ideals that influence your decision-making in good and bad times. What are the standards of your company? Examples are: quality of work, attention to detail, company culture, result oriented thinking. Most companies believe they have the best of each category. But as in everyday life, there are degrees of each.
Once the company’s values are determined they must be communicated in every format and in every communication to the entire staff.
BIG GOALS
Visualize where you want the business to be in five years – include key measures of success. Ask your executive team if they are in line with the goals. Determine what is needed to achieve them.
ANNUAL GOALS
Follow the S.M.A.R.T. goal methodology
(Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound).
The importance of goal setting has been diluted because of the “feel good” stigma that has been built up by the term being over used and underutilized.
YOUR INITIATIVES
Projects and upgrades need to be in place to achieve and sustain growth. What is the specific and actionable plan to attain the necessary steps to make your vision a reality.
ANNUAL CRITICAL NUMBERS
Establish what key numbers that factor into the growth of the company that will be the measuring stick. These metrics are the pulse of the year. This is the most important segment to communicate with your entire staff. This is the backbone to all levels of accountability.
In order to chart your path for growth and build a stable infrastructure in your business, your key executives need to completely understand how the company makes money and how it loses money. Not only on a high level, but on a very granular level.
NAIL DOWN YOUR ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Define who does WHAT, WHEN and WHY in the business. Ultimately, this creates accountability within the team. When each position is tied to clear responsibilities, you can better understand how much ROI is generated per person.
HOW TO BUILD AN ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE:
- Define each role within the company.
- Then layer in the responsibilities attached to the specific role in the company.
- Identify any gaps between each role that may create gaps in communication, work flow, responsibility, and ownership for the project.
- State how each person contributes to your business’s quality, volume and profit.
- Outline the ways information flows between levels within the company.
THE BENEFITS OF HAVING A CLEARLY DEFINED ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE INCLUDE:
- Faster decision-making
- Improved operating efficiency
- Greater employee performance
- Better communication
- Increase in employee job satisfaction
- More profitable resulting from efficiencies
INVEST IN HIRING AND ONBOARDING
People are essential to the growth of your business. So, investing in talent should be a major factor in your company’s growth strategy.
Here’s what to think about when it’s time to hire:
- Your company’s vision and how many people you will need to get there
- What roles will be coming up, and what skills will they need
- How you’ll build a brand to attract high performers and retain the talent you have
- How to hire for a role you don’t understand
Investing in your current staff is equally as important. Incentive based bonuses have proven to enhance the accountability throughout the construction industry.
With transparency of how a projects are priced, and where the profit pockets are, such and labor efficiencies, material utilization, mobilization efficiencies all contribute to the profit of the company. Creating a bonus schedule to encourage the efficiencies has proven to create larger profit centers and retain valuable people.
YOUR ONBOARDING PLAN
A well-thought-out recruiting and onboarding strategy as well as active construction networking will result in reduced turnover, less stress, higher engagement and job satisfaction, long-term loyalty and business growth.
BUILD EFFECTIVE SALES AND MARKETING CHANNELS
The difference between your sales and marketing channels is this:
Sales is a natural process, while marketing is more holistic and raises awareness of your company and its brand. Both impact lead generation and revenue, and both have an end goal: To secure business and help grow your company. Alignment between the two is necessary for business growth.
HOW TO ACHIEVE EFFECTIVE SALES AND MARKETING CHANNELS:
Identify your ideal client profile (the most common characteristics and locations of your current clients that you like to work with)
Build your brand through imagery and key messaging on social media apps (like LinkedIn and Instagram)
- Seek testimonials and generate word-of-mouth referrals
- Set goals and track your key performance indicators
- Ensure open communication between departments
Implementing these strategies will optimize your in-field and online brand presence, attract suitable clients leading to more closed deals, increase word-of-mouth recommendations, boost construction cash flow and even attract potential hires.
CASH FLOW AND LEVERAGE
Positive cash flow can increase your purchasing power. The construction industry has recently seen shortages of both labor and materials. With more cash on hand, you have the ability to request large orders from vendors, which may secure your order fulfillment if the supply chain is disrupted for any reason. You also have more flexibility to offer incentives to secure suppliers or labor, such as paying upfront or within a shorter time frame. Having the proper banking relationship and credit leverage can make the difference between success and catastrophic failure.
IMPROVED FINANCIAL PLANNING AND FORECASTING
If you’re constantly using incoming client payments to fulfill the next bill, you’re not going to see any long-term profitability. Having a consistent cash flow ensures you’re able to more accurately plan resources around anticipated expenses, without always playing catch-up on previous bills.
