Power Goal Setting

The SMART model is recognised as a standard way of structuring successful personal and professional goals and many of us are familiar with the idea of goals being specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound.

However, in many cases goals only focus on WHAT we want to achieve, simply defining the final objective or outcome.

While this can be effective it often leaves out the powerful motivational (or ‘motive in action) energy that drives us to reach outside our comfort zone and really make lasting change.

Powering a goal with an emotional reason or benefit really ramps up the possibility of our achieving the goal because we clearly understand the compelling benefit to us in making it happen.

A better way to structure goals would be to ask ourselves the following questions:

1.              WHAT is the greatest challenge facing me right now or what one thing could I do such that if I do it – it would affect the greatest amount of change for me?

2.    WHY is that important to me…what will I have that I don’t have now when I make this happen?

The first question helps us to identify the most important thing that needs doing, while the second question helps us identify the personal motivation behind the goal – what we really get when the goal is accomplished.

Our chosen goal then has a WHAT and a WHY component – both a focus and a powerful reason for making it happen.

This then allow us to structure the goal in a slightly different but more powerful way using the structure ‘I want to ..our WHAT...so that I..our WHY’.

This is a well-structured, articulated and powerful goal.

For example let’s say that the WHAT part of a goal is that ‘I want to be more organised and in control of my time’. 

The next part is then to ensure that we find the reason WHY this of value to us.

This is what’s called ‘Toward’ motivation – or motive-in-action that drives our efforts and expectations ‘toward’ a successful outcome and the WHY is often personal and highly specific.

For example, in this goal the WHY might be to ‘get home earlier’ or ‘to feel more relaxed’ or ‘to have more personal time’ or ‘to feel more in control’ or ‘to have more choice’ – the WHY reason can be as varied as the person but it has a real, personal value for them which can be a powerful motivator.

A goal that has only a WHAT but no WHY is never as powerful as one that includes both.

Therefore a really successful and motivating goal would read as follows:

‘I want to be more organised and in control of my time - so that I can get home earlier every night’

Can you notice the difference between including the WHY as opposed to just saying ‘I want to be more in control of my time’?

By identifying and including a personal and specific reason for completing a goal and working it into the language of the goal then our success is assured along with a greater sense of self-esteem and confidence in our abilities to create the world in our own unique way.

All successful people take the time to set effective and well written goals, knowing that their lives and careers move from ‘mediocre to magnificent’ and from ‘success to significance’ when we engage with effective goal setting. 

Check out more about building High Trust and High Profits in Business Today at www.SeanWeafer.com

Video on High Trust Business Relationships

Recent video interview with Seán Weafer in London by Andy Lopata Business Networking Strategist, Author and Speaker. andy@lopata.co.uk

For more information on High Trust Business Development go to www.SeanWeafer.com

Professional Speaking for Advisers

Speaking in front of an audience can be one of the most fearful things a professional can be asked to do. However the higher up the ladder you go and the more you want to develop your personal brand the more critical a competency it is.

Here's a link to Alan Steven's Media Coach blog which features an interview with myself, Alan and Lesley Everett the world's top personal and corporate branding expert.

Definitely worth a listen.

Call to Action

I am continually amazed by the number of meetings that business advisers and relationship managers have with clients where there never seems to be a 'call to action' at the end of the meeting.

Any meeting and every meeting should have a specific outcome - there should be a measured difference as a result of the meeting. Have the client do something. Show them that they have not wasted their time in spending it with us. The days of meetings for the sake of meetings are over.

We need to demonstrate value at the end of every client meeting and often that value is about encouraging the client to do something different that either adds value to them or helps move us (both adviser and client) towards a preferred and desired outcome.

Requesting a call (or an invitation) to action engages the client, involves them and makes them a 'co-creator of value' in the process. If we are afraid of them objecting to a 'call to action' remember that it is an objection not a rejection. We simply have to more effectively explain the value that comes from taking the action.

Every meeting ..sound the call.

The Socially/Emotionally Intelligent Adviser

Experience indicates that what clients require now from companies are no longer information 'pushers' or just information 'analysts' - but people who can become 'Co-Creators of Value' for them - advisers with whom they can form relationships with and can show them the way forward in challenging times.

Clients want professional advisers and consultants who both 'create and serve' the relationship for the longer term - in effect non-equity partners in their business.

As a result, professional services and technology firms have a greater expectation that partners and directors should do more effective work around business development and retaining clients as well as connecting and working more effectively with their colleagues and staff to grow business performance - and they are struggling.

This is a significant challenge for professional services firms of all sizes today - the S.I or E.I. Gap - or the gap in the application of social/emotional intelligence to be able to find, create and grow profitable client relationships.

Instead of looking at 'professional' sales people, professional services and technology firms are looking to 'up the game' of their partners, managers and technical directors to build business growth.

They need their professionals to be able to build WOMM (Word of Mouth Marketing) in the market place (and network within larger organisations), to be able to network proactively and professionally to grow business and then use tools like social media to create collegiate and client communities and business opportunities.

However these are not skills that often come naturally to otherwise technically excellent and experienced advisers and so an S.I/ E.I (Social/Emotional Intelligence) skills gap has opened up in senior roles that increasingly needs to be addressed.

Professional advisers, consultants, business owners and key account managers of all sorts need to be able to become more fluent in their engagement with both 'internal' and 'external' clients by learning how to apply the dynamics of emotional intelligence to their roles

This is the future...and it is one on which businesses will stand or fall in the coming years...and the future is now.

