Listening

Successful businesspeople surround themselves with trusted advisers and key employees who are never afraid to speak their minds. The last thing we want or need are "yes men" who try to mirror what they think we want, and then do exactly what they are told to do.

Of course, if you have great advisers who disagree with each other, with distinctive personalities and attitudes, sometimes tensions arise, and sometimes you miss the real point in the noise. As one of my consultants, Bill Caswell, reminded me yesterday, you need to separate out the emotions before you make your decisions.

Of course, you also need to listen to your emotions and your first gut reactions. If something doesn't "seem" right, it often isn't. The challenge is to determine if the superficial cause of your emotional reaction reflects the underlying issue, or is actually masking the real problem.

I sense a business is healthiest when your advisers represent a cross-section of values, outlooks and approaches, but they are not so far apart from each other (and the spirit and mood of your key employees, who also are often advisers), that they cause conflict so great that the business strains to the cracking point.

(Of course, it can be a challenge when an adviser, concerned you are heading to a train wreck, goes out of his or her way to shout out the message: Do you take the reaction as a way-off-base emotion, or is the warning real. The best answer: Don't act rashly, but don't ignore the message).

Our best clients and key suppliers also, of course, can be in the advisory group. We need to filter their observations and advice through their perspectives (and ours, of the nature of the relationship), but if we fail to listen to the marketplace, we can end up very much like the U.S. auto industry -- out of touch with what clients really want, and unable to change course when required.

I sense the recessionary clouds are starting to lift, but you won't go wrong ever by listening, carefully.

Communications, responsibility and leadership

This image is from an article "Listening First Aid" , about Empathic Listening Skills by Gregorio Billikopf, University of California, Berkley.

Three big words: Three simple principals essential for Construction Marketing success.

Communications: Everything you say, do, write, ignore, express, relate, and decipher affects the marketing process. Little things count. Returning calls promptly, being on time (just a little early, not too early for meetings), respecting cultural sensitivities (in some cultures being 'late' is normal), understanding how and where you listen as well as speak/write are all essential to the marketing process. You need to know your cues.

Responsibility: The Blame Game is deadly. Attacking or disparaging competitors, levelling barbs or insults on others, or failing to accept responsibility for your own blunders or even minor errors will destroy your place in the marketplace much more effectively and quickly than whether your price is low enough.

Leadership: No one needs to be a stereotypical charismatic leader to be successful in marketing, but you still need to have the right mix of self assurance and respect for others to influence them and define/draw out the desired results to succeed. Unless you are a one-person organization, you'll need your team's support. And unless you are marketing/selling to yourself, of course, you won't achieve much in winning new accounts and maintaining/developing new business without some leadership skills.

So how do you develop these talents if you don't have them? I wish I could come up with a magic one size, fits all action, but can't. Then again, maybe one word counts more than any other.

Listen.

Can it be this simple?

Consultant Bill Caswell in his latest newsletter outlines three essentials for leadership success. I think anyone concerned with construction marketing can find value in applying these principals. Here they are:

1. Listen
   
2. Learn to defuse emotions
   
3. Gain from the power of the group

"I offer three simple lessons for leaders wishing to have a great company," Caswell writes. "It only took me 30 years, hundreds of books, thousands of hours in the company trenches, millions of dollars and zillions of air miles to figure it out. You can be a lot smarter."

Caswell has taught me that one of the key elements in achieving these three essentials is learning how to hold effective meetings. Properly conducted, meetings can help the business leader achieve the three vital points.

For a copy of the most recent CCC (Caswell Corporate Coaching) newsletter and a free subscription, email Upkar Bilkhu at ubilkhu@caswellccc.com.