This may also help your company take on more projects faster. If you have a strong financial plan in place and enough capital to cover the costs of a new project, you could expand your revenue streams even as other projects aren’t quite finished up.
STRONGER RELATIONSHIPS WITH STAKEHOLDERS
When you’re paying your subs, employees, vendors and other stakeholders on time, you can establish a reputation as being a good company to work with.
As the industry continues to deal with worker shortages, it’s estimated more than 342,000 new workers will need to be hired to keep up with demand. If you’re known as the company that always pays on time, it may increase your chances at securing these relationships when the rest of the competition is trying to hire these workers.
CREDIBILITY WITH LENDERS
If you’re in need of business loan or working line of capital , it may be easier to secure financing if you can prove you can maintain a consistent cash flow. Lenders and investors often require financial statements so they can decide whether you’re a risky client.
MORE OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY
Construction software improves operational efficiencies by aligning teams and driving growth in simple, easy-to-use ways. The ability to invest in technology depends on you having enough cash to be able to prioritize these indirect costs.
With improved operations, your construction company can leverage budget allocations, hit deadlines, ensure profitability and keep customers happy. All of these factors are vital to the long-term success of your construction business.
SLOW DOWN AND BE PRESENT IN THE PLANNING STAGES
Sometimes, errors are made before a project even begins so to avoid this from happening, you need to slow it down. Devote plenty of time to planning in order to figure out the people, processes, information and materials you’ll need before the project begins.
LISTEN TO YOUR STAFF IN THE FIELD
Your workers out in the field are your eyes and ears when it comes to what’s really happening during a project. Give them tools to support this effort, providing areas where they can add comments and messages based on assigned tasks, raise issues and report progress.
INVEST IN MORE TRAINING
Training is critical to staying sharp during a project. By helping your employees develop and master critical skills, you’ll be able to reduce additional contracted work while creating an environment that fosters employee engagement.
Each person who steps onto a construction site should have the training and experience necessary to complete their assigned jobs in a safe and timely manner.
KEEP A CONSTANT FLOW OF COMMUNICATION
One of the most important parts of a project is communication. Your employees need to know what you expect of them so they can deliver their best results. The best way to increase communication is to adopt mobile technology with messaging and commenting capabilities built in. This reduces miscommunication between your team members, subcontractors and clients.
As mentioned several times in this paper, communication has proven to be the Achilles heal of the construction industry. Many companies believe they communicate, but the hard truth comes from the staff. What do they think? And does ownership feel that the staff communicates with them, or even amongst themselves. More often than not the case is there is a communication issue. When we identify the gaps in communication we can better understand what is needed to fill in the gaps in order to achieve the company’s goals, and then make the vision a reality.
Posted on January 5, 2021New Years Resolutions… What does January 15th hold for you?
ONLY 8% OF PEOPLE ACHIEVE THEIR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS.
We have a choice to make. Are we going to allow the pandemic to control our destiny, or are we going to make 2021 a great year?
For some 2020 was a shattering year. For others it was a banner year. Either way, 2020 is over and we are squarely in 2021. So what do you want to do this year? How are you going to avoid becoming a statistic?
Let me guess: You want to lose the weight you put on during the pandemic in 2021. Maybe you want to make more money and scale back up from prior to the pandemic. Perhaps you want to spend more time with your friends and family. You might even want to expand your business into a new area in order to react to the tumultuous times in 2020? This is all well and good, But without a strategic plan that includes consistent measuring of the fundamentals this will not only be a struggle, but counter productive.
Self-improvement, or at least the desire for it, is a shared American hobby. It’s why so many of us—some estimates say more than 40% of Americans—make New Year’s resolutions. (For comparison, about one-third of Americans watch the Super Bowl.)
But for all the good intentions, only a tiny fraction of us keep our resolutions; University of Scranton research suggests that just 8% of people achieve their New Year’s goals. They are projecting even less will achieve our goals post pandemic.
Why do so many people fail at goal setting, and what are the secrets behind those who succeed? The explosion of studies into how the brain works has more experts attempting to explain the science behind why we make resolutions—and more relevantly, how we can keep them.
KISS – Keep it Simple (I assume you know the what the last “S” is)
Many people use the New Year as an opportunity to make large bucket lists or attempt extreme makeovers, whether personal or professional.
That’s a nice aspiration —but as humans we have so many competing priorities that this type of approach is doomed to failure before it even begins. Essentially, shooting for the moon can be so psychologically daunting, you end up failing to launch in the first place.
