Personal Strategy: Make It Your Business

Mind Tools Newsletter 43 - 28 February 2006 This newsletter is published by Mind Tools Ltd, of 2nd Floor, 145-157 St John Street, London, EC1V 4PY, United Kingdom. To contact us, please email us from this page. You have received this newsletter because you have subscribed to our double opt-in newsletter. To unsubscribe, just click the link at the bottom of the email se sent you. If you are not already a member and you would like to subscribe, please visit http://mindtools.com/subscribe.htm.

Contents: In This Issue... What's New Storming, Forming, Norming and Performing Mind Tools for Personal Strategy Mind Tools Store Buying Facilitation A Final Note

This issue of the Mind Tools newsletter begins with a look at "What's New" on the Mind Tools website.

From the tools that we have posted in the last two weeks, we've chosen to feature "Storming, Forming, Norming and Performing". This tool can be used to help new teams sooner get to be high performing. Fittingly, this article was written by Helena Smalman-Smith, the newest team member of the Mind Tools team. So please welcome Helena to the team and, Helena, thanks for a great article!

Our feature article this week is about "mind tools" for personal strategy, the art of mapping out the best possible future for yourself. This article takes a look at some of our most popular tools, which help you apply traditional business strategy techniques to your career and life.

And our guest article comes from best-selling author of "Selling With Integrity" and Mind Tools friend, Sharon Drew Morgen. Sharon Drew helps us understand a different way of selling that applies to everyone, whether you are selling tangible products or your ideas. Sharon Drew has trained many people in her "Buying Facilitation" ® method and seen some amazing results. Enjoy the article and see how Sharon Drew's tips can change the way you sell your ideas!

This has been a fun issue for our team to work on and we sincerely hope you enjoy it too. As always, feel free to share it with your colleagues and friends. And, if there is information you would like us to cover in upcoming editions, just let us know!

Best wishes and until next time!

James & Kellie

To find out about new tools on the Mind Tools site the moment they’re uploaded, click here to subscribe to the Mind Tools RSS feed (you'll need an RSS newsreader installed), or here to find out more about RSS.

New tools on the Mind Tools site

• 10th Feb 2006 - The Balanced Scorecard - Motivating employees to deliver your strategy
• 24th Feb 2006 - Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing - Helping new teams perform effectively, quickly
• 22nd Feb 2006 - Using the Greiner Curve - Surviving the crises that come with growth

Find out about new tools on the Mind Tools site the moment they’re uploaded! Click here to subscribe to the Mind Tools RSS feed (you'll need an RSS newsreader installed), or here to find out more about RSS.

New Tool on Mind Tools:
Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing
Helping new teams perform effectively, quickly
By Helena Smalman-Smith

Effective teamwork is essential in today’s world, but as you’ll know from the teams you have led or belonged to, you can’t expect a new team to perform exceptionally from the very outset. Team formation takes time, and usually follows some easily recognizable stages, as the team journeys from being a group of strangers to becoming united team with a common goal.

Whether your team is a temporary working group or a newly-formed, permanent team, by understanding these stages you will be able to help the team quickly become productive.

Understanding the Theory

Psychologist Bruce Tuckman first came up with the memorable words “forming, storming, norming and performing” back in 1965 to describe the path to high-performance that most teams follow. Later, he added a fifth stage that he called “adjourning” (and others often call “mourning” – it rhymes better!)

"Forming"
Teams initially go through a "Forming" stage in which members are positive and polite. Some members are anxious, as they haven’t yet worked out exactly what work the team will involve. Others are simply excited about the task ahead. As leader, you play a dominant role at this stage: other members’ roles and responsibilities are less clear.

This stage is usually fairly short, and may only last for a single meeting at which people are introduced to one-another. At this stage there may be discussions about how the team will work, which can be frustrating for some members who simply want to get on with the team task.

"Storming"
Soon, reality sets in and your team moves into a "Storming" phase. Your authority may be challenged as others jockey for position as their roles are clarified. The ways of working start to be defined, and as leader you must be aware that some members may feel overwhelmed by how much there is to do, or uncomfortable with the approach being used. Some react by questioning how worthwhile the goal of the team is and resist taking on tasks. This is the stage when many teams fail, and even those who stick with it feel that they are on an emotional roller coaster as they try to focus on the job in hand without the support of established processes or relationships with their colleagues.

