Lets look at Tommy, your relatively new sales rep you've recently hired to sell on the floor at your retail store. Tommy is at the point where is is well acquainted with his job description and is ready to accept monthly or weekly sales quotas. He knows what his target is, and he knows he needs to hit it. How can we apply these change basics here? Well, if we leave it as is - you have given him the company's desired outcome and of course, he now understands his own current state. Through the month or weeks, he will compare his current state to the company's desired state: sales targets! Probably the most important aspect of his job, no matter how many bullet points fall under "job description" is "RESULTS" - and anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves, ha! So here is the company's biggest desired outcome looming over him month after month while he toils to solve the PROBLEM; Close the gap between zero sales and the sales quota. Now as an indvidual, if slaving it for the man and being nothing but a problem solver every day is an issue for him, he could take the initiative and reframe the company's outcome as his own outcome and design some self development that also satisfies the company's needs, so he can grow! Man it would be nice to find those kind of employees eh? Lets assume our little Tommy is more status quo and is in danger of developing the cynical rhetoric that is so common in folks who "put in their time" as they realize that day in and day out - they never get to look forward to another step in their own outcome journey, but instead need to punch in and solve the day's problems for the big bad company. So we'll coach him on this using the 4 questions. Now, this is tricky because in setting this goal we need to be mindful of the ecology and insure the sales targets are still getting met and not get too loosey goosey with context.
"Tommy, WHAT is your desired outcome?"
" Well, uh... to achieve my sales targets every month, of course!"
" Are they really your sales targets?"
"Oh, well, uh, no I suppose they are the company target given to me... I mean its not like its my business or I own it or anything"
"Right, your target is a piece of the big target and eventually rolls up into a national company target - an outcome the company needs within a time frame. But what about you? What is YOUR desired outcome?"
"Well, I suppose I'd like to be the top rep in the store?"
"There you go, so your quite competetive hm?"
" Well, yeah I guess, but not really.. I mean I don't like stepping on people's toes or anything. I'd feel good if I was at least above average and hitting target"
"Why do you want to be top rep then?"
"I dont know I just figured that sounded good"
"I hear you... but If you don't think you're competetive, wouldn't you think that aiming to be top rep could be challenging? Does that sound like an outcome that fits your personality?"
"No I guess not... I could aim to be one of the most knowledgeable reps then!"
"I hear excitement in that idea - tell me why?"
"Well, I love soaking up knowledge and helping people by always having the answer. I like being the techy guy"
"I think we are the right path - so take a moment and think, how will you achieve this? How will you know when it is true?"
"Hmmm... well I will make sure to be first to complete any upcoming courses and insure I set an example and make it out to any vendor training events. I can really work on my sales pitch so the customer gets the sense and comfort that he's dealing with the technical guy. I suppose I'd know if I'd arrived when I start hearing people say "Oh ask Tommy, he'd know that".
"What if there are no courses available and what if you find that your pitch is overwhelming customers?"
"There's always something available, I could do some research outside of work or use other websites to dig even deeper, subscribe to RSS feeds on my phone and tablet, which I already do anyway actually. I could practice my pitch first on other sales reps, get them to give me honest feedback"
"Great!! Lets review our conversation here and review your desired outcome one more time before we adjourn today. I'd also like you to think about what action you can take the instant we finish this session to get the momentum going!"
Again, this is a basic level use of outcome thinking to create change. Uncovered in this example are answers to the 4 questions:
1. What is your desired outcome?
2. Why do you desire this outcome?
3. What are you going to do to get there?
4. What if something goes wrong?
I've actually had this conversation myself with a rep in the past - I ad-libbed quite a bit of course because my memory is not exactly 20-20 - but the long and short of it is, this rep went on to achieve his sales targets or close every month - never really falling short enough to cause alarm and I respected that he'd never be one of those types of people driven by success or competition. He was a behind the scenes kind of guy and liked to support a team as they went to seek success and glory. So the company is getting its problem solved and meeting its desired outcome, meanwhile Tommy isn't even really thinking about that outcome - instead he aligned personal outcomes that were meaningful and led to a satisfactory result, while also personally developing and feeling valuable as part of the team.
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