So this year, Keep your resolution list short…
And it’s more sensible to set “small, attainable goals throughout the year, rather than a singular, overwhelming goal,”. “Remember, it is not the extent of the change that matters, but rather the act of recognizing that lifestyle change is important and working toward it, one step at a time…
Make it Tangible
Setting ambitious resolutions can be fun and inspiring, but the difficulty in achieving them means that your elation can quickly give way to frustration. That’s why goals should be bounded by rational, achievable metrics.
“It is much easier to follow a plan that says no potato chips, fries, or ice cream for six weeks.”
And be specific. Don’t say you’re “going to start going to the gym” in 2021—set a clear ambition, like attending a weekly spin class or lifting weights every Tuesday or Thursday.
“We say if you can’t measure it, it’s not a very good resolution because vague goals beget vague resolutions”
Make it Obvious
Charting your goals in some fashion, although there’s no universal strategy for success. For some, making a clear schedule and daily task is enough of a reminder; Utilize your calendar like outlook to build the perfect schedule to follow and success will be the result.
An strategic tactic: share your goals with your friends and family. It’s another way to build accountability, especially in the Facebook era.
Believe in yourself.
To be clear: Simply setting a goal does raise your chances of achieving that goal, significantly. But within weeks or months, people begin abandoning their resolutions as they hit bumps in the road that throw them off their stride. At the end of the day you MUST believe in yourself. Know whom you are inside. Know what you are capable of. Visualize yourself after you achieve your goal and all the ancillary things that come along with it.
“WHAT THE MIND CAN PERCEIVE, IT CAN AND WILL ACHIEVE”
Posted on March 20, 2020HOW TO OVERCOME THE WORST OF TIMES
At some point in our life, we had to overcome some form of hardship. At that moment in time we believed it was the worst of times. Yet we are still here to talk about it.
It may be personal
Maybe its stress with your spouse or significant other. While you are in the middle of it, in the heat of the moment, you don’t understand why it’s happening, or to the extent that it is.
Maybe it’s from being complacent for way too long and you begin to feel a need for change. At the end of the day we are human. We change, we evolve, we grow. We can get comfortable in our environment, but sometimes we get too comfortable and the desire for change takes over. Most times it is a good thing. But many times, if not recognized it can be a very bad thing.
It may be financial
Maybe you are not making as much as you want. It can be from unforeseen circumstances or a global pandemic. Once again, when you are in the middle of it, what do you do? Especially when you are burnt out and you don’t know how much harder you can work.
As humans we not only struggle with the financial issues, but we also struggle with our emotions. Not having the amount of money you want without fear of failure, simply sucks. We allow our financial frustrations affect ourselves and the personal relationships around us. This brings with it more problems and suffering, and pretty soon, we are left with only two options.
Change
We can change our circumstances in order to get out of our unwanted situation. It can be difficult to do this, especially when nothing but negativity surrounds us. With all that is going on in the world today it may feel as if this is impossible. Once again, you have a choice. You can follow the negative people that are sitting around saying “There is nothing that can be done”. “We need to sit and wait and see what’s next”. Or my personal favorite, “The world as we know it is over, this is the new normal”.
Or you can think. Think of ways that you can make things happen. Deal with the circumstances in front of you and find a way to get to the desired end result. There is always a way.
Once we decide willingly to change our circumstances, we can. It’s just a matter of knowing how.
Be forced into change
It is a fundamental human need to be constantly growing, evolving, and changing. If we are stagnant and stick to a routine for too long, we get a feeling of boredom, a desire for change, or despair that comes from being in a stalled state of progression. That is our inner being telling us we need to change something.
By learning this basic process, we can quickly learn to understand how to endure and overcome the very worst of life’s hardships. Knowing that there is a specific reason you are in a hardship will help you focus on how to get through it in a positive way instead of a negative one.
What’s the process??? No one process will work for everyone, just as there is there is no quick-fix solution for the various hardships that come into your life. There are, however, certain ways you can choose to perceive the realities we are confronted with.
Perception
Perception is in the eye of the beholder, so if I am perceiving my life in a negative way, I’m more than likely going to be dealing with all of the emotions and thoughts that come from that perception. In other words, thinking negative thoughts, in any situation, is going to bring out negative emotions. This will result in a tailspin, and you will find it very difficult to get past emotions such as anger, sadness, frustration and even low self-esteem, which go along with negative perceptions.
This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t want to feel those negative emotions. They are a valuable part of progressing and moving forward in our life. The negative emotions are there so we can overcome them. You overcome these emotions by sitting down calmly and simply writing down the desired result. Make sure the desired result is what you want. Now, list all of the hurdles you perceive that are standing in your way of the desired result. One by one, come up with a solution for each of the small hurdles, rather than tackling the entire issue as a whole.