"Norming"
Gradually, the team moves into a "Norming" stage, as a hierarchy is established. Team members come to respect your authority as leader, and others show leadership in specific areas.

Now the team members know each other better, they may be socializing together, and they are able to ask each other for help and provide constructive criticism. The team is developing a strong commitment to the team goal, and you start to see good progress towards it.

There is often a prolonged overlap between storming and norming behavior: As new tasks come up, the team may lapse back into typical storming stage behavior, but this eventually dies out.

"Performing"
When the team reaches the "Performing" stage, hard work leads directly to progress towards the shared vision of their goal, supported by the structures and processes which have been set up. Individual team members may join or leave the team without affecting the performing culture.

As leader, you are able to delegate much of the work and can concentrate on developing team members. Being part of the team at this stage feels “easy” compared with earlier on.

"Mourning"
Project teams exist only for a fixed period, and even permanent teams may be disbanded through organizational restructuring. As team leader, your concern is both for the team’s goal and the team members. Breaking up a team can be stressful for all concerned and the "Adjourning" or "Mourning" stage is important in reaching both team goal and personal conclusions.

The break up of the team can be particularly hard for members who like routine or have developed close working relationships with other team members, particularly if their future roles or even jobs look uncertain.

Using the Tool
As a team leader, your aim is to help your team reach and sustain high performance as soon as possible. To do this, you will need to change your approach at each stage. The steps below will help ensure you are doing the right thing at the right time.

1. Identify which stage of the team development your team is at from the descriptions above.
   
2. Now consider what needs to be done to move towards the Performing stage, and what you can do to help the team do that effectively. The table below (Figure 1) helps you understand your role at each stage and how to move the team forward.

Figure 1: Leadership Activities at Different Group Formation Stages

Stage	Activity
Forming	Direct the team clearly. Establish objectives clearly (perhaps with a team charter – click here for our article on Team Diagnostics, which gives more information on these.)
Storming	Establish process and structure. Work to smooth conflict and build good relationships between team members. Generally provide support, especially to those team members who are less secure. Remain positive and firm in the face of challenges to your leadership or the team’s goal. Perhaps explain the “forming, storming, norming and performing” idea so that people understand why conflict’s occurring, and understand that things will get better in the future.
Norming	Step back and help the team take responsibility for progress towards the goal. This is a good time to arrange a social or team-building event
Performing	Delegate as far as you sensibly can. Once the team has achieved high performance, you should aim to have as “light a touch” as you can. You will now be able to start focusing on other goals and areas of work
Adjourning	When breaking up a team, take the time to celebrate its achievements. After all, you may work with team members again, and this will be much easier if they view past experiences positively.

3. Schedule regular reviews of where your teams are, and adjust your behavior and leadership approach to suit the stage your team has reached.

Tip 1: Make sure that you leave plenty of time in your schedule to coach team members through the “Forming”, “Storming” and “Norming” stages. Tip 2: Think about how much progress you should expect towards the goal and by when, and measure success against that. Remember that you’ve got to go through the “Forming”, “Storming” and “Norming” stages before the team starts “Performing”, and that there may not be much progress during this time. Communicating progress against appropriate targets is important if your team’s members are to feel that what they’re going through is worth while. Without such targets, they can feel that, “Three weeks have gone by and we’ve still not got anywhere”. Tip 3: Not all teams and situations will behave in this way, however many will – use this approach, but don’t try to force situations to fit it. And make sure that people don’t use knowledge of the “storming” stage as a license for boorish behavior.

Key points:

Teams are formed because they can achieve far more than their individual members can on their own, and while being part of a high-performing team can be fun, it can take patience and professionalism to get to that stage.

Effective team leaders can accelerate that process and reduce the difficulties that team members experience by understanding what they need to do as their team moves through the stages from forming to storming, norming and, finally, performing.

"I'm sure that you've seen the stages explained in Helena's article many times over in real life. So, knowing and applying this tool can make a real difference in helping you lead your team through these often difficult situations. "If, like me, you want to be the best leader you can be, you need to know about and apply ideas like this. Remember that you can learn the most important of these in our 'How to Lead: Discover the Leader Within You' leadership course, which teaches the 48 skills needed to be truly effective leader in business."

