Listen For the “We”
Do your employees feel like they’re part of the team? Those who do are likely to make a vastly superior effort. The problem is, it’s not always easy to tell how people genuinely feel. But there is a very effective technique that can give you valuable insight.
In general, people reveal their feelings by the way they express themselves. So what you do is observe their choice of words.
Here’s an example of what I’m talking about: My assistant was telling me about the new orders that came in, and I was very pleased with the way she expressed it. What she said was, “We just got a huge bunch of new orders last night.” My last assistant would have said, “You have some new orders.”
Of course, it’s unfair to make a judgment about someone based on one word. But it’s been my experience that employees who use “we” instead of “you” reveal positive feelings about their relationship to you, your company, and the work they’re doing.
[Ed Note: Being able to understand people is a skill that can make or break a business career. Keep reading here for more information on Paul’s People Power Program.]Paul Lawrence
Paul Lawrence is an entrepreneur who has made his living starting and running a series of profitable businesses. One day while cleaning his mother's pool for a few extra bucks, it dawned on Paul that he could perhaps start his own pool cleaning business. He carefully employed all the marketing techniques that he had learned in school and designed his first flyer. Immediately the business took off and within a week, Paul had his own little business. He quickly expanded, hired employees and then eventually sold it some relatives who made well over $250,000 in the next year before they eventually sold it for a six figure profit. After finishing college, Paul did a brief stint in a management program for a national rental company, but he quickly realized that he was much happier running his own show. Paul left the rental company and launched one of the most financially successful independent ballroom dance instruction companies in the state of Florida where he received quite a bit of media attention for his revolutionary business practices that included front page features in the Life Style section of the Sun Sentinel, features in the Miami Herald, Boca News, Center Stage Entertainment and many others. With that business running profitably, Paul started several other businesses either individually or as partnerships that included a million dollar video production company, a mortgage brokerage, a home maintenance business, several mail order companies, a business consulting service among others.With a love of movies, Paul began to work at breaking into Hollywood as a screenwriter where he's beaten the odds by becoming a produced writer. He is a credited writer for the film CRUEL WORLD, starring Jaime Presley and Eddie Furlong and has signed a development deal for a national television series with one of the world's largest producers of television and films among his half a dozen sales and options of movie scripts he wrote. Paul is the creator of the Quick & Easy Microbusiness program.