Enduring
When hit with any kind of hardship, it’s difficult to know which types of emotions will surface. Of course, we will be experiencing suffering, so the bad emotions that follow are going to be entering our world. One of the worst things you can do, is trying to hide or not acknowledge your feelings.
Accept
It is very important to accept what is, both in terms of the external reality and our internal reality, with thoughts, emotions, etc.
Feel
Allow our self to feel, and also allow our self to listen to what comes through while we are allowing your emotions to go through their natural process.
Listen
When was the last time you truly sat down with no distractions? No technologies, cell phone, Facebook, e-mail, television, etc. and listened. Take a moment each day to look inside yourself and hear what your higher consciousness has to say. Don’t think, don’t wonder, just listen.
Overcoming
After you’ve taken the time to sit back, reflect, and gain clarity on your current circumstances, it’s time to start moving forward. How can you expect to overcome a challenging situation in your life if you don’t move? It does require a little inspirational push, but if you want to get over a hardship, you need to let it in. Here are some ways to overcome any difficult situation when you just can’t escape your own thoughts and feelings.
Find inspiration in your life
Inspiration brings hope and desire, which also bring positivity. These are all good things and can offer you the tools you need to move forward, away from the depths of despair that haunt you when experiencing hardship. Reflect back on your “Why”.
Strategy
Once you have a positive attitude and desire inside, it’s the perfect time to come up with an exit plan from your current situation. When you see the vision of where you want to be, you can start to fill in the details with a direction to start moving in. The key here is to make the decision to consciously move forward and have a solid action plan to follow. There is no need to wait until you have all the “what ifs” answered.
Take Action
This is single most important part of the strategy. But it’s easier said than done .
Many factors can come into play here, but beyond the obvious. That you may be stressed, tired, moody, and depressed. There is another reason, a deeper reason that holds most people back.
Almost everyone should be able to picture some form of positive outcome in their minds, but when it comes to taking action and making an actual change, very few of us follow through. We just end up enduring until our emotions settle down and we continue on the same path, which led to our current circumstances in the first place. This is what I call the ostrich in the sand effect. Remember, the very crisis you are dealing with may or may not have happened before. But I can assure you, worst things have happened to us as a society in the past, and we overcame them. We are the stronger for it and we learned from each and every experience.
If you really want to overcome it, not just endure, you need to start changing your status quo. Identify what in life you can change now. Think outside the box and come up with a solution no matter how dumb it sounds to others around you. Surround yourself with people who care about you, want the best for you, and believe in you. The most important factor is to remember that you’re not alone. Sometimes, it may seem easier to just cope and put on a happy face, but it’s not. Finding a solution to the issue in front of you and taking action, even if it is wrong at first, will stimulate your mind to ultimately come up with a solution to get you unstuck.
The true change happens, when you fully embrace the relationships and the people around you. And most importantly do it now… Procrastinate tomorrow
Posted on March 2, 2017Strategic Performance Group Hosts ‘Beyond Business Mastery’
Professionals, entrepreneurs and executives from the New York metropolitan area converged last weekend to participate in ‘Beyond Business Mastery.’ The immersive training boot camp was presented by David Findel, top leadership development coach and strategist for Strategic Performance Group, a professional firm that provides consulting in business strategies, leadership development, business development and coaching, motivational training and lifestyle balance.
Held at the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City, NJ, the intensive two-day course focused on arming attendees with the skills necessary to get the results they want both personally and professionally in 2017 and beyond. The premise behind the transformational course, and the message that Findel hopes each participant will internalize going forward, is that business is a life pursuit. Your business will not grow unless you grow as an individual. If you want to lead others, you must lead yourself first.
Findel, an expert in the field of leadership development for over 25 years, uses a unique and strategic methodology to guide participants through a series of exercises aimed at driving them to set actionable goals to establish an environment of accountability and a team approach to growth and prosperity. His goal is to teach people, regardless of the industry they are in, to build a results-oriented culture of unwavering passion that learns to listen by ‘removing the noise.’
Findel believes that one of the most critical components to achieving success is accountability—research supports that those who set detailed and measurable goals, and hold themselves accountable to them, achieve greater levels of success than those who don’t. When you connect goals to every aspect of your life, you’ll have the power of passion and success fueled by the fire from within.
One attendee, CFO of a New York-based Fortune 500 firm found the boot camp invaluable. “Very invigorating,” he said. “Not the typical motivational seminar, but a detailed road map to success.“
A managing director of a global investment banking firm notes,“I have been doing business with David for almost twenty years, but going to his mastermind seminar was nothing shy of great. I will be reaching out to him Monday morning to have him come into my firm.”
The next installment of Strategic Performance Group’s 2017 Industry Leader Mastermind Series will be held in April 29th. For more information, or to sign up, call 888-417-5950.
