;-)

Review of “Snakes in Suits”

Review of “Snakes in Suits”
by Robert D. Hare:


A few days ago I unexpectedly came across a book that I believe may be one of the most important books I’ve rea

Read—Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go To Work, by Paul Babiak and Robert D. Hale (2006).

This is not your standard self-help book that panders to readers needing yet another pop-psychology fix. It is a serious but readable treatise on how the psycho-dynamics of predatory behavior manifests in the workplace, the damage that results when this happens, and how co-workers and superiors can and must respond with greater wisdom.

Early chapters describe in broad terms the profile of the psychopath and explain that psychopaths should not be confused with the criminally insane. The traits and behaviors are so subtle that it can be very difficult to discern the psychopaths among us, including those at work.

The authors go on to describe their discovery of the unique ways in which psychopaths behave on their paths to greater influence in organizations. The indicators are so subtle that you will probably think of certain people and wonder if they aren’t psychopaths after all. You may even wonder if you’re a psychopath! But Babiak and Hare are very careful to identify the distinct ways that psychopaths differ from people with normal emotional challenges, ego-needs, and even narcissistic tendencies. This is one of the most clarifying things about their research.

Stereotypical psychopaths who have literally killed without remorse differ from those “snakes in suits” who manifest certain psychopathic traits more than other psychopathic traits. Psychopaths in the workplace practice highly-tuned deception and manipulation whose complicated behavior is revealed with remarkable clarity in this book. And the authors virtually shout a warning to those responsible for the productivity, morale, and culture of their organizations.

The psychopaths spoken of by Babiak and Hare use people for their own aggrandizement. These people often permit this without knowledge of what is happening, until it’s too late and they are discarded. These are the psychopath’s pawns.

Meanwhile, others make excuses for the psychopath, clearing the way for further abuse of power with destructive emotional consequences. These are the psychopath’s unwitting patrons.

The psychopath’s success depends on egregious manipulation disguised by an elaborate fictional persona he adopts to induce trust, create feelings of intimacy, and sustain the perception of unusual expertise. The the authors call this “impression maintenance,” which continues through each of the distinct phases of psychopathic behavior towards individuals: (1) assessment, (2) manipulation, (3) abandonment, and (4) ascension.

It would have been very beneficial to have learned the lessons of Snakes in Suits when I began my professional life some twenty years ago. In countless associations in the academy, the arena of public discourse, the marketplace, and even religious organizations, I’m sure I’ve encountered the occasional psychopath—sometimes a very clever and skilled psychopath, indeed.

It’s never too late to learn, or to warn others. In my personal and professional relationships—especially those that involve mentoring future leaders—I’ll be recommending this book.

Reference : http://douggeivett.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/review-of-snakes-in-suits/

Essential Article for the Modern Leaders

Flight of the Buffalo (From the Book)

Soaring to Excellence, Learning to Let Employees Lead

Book By James A. Belasco and Ralph C. Stayer

October 2005

The authors use examples of herds of buffalo and flocks of geese to explain old and new leadership paradigms. When a head buffalo is killed, the herd just stands around, not knowing what to do. However, when the lead goose is killed, other geese are able to take over and the flock can keep on flying.

A flock of geese represents the new leadership paradigm, which has these principles:

    » Leaders transfer ownership for work to those who execute the work.

    » Leaders create the environment for ownership where each person wants to be responsible.

    » Leaders coach the development of personal capabilities.

    » Leaders learn fast themselves and encourage others also to learn quickly.

In addition to these principles, there were several persistent themes throughout book:

    » A leader must learn that in most instances he or she is the problem.

    » The customer is the boss.

    » Think strategically. Start with what you need for your customer and work backwards.

    » Everyone must be a leader to have effective leadership.

Of course it all starts with the leader, and the leader will often need a coach to be able to see that he or she needs to get out of the way for employees to have a chance to make things work more efficiently. The authors see many leaders who have “fix them” attitudes, when in reality, it is the leader who needs to change.

As the authors discovered, ordering an organization to operate differently can be like asking buffalo to fly. It is a slow process that must start by asking the people involved what the leader is doing to prevent them from assuming responsibility and performing at a higher level.

The authors offer a method “for transforming buffalo into geese…the Leading the Journey (LTJ) leadership system.” The model is based on four leadership activities: Determining Focus and Direction, Removing Obstacles, Developing Ownership and Stimulating Self-Directed Action.