Tool Overview:
Mind Tools for Personal Strategy
Reviewed by Rachel Thompson

Personal Strategy is the art of identifying your best possible future, and of mapping out the choices you need to make (and actions you need to take) to reach that future. It's at the heart of what we do at Mind Tools, helping you learn the skills you need for an excellent life and career.

In this article, Rachel looks at how you can use business strategy tools to map out your own way forward, as well as in your work.

The world of business strategy is full of great methods, models and frameworks. As a consultant, I have had the great fortune to work on some fascinating corporate strategy-related projects: There are always new methods and frameworks to add to my professional tool-kit and learn from the latest business thinkers, and from clients and colleagues alike.

Many business strategy methods and models can be applied not just to a whole business but also at any level within an organization. With my "Mind Tools hat" on, I find that many of these are very useful at the personal level too: These methods and models can help you define your personal strategy as well as your business strategy.

Some of Mind Tool’s "old favorite" personal development tools have their roots in business strategy, and we're developing or adapting new strategy-based tools all the time. Here’s a brief tour of some of the tools we offer to help you with you define and implement your own personal strategy. In true Mind Tools style, each of these strategy tools is presented at www.mindtool.com as an easy-to-use and practical tool. Links to each tool are listed at the end of this article.

Let’s start with SWOT analysis. This tool helps you assess your Strengths and Weaknesses, and the Opportunities and Threats you face in your life and career. On one hand, this tool helps you make best use of your strengths, and identify and focus on the opportunities open to you. On the other, it helps you overcome any threats and weakness that may be barriers to your success. Check out the tool at the Mind Tools site: we even provide a SWOT worksheet for you to download and use!

Next, Core Competence Analysis is one of my favorite tools. It helps you identify your competences, and focus your efforts on achieving a unique level of expertise in areas that really matter to your customers and company. By building the skills and abilities that they value, it helps you win respect and advance your career.

PEST Analysis helps you look at the forces of change in your environment. This is important, because it helps you think about and take advantage of the opportunities that change will present, at the same time that it helps you avoid situations that are threatened by change.

And Porter's Five Forces helps you think about who has power in a situation you're in or thinking of moving into. Rewards tend to flow towards the people with power in a situation, so with a little advance thought, you can often shape situations to suit you (or avoid them if they would put you in a weak position.)

Finally, Stakeholder Analysis helps you think about the people who have interest or influence over your projects or career. By identifying and understanding your stakeholders, you can work to win their support for your projects - or your career.

As always, we'd love to hear about your favorite strategy models or frameworks, and about any that you’d like us to feature. Just email to let us know.

• SWOT Analysis
• Core Competence Analysis
• PEST Analysis
• Porter’s Five Forces
• Stakeholder Analysis

Rachel Thompson is an experienced change management consultant and now writes, edits and commissions for Mind Tools.

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The Mind Tools Store:

• How to Lead: Discover the Leader Within You: Learn the 48 simple but essential skills you need to become a top leader in your industry. More >>
  
  
• The Mind Tools E-book: All of the tools on the Mind Tools website in one convenient, easily-downloadable, easily-printable PDF file. We have excluded advertising to enhance clarity and have formatted sections to be easy to read, print and use. More >>
  
  
• Make Time for Success: Learn 39 essential personal effectiveness techniques that help you bring your workload under control and maximize your productivity, so that you can make the most of the opportunities open to you. More >>
  
  
• Design Your Life Design the life you want to live. Set the clear, vivid, powerful goals you need to live it to the full. More >>
  
  
• Personal Coaching from Career Excellence Professionals: Find career and life direction, bring your job under control, build self-confidence and put yourself on the path to long term success with a Mind Tools coach. Our coaches give you the focused personal coaching you need to make the very most of your career and life. More >>

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Guest Article:
Buying Facilitation: Don’t Sell, Get Buy-In
By Sharon Drew Morgen

We often have the mistaken belief that by presenting a great idea or product effectively, by being nice, nice, nice and by showing our ‘concern’ for ‘needs’, people will buy.

You’ve got the prospect, you’ve accurately assessed the needs, you’ve made a good case for how your idea or product fits, and you keep on trying to convince them in a logical, compelling way. You keep on ‘selling’. And yet there is no ‘sale’.