Posted on November 14, 2016The habits that set highly successful people apart
Highly Successful people make a habit of most everything they do on a daily basis. They believe squarely on the principle. Be passionate about everything you do. Do it to the best of your ability? Do it consistently.
They convert these principles into goals and they live by them every day. Successful people propel themselves by finding enjoyment of blowing their personal goals out of the water. They succeed in many different facets of life. Their friendships, their physical and mental health, their families, and their careers (which they not only excel at but possess unwavering passion for).
They are passionate
We have all heard the saying “Anything worth doing is worth doing right”. Well, this is basis of being passionate. Highly successful people live by the creed “if you are not going to do it with the full force of your heart and soul, don’t’ do it at all.”
They are Knowledgeable
Highly successful people know more than others do because they’re constantly working to increase their self-awareness. They make the time in their schedule and they block time to educate themselves on the world around them. They don’t do this because it’s “the right thing to do”, they do it because it’s their passion. They’re always looking for opportunities to improve and new things to learn about themselves and the world around them. Instead of succumbing to their fear of looking ignorant, truly exceptional people just ask the questions on their mind, because they would rather learn something new than appear smart.
They Speak with Certainty
It’s rare to hear super successful people utter things like “Um,” “I’m not sure,” and “I think.” Successful people speak assertively because they know that it’s difficult to get people to listen to you if you can’t deliver your ideas with conviction. They also speak with certainty because they put the time in to know what they are talking about.
They Use Positive Body Language
Becoming cognizant of your gestures, expressions, and tone of voice, all the while making certain they are positive, draws people to you. Using an enthusiastic tone, uncrossing your arms, maintaining eye contact, and leaning towards the person who’s speaking are all forms of positive body language that highly successful people use to draw others in. Positive body language makes all the difference in a conversation, because how you say something can be more important than what you say.
They are Composed
Highly successful people are composed because they constantly monitor their emotions, they understand them, and they use this knowledge in the moment to react to challenging situations with self-control. They know that no matter how good or bad things get, everything changes with time. They establish a baseline and take control of the noise that distracts them from focusing, keeping the end result in mind.
They make a Strong First Impression
Research shows that most people decide whether or not they like you within the first seven seconds of meeting you. They then spend the rest of the conversation internally justifying their initial reaction. This may sound terrifying, but by knowing this, you can take advantage of it to make huge gains in how people respond to you. First impressions are tied intimately to positive body language. A strong posture, a firm handshake, a smile, and open shoulders help ensure that your first impression is a good one. Malcom Galdwell illustrates this clearly in his book, Blink.
They Seek Out Small Victories
Highly successful people like to challenge themselves and compete, even when their efforts yield only small victories. Small victories build new androgen receptors in the areas of the brain responsible for reward and motivation. The increase in androgen receptors increases the influence of testosterone, which further increases their confidence and eagerness to tackle future challenges. When you achieve a series of small victories, the boost in your confidence can last for weeks. An example of a small victory that is common, is maintaining your calendar and at the end of each day, reviewing your results with enthusiasm. You will find that each day you achieve all that you have set out to do. You will do it consistently and have an overwhelming drive to repeat it daily.
They are Honest
Highly successful people trust that honesty and integrity, though painful at times, always work out for the best in the long run. They know that although what they are saying may not be the “feel good” way of handling it, they know that if they confront things head on with honesty, transparency and the end goal in mind, all will result the way they want. Sincerity is an age old form of honestly. It may not make you the post popular person but it will make you the most sort after person when the chips are down and results count.
They are Appreciative
Truly exceptional people are able to achieve so much because they know the importance of slowing down and appreciating everything they already have. They know that in order to continue having the drive, passion and desire, they must make the time to appreciate the fruits of their labor. Lifestyle balance is just as important as the need to be the best and the master of your world.
At the end of the day, this is the magic formula to success. Do you possess these qualities? Of course you do. Now go out there and set your mind to do it and get it done.
“Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do.”
Posted on September 9, 2016
Do you wake up with the leaders or the followers?
What is the common denominator of the top 1%?
Looking back at my 25 years in business, I recall my first time I was attracted to learning what makes the top 1% different from the rest of the population. One hard fact can’t be ignored: every one of the people I researched had one thing in common, their morning routine.
Of course, each one of them had different individual activities, but the common denominators that remain a constant were:
- Every one of them began their day between 5:00 and 5:30 a.m.
- Every one of them reviewed their goals they set for themselves first thing in the morning, even if it was only one component of their overall goals.
The question begs to be asked: If the overwhelming majority of the top 1% have these two traits in common, then why doesn’t everyone follow suit? Why aren’t YOU doing this?