Determining the Focus

Start with the consumers. Ask them what they want. Ask how you can help them be a great performer. Look at your competition as your best friend. Examine their strategies and yours from your customer’s perspectives. Are you creating value for your customer? Are you focusing on a few problems and ignoring the rest?

Removing Obstacles

The first thing to do is ask your people for their input, using this performance management model: (1) the manager determines the overall parameters/objectives, (2) performers and customers set standards, and (3) expectations are reduced to a specific measurable number. An information system is necessary to tell the employees how they are doing, in real time. A reward system must be aligned and considered fair and motivational.

Developing Ownership

The boss’s desk may be where the buck stops, but it is important that it is not also where it begins. Delegation of authority can be tricky if the recipient is unwilling or facing ownership for the first time. The leader’s task is summarized in four letters: FCLP. "In every possible situation, Focus Conversation on Learning about Performance." The authors define success as "ownership for the right responsibilities by the right people."

Stimulating Self-Directed Actions

If possible, leaders should prevent problems, not solve them. One of the best ways to do this is to reward people for solving their own problems rather than rewarding people for bringing them to you. It is also important to eliminate nonessential parts of the business. Simplify operations as much as possible and measure what you want to get done. Expect very high standards. Put the right people in the right positions.

Conclusion

The authors conclude with a discussion on the importance of learning. It frequently involves leaving your “comfort zone” and trying new things and moving faster than you or your colleagues are ready to move. When worried about making mistakes, they quote (without attribution) "he who makes no mistakes ends up making nothing."

I really like the symbols of the buffalo and the geese. I like the very human touch of the admission the authors make that they have their buffalo “V’d” up, as in the format of a flock of geese, but they have not yet taken off. There is even an admission that from time to time their head buffalo mentality comes back without warning. Nonetheless, they make compelling arguments for empowerment and continuous learning.

This may not bother most people, but I found it very disconcerting that the book is written in the first person, even though there are two authors. They explain this by saying that they think alike and have had similar experiences, but I could never quite get over wondering who “I” was in many of the stories, and I found that it detracted from the message.

How business communication helps for Best Business Results

Effective Communication

Source:  http://www.helpguide.org

 

Improving Communication Skills in Business and Relationships

Effective communication helps us better understand a person or situation and enables us to resolve differences, build trust and respect, and create environments where creative ideas, problem solving, affection, and caring can flourish. As simple as communication seems, much of what we try to communicate to others—and what others try to communicate to us—gets misunderstood, which can cause conflict and frustration in personal and professional relationships. By learning these effective communication skills, you can better connect with your spouse, kids, friends, and coworkers.

What is effective communication?

In the information age, we have to send, receive, and process huge numbers of messages every day. But effective communication is about more than just exchanging information; it's also about understanding the emotion behind the information. Effective communication can improve relationships at home, work, and in social situations by deepening your connections to others and improving teamwork, decision-making, and problem solving. It enables you to communicate even negative or difficult messages without creating conflict or destroying trust. Effective communication combines a set of skills including nonverbal communication, attentive listening, the ability to manage stress in the moment, and the capacity to recognize and understand your own emotions and those of the person you’re communicating with.

While effective communication is a learned skill, it is more effective when it’s spontaneous rather than formulaic. A speech that is read, for example, rarely has the same impact as a speech that’s delivered (or appears to be delivered) spontaneously. Of course, it takes time and effort to develop these skills and become an effective communicator. The more effort and practice you put in, the more instinctive and spontaneous your communication skills will become.

Effective communication skills #1: Listening

Listening is one of the most important aspects of effective communication. Successful listening means not just understanding the words or the information being communicated, but also understanding how the speaker feels about what they’re communicating.

Effective listening can:

• Make the speaker feel heard and understood, which can help build a stronger, deeper connection between you.
• Create an environment where everyone feels safe to express ideas, opinions, and feelings, or plan and problem solve in creative ways.
• Save time by helping clarify information, avoid conflicts and misunderstandings.
• Relieve negative emotions. When emotions are running high, if the speaker feels that he or she has been truly heard, it can help to calm them down, relieve negative feelings, and allow for real understanding or problem solving to begin.

Tips for effective listening

If your goal is to fully understand and connect with the other person, listening effectively will often come naturally. If it doesn’t, you can remember the following tips. The more you practice them, the more satisfying and rewarding your interactions with others will become.

