I recently read two books about the brain (yes I’ll admit that I read books like these on the beach in Maui). I found them both fascinating. I enjoyed them not only for insights into my own thoughts and behaviors, but for the insights and perspective they provide for working with clients, colleagues as well as family and friends. If you have an interest in some of the contemporary understanding of the most important organ in your body, you might want to check these out.
Magnificent Mind at Any Age
Daniel G. Amen, MD has been around for a while. In fact I had the opportunity to visit his clinic in California back in 2002 (no, it wasn’t for me – though I would love to have my brain scanned). At the time, his work was still considered fringe, but he is now a headliner on the Public Television and speaking circuit. In this book, Dr. Amen talks about the brain as what it is – a physical organ. I particularly appreciate his focus on natural ways to improve the health of the brain, while not discounting medication. I think he strikes a good balance.
Dr. Amen writes about how different parts of the brain are involved in different aspects of thought, feelings and behavior. Successful and unsuccessful behaviors along with specific diagnoses such as ADHD, Depression and OCD are categorized by the health or deficiencies in different areas of the brain. The prescriptions for improved health through natural or pharmaceutical means are different depending on which part of the brain is the focus. This makes sense and reinforces the fact that one size does not fit all.
His Brain, Her Brain 
I had the opportunity to see Dr. Larimore speak a few months ago at a nearby church. He was very engaging and entertaining while being educational. He and his wife present the material the same way in their book. “His Brain, Her Brain” presents research into some of the physiological differences between male and female brains as the result of the impact of different hormonal activity from before birth. While the book is primarily oriented toward married couples, anything that increases our ability to understand another person has value in all aspects of life. There are definitely many things in this book that I wish I had learned at a much earlier age. I have not evaluated all of the studies and research referenced in the book but I found the results, as presented, to be consistent with my life experience.
What do these books have to do with business? Well, all business is really personal. It all comes down to people. Systems, processes and technology are meaningless outside of the context of the people who have some stake in them and the outcomes they produce.
Archives for March 2010
Books on the Brain (Literally)
Break The Costly Habit of Intervening. Get More Time and Grow Your Business
One of the hardest habits to break is intervening to solve problems that your employees should handle. For instance, your customer calls you directly about a problem or concern related to a project. Of course it’s faster for you to just handle it then and there. You love taking care of your customer and It might be even be a rewarding distraction to deal quickly with an issue where you have great expertise.
Unfortunately, each time you do this there is a long-term impact that reduces your capacity for future growth/profit/time. Think about it…
Your Customers:
- Become trained to call you if they don’t get the answer they like from your representatives
- Lose respect for your Account Manager since they got a different answer or response from the boss
- Learn how to get the answer they want by exploiting (consciously or subconsciously) multiple channels of communication. This is a great negotiation tactic for them
- Get used to ignoring any organizational structure you might put into place
Your Customer Account Managers (Project Mgr, Relationship Mgr or whatever term you use):
- Become discouraged and lose confidence in their ability to handle client issues
- Stop taking ‘ownership’ of the relationship since they come to assume that it really belongs to you
- Walk around afraid of getting into trouble if they make a decision that the client (or you) may not agree with
- Lose the opportunity to gain the experience and formation around dealing with difficult customer relationship issues
If you are serious about getting more time and being able to grow your business you need to break the habit:
- Start by making sure that your customers understand your organization and the processes you are putting into place
- Practice saying “Let me talk with {Enter Employee Name Here} and we’ll call right you back.” Put a sign on the wall or on your phone if you need to be reminded
- Listen to your Account Manager. Let them explain their perspective and thought processes before you jump to the solution. There’s always more to the story
- Use the opportunity to ‘form’ your staff. Have them make the follow up phone call – with you present if it is going to be a really tough conversation
- Make sure you show support of your staff. If you don’t show confidence in them, how do you expect your customers to?
- Give them the freedom, resources and authority (with appropriate accountability) to take care of your customers. They will make mistakes – just like you did. And if they are keepers, you will reap the benefits in the long run.
- Also, pay attention to ‘core strength’ issues with systems, procedures, knowledge sharing, etc., that may be contributing to the problems being experienced by your customer
It’s not easy to let go and old habits are hard to break – but the effort usually pays big dividends.
Related Posts:
Give the Gift of Experience
Maximize Your Return on Investment from Mistakes