We are quickly approaching the final quarter of the year. If you want to be in the top 1% next year, or if you already are in that category and simply want to step up your game, it begins TODAY. Start today and build the habit into a routine so when 2017 comes rolling in, you are ready to go.
Year end planning – take a snapshot of your activity for the first three quarters of this year. Evaluate what worked and what didn’t. Be honest with yourself in evaluating your efforts and results. When you have a clear look at what you did this year, now you are in a position to plan for the upcoming year.
At the end of the day, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
Be part of the 1%. Wake up at 5:00. Get your day started.
Posted on August 25, 2016
Are you listening?
Listening to what people are NOT saying
is just as important as what they are.
Listening is as much a science as it is an art.
The science of listening deals with an understanding of the mechanics and principles involved in people reading; ie, you study facts about what a specific mannerism could mean; what a certain tone of voice might suggest; or how the context of a person’s environment may influence their behavior. However, knowledge of the basic principles is only half of the equation.
Once the principles are understood: open up your right brain – that part of yourself that does not think in terms of linear thought, words, or mathematics, but instead with patterns, colors and abstracts, you will be ahead of the game. This is the art.
Those who are successful at combining the two become amazing “people readers”.
There is no replacement for practice. You could read all the books out there on body language and vocal interpretation and still not be a great reader of people. At the end of the day, you must come up with the passion to put these principles to work.
The primary principles of reading people are…
- Determine and focus on a baseline
- Identify patterns of mannerisms and speech rhythms
- Adjust your assumptions, as needed
- Come to a conclusion
All of these techniques rely on the need for these principles to be a part of your daily interaction with people. First, you begin by establishing a general baseline. From that baseline, you look for specific patterns and consistencies, whereupon you make your assumptions. Then comes the critical point of refining those assumptions by observing new patterns and using the art of questioning. Finally, backed by experience and intuition, you make a decision, wherein establishing the baseline.
Establishing the baseline is the first step. When you’re starting to scrutinize someone, begin by studying his or her behavior. Ask yourself if how they are acting at this moment reflects their typical way of being. If a person is in a comfortable, familiar environment and surrounded by those who know them intimately, it’s a safe bet that they are in a baseline state. This will become your standard from which you will make your assumptions.
If you’re in a situation where it doesn’t offer this opportunity, then you need to wait it out. Time will help you notice what the person’s average behavior is.
Identify patterns of mannerisms and speech rhythms
Because our minds can only consciously process a limited amount of data at one time, it becomes very selective in what it brings to our attention. With all the distractions emerging, professional people readers filter out the inessential and bring to the forefront the indispensable. The question you then ask yourself becomes: “What do I look for?” The answer is simple: patterns, common themes and trends.
As you begin analyzing people, look for “clusters”, groups of related signals that coincide with a specific behavior or state of mind. Single traits, by themselves, rarely tell the whole story of what a person is all about. Patterns begin with the first impression and continue onward. As you combine the first impression with specific tells: behavior, vocal attributes, and their environment, you will begin to identify the insight needed to unearth what you need.
Beyond the Blink: Reading the first impression
Malcolm Gladwell wrote many phenomenal books. There is one that stands out amongst the others, namely, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. In the book, the author observed our ability to make snap judgments about a person in the blink of an eye.
Snap judgments are, first of all, enormously quick. They rely on the thinnest slices of experience…they are also unconscious. We thin-slice because we have to, and we come to rely on that ability because there are lots of hidden firsts out there, lots of situations where careful attention to the details of a very thin slice, even for no more than a second or two, can tell us an awful lot about an individual.
However, the book explains that in many cases, “thin-slices” of experience from which we draw our conclusions are many times incorrect. Try to control the “blink” response and retrain your brain, consciously at first, to look for meaning behind the impression. Through experience, this blink response will become very accurate.
Appearance
For example, hair can tell a lot about a person. In women, short stylish hair could denote someone who is creative, artistic, or expressive. Because maintaining perfectly styled hair is expensive, it may signify wealth. If that isn’t the case, then their willingness to spend a lot of their money to maintain their hairstyle might show vanity or a need for acceptance, even insecurity.
Less styled, short hair, on the other hand, could mean practicality.
For men, professionally styled hair usually goes hand in hand with the desire to show status and power. If combined with expensive clothing and accessories, this is usually a sure bet. Most men do not have the time or desire to regularly have their hair styled at a professional salon. Because it deviates from the norm, this is a good example of something to look out for.
Every detail of a person’s appearance can offer further clues into their interests, beliefs, emotions and values. Be aware of things like physical characteristics, jewelry, makeup, clothing, accessories, hygiene, and piercings/tattoos, etc. Again, ask yourself, “What is this telling me about this person?”