• Focus fully on the speaker, his or her body language, and other nonverbal cues. If you’re daydreaming, checking text messages, or doodling, you’re almost certain to miss nonverbal cues in the conversation. If you find it hard to concentrate on some speakers, try repeating their words over in your head—it’ll reinforce their message and help you stay focused.
• Avoid interrupting or trying to redirect the conversation to your concerns, by saying something like, “If you think that’s bad, let me tell you what happened to me.” Listening is not the same as waiting for your turn to talk. You can’t concentrate on what someone’s saying if you’re forming what you’re going to say next. Often, the speaker can read your facial expressions and know that your mind’s elsewhere.
• Avoid seeming judgmental. In order to communicate effectively with someone, you don’t have to like them or agree with their ideas, values, or opinions. However, you do need to set aside your judgment and withhold blame and criticism in order to fully understand a person. The most difficult communication, when successfully executed, can lead to the most unlikely and profound connection with someone.
• Show your interest in what’s being said. Nod occasionally, smile at the person, and make sure your posture is open and inviting. Encourage the speaker to continue with small verbal comments like “yes” or “uh huh.”

Effective communication skills #2: Nonverbal communication

When we communicate things that we care about, we do so mainly using nonverbal signals. Wordless communication, or body language, includes facial expressions, body movement and gestures, eye contact, posture, the tone of your voice, and even your muscle tension and breathing. The way you look, listen, move, and react to another person tells them more about how you’re feeling than words alone ever can.

Developing the ability to understand and use nonverbal communication can help you connect with others, express what you really mean, navigate challenging situations, and build better relationships at home and work.

• You can enhance effective communication by using open body language—arms uncrossed, standing with an open stance or sitting on the edge of your seat, and maintaining eye contact with the person you’re talking to.
• You can also use body language to emphasize or enhance your verbal message—patting a friend on the back while complimenting him on his success, for example, or pounding your fists to underline your message.

Tips for improving how you read nonverbal communication

• Practice observing people in public places, such as a shopping mall, bus, train, café, restaurant, or even on a television talk show with the sound muted. Observing how others use body language can teach you how to better receive and use nonverbal signals when conversing with others. Notice how people act and react to each other. Try to guess what their relationship is, what they’re talking about, and how each feels about what is being said.
• Be aware of individual differences. People from different countries and cultures tend to use different nonverbal communication gestures, so it’s important to take age, culture, religion, gender, and emotional state into account when reading body language signals. An American teen, a grieving widow, and an Asian businessman, for example, are likely to use nonverbal signals differently.
• Look at nonverbal communication signals as a group. Don’t read too much into a single gesture or nonverbal cue. Consider all of the nonverbal signals you receive, from eye contact to tone of voice to body language. Anyone can slip up occasionally and let eye contact slip, for example, or briefly cross their arms without meaning to. Consider the signals as a whole to get a better “read” on a person.

Tips for improving how to deliver nonverbal communication

• Use nonverbal signals that match up with your words. Nonverbal communication should reinforce what is being said, not contradict it. If you say one thing, but your body language says something else, your listener will likely feel you’re being dishonest. For example, you can’t say “yes” while shaking your head no.
• Adjust your nonverbal signals according to the context. The tone of your voice, for example, should be different when you’re addressing a child than when you’re addressing a group of adults. Similarly, take into account the emotional state and cultural background of the person you’re interacting with.
• Use body language to convey positive feelings even when you're not actually experiencing them. If you’re nervous about a situation—a job interview, important presentation, or first date, for example—you can use positive body language to signal confidence, even though you’re not feeling it. Instead of tentatively entering a room with your head down, eyes averted, and sliding into a chair, try standing tall with your shoulders back, smiling and maintaining eye contact, and delivering a firm handshake. It will make you feel more self-confident and help to put the other person at ease.

Effective communication skills #3: Managing stress

In small doses, stress can help you perform under pressure. However, when stress becomes constant and overwhelming, it can hamper effective communication by disrupting your capacity to think clearly and creatively, and act appropriately. When you’re stressed, you’re more likely to misread other people, send confusing or off-putting nonverbal signals, and lapse into unhealthy knee-jerk patterns of behavior.

How many times have you felt stressed during a disagreement with your spouse, kids, boss, friends, or coworkers and then said or done something you later regretted? If you can quickly relieve stress and return to a calm state, you’ll not only avoid such regrets, but in many cases you’ll also help to calm the other person as well. It’s only when you’re in a calm, relaxed state that you'll be able to know whether the situation requires a response, or whether the other person’s signals indicate it would be better to remain silent.