Law 2 - The Law of Reciprocity

Reciprocity is an interesting word. It means that if I willingly do something for someone else then they feel inclined or even willing to do something for me in return - but by giving back even more than what I may originally have given them.

It's kind of programmed into most of us to 're-dress the balance' of things.

Of course we will always meet those who are so ignorant or selfish that they are only interested in themselves and see whatever we might do for them as a right. However, they can quickly and effortlessly be dispensed with - we don't need them in either our professional or personal circles.

But for most normal people - we feel inclined to give in return, if someone gives to us first.

A classic example of this principle used in business is where there are 'sampling stalls' in super markets or stores.  We are encouraged to sample the merchandise and - when we do - we often feel happy to buy some of the product and take it home with us. Result for the product promoter!

In the Middle East many carpet sellers welcome you into their stalls with a cup of sweet tea as an offering. They are not just being polite - they are also preparing you to feel indebted... and therefore more likely to buy.

Think about what you can freely give to your prospects and clients. Maybe even things which may not cost you a great deal but which may be seen to have real value in the mind of the client or the prospect. Time, knowledge or even a useful referral. Let the client know that you have them in mind.

By doing so not only are you being of service to your client, you are also piling up the value which at some point they may wish to return by way of reciprocation or 'balancing up' the 'value equation' between you. It could be just the thing to tip that important deal or access to another important prospect that is a member of their circle sometime.

The Universal Laws of High Net Worth Client Engagement: Law 1

1. The Law of Attraction

The law of attraction begins to work for you when you learn to shape your thinking to attract the right information, people and resources that you require to be successful. 

The High Trust Advisor uses this secret as a means of creating the environment and the outcomes that they are looking for.

Some would have us believe that there is some ‘magical’ power or voodoo 'secret' in this but in reality it has more to do with the alignment of our mental perception or awareness than any 'supernatural' abilities.

To make the Law of Attraction work more effectively for us requires that we are crystal clear about not just what the outcome is that we require but also the reason why it’s important to us personally in the first place.

Our focus and our awareness are especially acute if there is a significant value for us in the outcome. 

Tying a powerful emotional value or benefit to the successful accomplishment of any outcome guarantees that our mind creates the motivation (motive in action) to make the outcome  happen. More importantly,  it aligns our mental filters to present us with the opportunities to make things happen by sharpening our awareness and making us hyper aware of when such opportunities present themselves.

By that I mean it aligns our brain to start noticing things that prior to focusing our intention on a particular outcome, we might have missed.

High Trust Advisors (HTA’s) know how to create and act on these opportunities by choice.

By way of example let me tell you a personal story.

Not long after my first son was born my wife told me that if I wanted that sports car I’d always hungered after that now was the time to do it – before any more kids came along…. or else, I’d have to wait until all the kids (both current and clearly those planned for the future) had left college and the house. Because from now on all our cars were going to estate cars or minivans…

 

Delighted that I’d received ‘permission from the missus’ I duly purchased the car I had wanted at that time…low profile tyres, metallic silver paint, convertible …loving this…a dream fulfilled.

So I’ve just bought the car. Now I’m stopped at the traffic lights, the sun is shining and I am feeling good. I’m feeling like I’m something special I can tell you…

I casually glance in my rear view mirror and to my horror, right behind me is the exact…same…model of car…same colour…extras…the lot.

So putting on speed to hastily leave the other guy behind, I turn the corner…only to be confronted by yet another car of the same type (different colour). In the space of about 30 minutes I discovered six similar cars on my travels…they were fleas on a dog – everywhere!

Not such a happy chap now I can tell you. Yet what as happening was the immutable secret of attraction.

I had a very clearly defined sense of focus (the car), I had a powerful emotional tie to this particular car (desire) and I had invested a significant value in the car (the money I borrowed to pay for the car). So my brain had been sent a very powerful message to identify this particular car whenever it appeared in my radius of perception.

As humans we receive a vast range of information consciously (some say 200,000 and others 2 million bits of information per second – anyway, it’s a lot) but we can only consciously process what’s called ‘the magic number’ – which is 7 plus or minus 2 things. 

Which means, that the conscious mind can be terribly limited but nevertheless, we rely on it to define what we perceive to be our ‘reality’.

So what happens to all the other ‘bits’ of information? The information is deleted, distorted and generalised to fit our personal ‘reality’ by a series of ‘perception’ filters in the brain.

What impacts on these filters are things like our values, our early condition and experiences, our sense of worth, education and so on – so you could say we ‘see, hear and feel’ a reality unique from everybody else.

By being able to change these ‘filters’ - by ‘reprogramming’ them - we are able to quickly identify from all the vast amount of information that is coming at us the key things that matter most in making our goal or intention a reality.

In other words, we are able to programme our sense of awareness to pick up on the right information, people or resources in our ‘radius of perception’ to provide us with the opportunity or access that we have been looking for – whereas someone who does not know how to align their thinking to spot these opportunities is at a distinct disadvantage.

It is by understanding this psychological principle - and knowing how to set well structured and articulated goals that change our ‘perceptional filters’ - that we as High Trust Advisors can drive our personal and professional success using the Law of Attraction.

We should not attempt to divine the future - rather exert yourself and be it's creator. Simply begin.