Body Language
From the onslaught of books written on body language, hordes of people began to see crossed legs, folded arms, facial tics in a whole new light. Body language, like appearance, can only be correctly analyzed when viewed against the first two principles of reading people: finding the baseline and recognizing patterns. Thinking that you’ll be able to figure someone, off of one or two bodily quirks, is not entirely realistic. You want to look for consistency. Body language is only effective as you begin to observe more of the person’s character. To know their character, you must recognize patterns, not just in their body language, but in everything that has to do with them.
People behave a certain way based on their wants, needs, or values. We tend to project these values and wants on others because it is a source of validation. Athletes value those with strength and stamina. Artists value the creativity in others. What someone consistently does for others or seeks out in them can be a big assist in determining what they desire or value. Realize that sometimes, because of fear, anger, or duress, a person will act out of character. Lest I keep repeating myself, remember the principles of baseline and recognizing patterns. Are you sensing a pattern yet?
Beyond the Words: What people are really saying
Vocal attributes play an important role in determining what someone is really saying. These traits, in many cases, contain hidden messages that require you to pay attention more carefully. Someone with a loud voice may indicate a need to control his or her environment. Like a Drill Sergeant, they use their loud voice to intimidate and dominate others. Sometimes it can be for reasons of trying to compensate for something they think they’re lacking. This, combined with his need to talk over you, shows his insecurities. Realize that a loud voice could also mean a loss of hearing or that they’re inebriated. Remember to take everything into consideration. A soft voice also could have different connotations. Don’t immediately dismiss the person as someone who lacks confidence. It may mean they’re tired or depressed. It may show that they have a calm assurance about themselves. A soft voice may also show their arrogance in the sense that they feel you need to listen more if you want to know what they’re saying. Think about all the possible reasons for rapid or slow speech, mumbling, different intonations and emphasis, an unemotional, pretentious or whining tone of voice. Each of these may reveal something deeper than what was first expected.
Look for the matching of one’s vocal attributes with their body language and words.
Beyond vocal attributes, understanding verbal gymnastics is the other half of what people are communicating in their speech patterns. For example, always question why someone is leading you towards or away from a topic of conversation. What are they hiding?
The way someone answers can also be used to control or direct a conversation. Try to interpret why they could be rambling on, changing the subject, giving a long, drawn-out or a quick response, or simply not responding at all.
Interpreting their environment
One of the best sources of people reading is the person’s environment. So many clues about a person can be discovered here, such as hints about their job, education, religion, culture, hobbies, marital and family status, political alignment, friends, and wealth. You’d be surprised at what someone can learn about you, just from them reading your environment, that it can be quite embarrassing.
Delving Deeper through the Art of Questioning
Through the process of recognizing patterns and refining your assumptions, there comes a time where you need to delve deeper. If you are setting up a date with someone, at a job interview, or just trying to get to know the person better, learning the art of questioning is paramount.
The types of questions that should be asked are those which help confirm or contradict the assumptions that you’ve made throughout this process. Don’t make it sound like an interrogation. Do, however, make it a natural part of the conversation. Remember to “seek first to understand, then to be understood”.
Making your Decision
At the end of the day, once you have determined a focus on the baseline, identified patterns of mannerisms and speech rhythms, you adjust your assumptions, as needed, through questioning, then and only then should you make a final decision about an individual. It’s the combination of many details pointing in the same direction that will remind you that you’re on track. Since reading people is a science and an art, use the characteristics that have presented themselves to you and couple this with your intuition. If you do this consistently, you will rarely be wrong about someone.
Happy hunting…
Posted on June 24, 2016
Naive or passion?
It’s that time again…Graduation season. Once again, a new generation of entrepreneurs will be entering the work force. Their minds are blooming and vibrant with new ideas, filled with an abundance of cutting-edge information and fresh insights. They are ready to tackle the world and all that is being thrust upon them.
DO YOU STILL HAVE THAT EDGE??
Or have you been polluted by all the NOISE society has tried so hard to convince you of? Truth be told, it is not society as a whole that are the naysayers. It is the miserable losers that have quit, along with the negative people who want to drag you down in the mud with them because they haven’t reached the pinnacle of success they had hoped for.
It’s been two years since Admiral William H. McRaven gave this mind-shifting Commencement Address to the University of Texas. There are no excuses in this man’s life. Neither is there procrastination. It is not because he is an Admiral and has risen to the top of the food chain. It’s not that he is a Navy SEAL and has done what mortal men can’t imagine doing. It’s not that he is one of the most respected men in the Navy. It IS because he LIVES WHAT HE BELIEVES. There is no “Noise.” Rather, it is all about action, execution and results.