Quick stress relief for effective communication

When stress strikes, you can’t always temper it by taking time out to meditate or go for a run, especially if you’re in the middle of a meeting with your boss or an argument with your spouse, for example. By learning to quickly reduce stress in the moment, though, you can safely face any strong emotions you’re experiencing, regulate your feelings, and behave appropriately. When you know how to maintain a relaxed, energized state of awareness—even when something upsetting happens—you can remain emotionally available and engaged.

To deal with stress during communication:

Recognize when you’re becoming stressed. Your body will let you know if you’re stressed as you communicate. Are your muscles or your stomach tight and/or sore? Are your hands clenched? Is your breath shallow? Are you "forgetting" to breathe?

Take a moment to calm down before deciding to continue a conversation or postpone it.

Bring your senses to the rescue and quickly manage stress by taking a few deep breaths, clenching and relaxing muscles, or recalling a soothing, sensory-rich image, for example. The best way to rapidly and reliably relieve stress is through the senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. But each person responds differently to sensory input, so you need to find things that are soothing to you.

Look for humor in the situation. When used appropriately, humor is a great way to relieve stress when communicating. When you or those around you start taking things too seriously, find a way to lighten the mood by sharing a joke or amusing story.

Be willing to compromise. Sometimes, if you can both bend a little, you’ll be able to find a happy middle ground that reduces the stress levels for everyone concerned. If you realize that the other person cares much more about something than you do, compromise may be easier for you and a good investment in the future of the relationship.

Agree to disagree, if necessary, and take time away from the situation so everyone can calm down. Take a quick break and move away from the situation. Go for a stroll outside if possible, or spend a few minutes meditating. Physical movement or finding a quiet place to regain your balance can quickly reduce stress.

Effective communication skills #4: Emotional awareness

Emotions play an important role in the way we communicate at home and work. It’s the way you feel, more than the way you think, that motivates you to communicate or to make decisions. The way you react to emotionally driven, nonverbal cues affects both how you understand other people and how they understand you. If you are out of touch with your feelings, and don’t understand how you feel or why you feel that way, you’ll have a hard time communicating your feelings and needs to others. This can result in frustration, misunderstandings, and conflict. When you don’t address what’s really bothering you, you often become embroiled in petty squabbles instead—arguing with your spouse about how the towels should be hung, for example, or with a coworker about whose turn it is to restock the copier.

Emotional awareness provides you the tools needed for understanding both yourself and other people, and the real messages they are communicating to you. Although knowing your own feelings may seem simple, many people ignore or try to sedate strong emotions like anger, sadness, and fear. But your ability to communicate depends on being connected to these feelings. If you’re afraid of strong emotions or if you insist on communicating only on a rational level, it will impair your ability to fully understand others, creatively problem solve, resolve conflicts, or build an affectionate connection with someone.

How emotional awareness can improve effective communication

Emotional awareness—the consciousness of your moment-to-moment emotional experience—and the ability to manage all of your feelings appropriately is the basis for effective communication.

Emotional awareness helps you:

• Understand and empathize with what is really troubling other people
• Understand yourself, including what’s really troubling you and what you really want
• Stay motivated to understand and empathize with the person you’re interacting with, even if you don’t like them or their message
• Communicate clearly and effectively, even when delivering negative messages
• Build strong, trusting, and rewarding relationships, think creatively, solve problems, and resolve conflicts

Effective communication requires both thinking and feeling

When emotional awareness is strongly developed, you’ll know what you’re feeling without having to think about it—and you’ll be able to use these emotional cues to understand what someone is really communicating to you and act accordingly. The goal of effective communication is to find a healthy balance between your intellect and your emotions, between thinking and feeling.

Emotional awareness is a skill you can learn

Emotional awareness is a skill that, with patience and practice, can be learned at any time of life. You can develop emotional awareness by learning how to get in touch with difficult emotions and manage uncomfortable feelings, including anger, sadness, fear, disgust, surprise, and joy. When you know how to do this, you can remain in control of your emotions and behavior, even in very challenging situations, and communicate more clearly and effectively.

Improving Emotional Awareness. Emotions are the foundation of your ability to understand yourself and communicate effectively with others. Emotional awareness allows you to understand what others are feeling and to empathize with them.