Wake up every morning with a purpose that is in line with your vision and with the passion that things WILL get done. Live your life knowing that you will make a difference in this world and that difference begins NOW!!
Be true to yourself, knowing that nothing is to be taken for granted and nothing happens without you being in the driver’s seat. Go through life using the God-given talents that have been bestowed upon you and blessed with the drive to make things happen. Life has an odd way of showing us what is real.
My father has taught me many things in my life. One of his favorite sayings stands out when I hear it: “Man plans, God laughs.” The test is: What does this mean to you? You can believe that your life is destiny and as long as you are a good person your life will follow the course that is laid out for you OR…
You can take it to mean that God has blessed you with immense talent, intense drive and unwavering passion in order to achieve greatness with a vision to change something in this world and to live the life that has been laid at your feet. It is ultimately your choice to pick the path. Is God going to laugh because you were not listening or is he going to laugh from the joy of you succeeding? Remember the edge you had before the “Noise”?
Live with vision! Live with passion! Live with the power of results! Live NOW!
Posted on May 25, 2016
What makes you different…It is not a question.
5 Questions productive people ask every day
-
What is today’s top priority?
Look through your list and decide what has to get done that day. No matter what life throws at you, you will accomplish that one thing.
Start the day and pick one thing that is not negotiable that day.
-
What are the roadblocks?
Look for the roadblocks or possible pitfalls. Does the time of day interfere with another event or task? Who are you counting on to do their part and are they reliable? Do you have a contingency? You must to coordinate around roadblocks.
-
Who is my customer for this?
The focus has to be to work with the end in mind. What does the customer or client want or need? Why work on things that does not serve a purpose other than take up your time.
-
How will this create value?
Lost productivity and minimal value go hand in hand. Unproductive people are not creating value, they are wasting time. Just because you put in the hours does not equate to creating value. In fact it is the easiest way to lose clients.
-
What should I skip?
It’s such a freeing concept to remind yourself, on a daily basis, that some things are not worth doing. You establish what needs to get done, identify your audience, and create value as described above. Then, you skip anything else that is superfluous, a time-waster, or are not a top priority.
You will soon find how much time you have for things that have substance and yield results.
No need for the noise if you are hyper focused and have a TRUE vision of who you are.
Posted on April 12, 2016
The Power of Consistency in your business and in life.
Consistency is a necessary component in success.
Oddly enough, most people do not know just how important consistency is. Most of us start something and get very excited at the onset, much like motivational programs. We watch the video, listen to the CD, or even attend a seminar. It is fact that within six weeks we stop doing the very thing we actually paid to listen to. Once the initial adrenalin rush wears off, it falls by the wayside.
But when you are truly passionate about something, you will maintain the consistency of doing it. You still have to maintain your discipline to keep going through the peaks and valleys. When you get through that first valley, the results can sometimes be quite amazing and the peaks are breathtaking.
The main four principals of consistency
Discipline
Building up to a strong discipline is not as hard as you think. Set a timeline with specific tasks. For example, lets say you are looking to develop a way to stay in touch with your client base. Begin first with an initial email reintroducing yourself and communicate that they will be receiving an email each month with specific information that will be relevant to them. Maybe a newsletter or a blog. Next, set your calendar reminders to send out that blog each and every month. Once this is set in motion, hand it off to an assistant that can maintain it for you. But equally as important as the blog is the need to communicate to your client base each month, without fail, and the reasons you are sending them out.
Passion & Patience
Today’s society is all about immediate gratification. The “Now” factor. For those of you that know me, I suffer from that syndrome. What I have found is that when you have patience, the result is more stable. Without a doubt, the need for passion is paramount in order to achieve success. The trick is to balance that passion and need for immediate gratification with patience. Show the passion you have for what you do and then sit back and watch as the results pour in. If you exude the passion you have properly, there is no need to push the envelope.
Action
Actually taking action is the single most important factor in success. It is great to come up with dynamic and powerful ideas, but until you act and execute, you are simply mentally masturbating. Once you have developed the plan, mapped out the method of the execution, EXECUTE IT. Do not procrastinate. Do not overthink it. Do not wait until it is perfect. There is no such thing as perfection. You will uncover any imperfections once you initiate the process and actual work the plan.
Focus
Now that you have taken action, it is time to analyze and focus. What worked and what didn’t. Capture the “Genie in the Bottle.” What steps did you take from beginning to end to achieve the result that is best for you? Then repeat it over and over again with razor sharp focus. Remember, 20% of the tasks you do are responsible for 80% of your success. Work smarter after you work harder. Focus on what works and doing it consistently.