Importance of Significance of Communication in Modern Business

By by Shahriar

Communication is one of the most important facilitators of modern business. In its broadest sense, the importance of modern business is to effect change, to influence, action toward the welfare of the organization. It is essential in business, govt., military organizations, hospitals, schools, committees’ homes; anywhere people deal with one another. The importance of communication in modern business may be stated follows:

* Basis of effective leadership: Communication transmits the leader’s idea and opinions to the followers. Think  about political leaders who lead and guide the people for the betterment of the society or to fulfill any specific purpose.
* Basis for the movement of ideas and information: It helps to move ideas and information from one person to another person. It can develop a chain of understanding through two-way communication. If there exists no communication media, technique or process then there would be no sharing of any idea or information.

* Provision for data for decision making: it helps the manager to obtain data for decision making, to assist in searching problem, and to know what action are needed. Therefore, communication acts like a storehouse where data, idea or information are available to deal with.

* Smooth and efficient functioning: It helps in all managerial function, such as planning, organizing, directing, motivating and controlling. It server as a fuel to managerial operation and function. Therefore, it makes a chain between past, present and future and helps for effective performance.

* Delegation of authority and responsibility: It helps in decentralization of authority and delegation of responsibility to right person. Through downward communication, superior delegates authority and responsibility to the subordinates. Proper assignment of job and division labor calls for better output.

* Increase in managerial competence: It helps to improve managerial competence and efficiency. Manager use various techniques or tools to command or control over resources. Continues tracking is possible in terms of communication.

* Minimization of cost and time: Efficient communication attempts to minimize time and cost in case of exchange of information. If any message is required to be communicated to thousands of people then we have to think about Newspaper, Television, or Radio which are strong media for communicating any message around the globe.

* Basis information: It acts as a basis of information to each department and helps the employees to perform their respective jobs. So, any action to be taken requires a basisand communication between organization or within organization provides such basis.

* Fulfillment of Organizational objectives: It fulfills the organizational objectives by co-operation and co-ordination among the managerial and working staffs.

* Efficient Human Resources Management: Human resources are recruited, trained and motivated through effective communication. Recruitment involves circular by the organization towards general people. Then interested candidates apply and on the basis of their merit, they are recruited by the respective organization and transformation according to their skillness. The whole activities involve verbal or non-verbal communication.

* Creation of Employee motivation and moral: Managers provide incentives to motivate their subordinates and maintain strong invisible chain. Motivation is based on situation and therefore what should be the way of motivation required judgement by the superior. The perfect motivation towards right person involves effective communication.

* Establishment of public Relation: The management can create cordial relations with govt. customers, creditors, shareholders, regulatory bodies, trade unions and the society as a whole. It ensures sound relation

FREE Business Proposal Format! Business Proposal Template Word.

How to Write a Business Proposal

Source: From Darrell Zahorsky 
To write a business proposal that gets the business requires plenty of preparation and work. The most common mistake made by business proposal writers is a lack of understand of the client’s business, industry and challenges.
Because the business proposal process can be time consuming, it’s easy to want to take the short cut and create a simple template for submitting a proposal. Yet, this quick cut and paste methodology is a path to getting your proposal tossed and your bid out of the running.
To write a business proposal worthy of your clients attention and able to solve their most vexing problems requires information. You need to clearly understand the issues the client is facing while leaving your own assumptions and immediate solutions on the table.
If you want your business proposal to stand out in the sea of competing firms, the essential step is to thoroughly interview your client.
The First Step in Writing a Business Proposal
Getting a client’s business is all about one thing… selling. The best sales person does less talking and more listening. Craft a list of essential questions to understand your potential customer’s business. Here are some questions to help you build your interview question list:

• What is the current challenge your business is facing?
• What is the greatest challenge your industry is facing?
• When did you first determine this business problem existed?
• What have you done in the past to address this issue and what was the outcome?
• What is the best outcome you wish to achieve with this project?
• What current information does your company have to solve this problem?
• Will our firm have full access to the stake holders involved in this project to ensure success?
• Is your company looking for recommendations or also help in the implementation of those recommendations?
• When do you want this project completed?
• To implement our recommendations, what obstacles will be necessary to overcome?
• Do you have a set budget for this project?

Formulating a list of potential questions to ask prior to the meeting will help save any misunderstanding and create the foundation for a successful business partnership.
Before you meet your potential customer, take a few deep breaths and remember they are seriously interested in what your business can offer. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have taken the time to meet with you.
Once you have engaged the client and extracted the necessary information, you now can write a business proposal that has much greater odds in closing the deal.