Given what I know is possible (by using my Buying Facilitation Method ®) and from the thousands of stories heard from people I’ve trained, I can honestly say it is far more effective to assist someone in designing their own best decision by using their own unique criteria and managing their own internal, often hidden, issues.

Indeed, the effort of having a prospect choose to buy can be done in a far more efficient way than through the sales process and with dramatically different – and more ethical - results.

A Story About ‘Dad’:
The sad fact is that just because a prospect has a problem that the seller's product can resolve does NOT mean they are ready, willing or able to buy. But you already know that, because you would have closed more deals, ‘sold’ more ideas, if it were so easy.

Here’s a simple story that illustrates the power of the internal status quo on how a prospect makes decisions…

I was asked by a major technology company to persuade one particular family business to beta test a new server. They had already received high quality marketing material and a pitch.

Here’s how the conversation went:

SDM: How is your server currently supporting your needs?
Prospect: Oh. It's ok.
SDM: What's stopping you from getting a system that's better than OK?
Prospect: Dad.
SDM: Um, right. Dad. What does that mean???
Prospect: We're a family business. Dad's been around for 40 years. He manages all of the technology. He's retiring in 2 years.

An efficient server was not their criteria!

There is a Dad in every, single, buying environment - some systemic issue that has created and maintains the status quo. But until or unless that 'Dad factor' gets managed, the buyer will not make a buying decision.

The previous sellers asked questions about the number of users, the age of the old equipment, the future needs. The company obviously needed a new server – so what's the problem! (Dad, of course!).

When No One's Buying:
People who are already thinking of adding some new ideas or buying a new product are already researching possibilities. When you find them, they will have some opening to hearing you, but you will have to compete with their current search.

Other people who have not recognized their needs won’t even know how to hear you. And when you push your need for the other to adopt your idea, they will retreat into their status quo. After all, they have done whatever they’ve done for a long time and their internal systems (their beliefs, values, behaviors, lives, relationships) are set up to maintain the status quo. A great idea from you won’t give them any reason to change their status quo unless they were already willing to change.

It’s Not the Good Idea or Product:
If the prospect already has a recognized problem, they would have the wheels in motion to solve it. And, do you think they would give you, a stranger, the complete data on their ‘need’? Or that you could understand their context, and its implications, of the world they live within? That attempting to exhibit “care” is going to matter when flying in the face of long-term behaviors?

And even if you are someone familiar: they are doing what they are doing for a reason, and they aren’t about to change because you have come up with a ‘vital’ idea.

As a professional, you might really recognize something in their environment that is problematic. But until the person decides how to manage their internal issues that have created and maintain their current status quo, they won’t change, no matter how ‘right’ you are.

So How Do You Get the Buy-In?
My advice: STOP being the salesman, coach or manager. START consulting and helping people find and design their own solutions based on their own unique criteria.

1. DON’T push information, ideas, products, or advice: DO lead people through the relevant issues of their status quo to help them discern all of the issues they need to consider before they would make a change. This capability alone will make you a true consultant.
   
   
2. DON’T ask information-gathering questions, don’t do needs-analysis, and don’t use consultative sales. People inherently have a more complete understanding of their environment than you could ever have; DO lead them through their own needs analysis to include all of the factors that have maintained their current state (often these are not visible to them at first, but “Buying Facilitation” will lead them through all of the systems elements to be perused). Without those factors shifting, no buy-in will happen.
   
   
3. DON’T offer a solution: people must recognize their own idiosyncratic issues, and develop their own solutions that include all of their relevant criteria. Because there is true consulting and no pitch or push, there is nothing they can object to.

By applying these principles of my ‘Buying Facilitation Method’ ®, you can become a true trusted advisor and help people their “right” solution and manage all the internal issues. By not selling, you can facilitate buy-in for your idea or product with amazing and rewarding results.

Sharon Drew Morgen is author of New York Times Bestseller “Selling with Integrity”, “Sales on the Line”, and “Buying Facilitation: the New Way To Sell”. She pioneered the Morgen Buying Facilitation Method® and has inspired and motivated thousands of sales and business professionals. You can find out more at http://www.mindtools.com/rs/SDM.

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A Final Note From James

In the next issue, we interview Mind Tools career and life coach, Midgie Thompson. Midgie talks to Kellie about how to think like an athlete to train for career success. This is sure to be something you don’t want to miss!

We will also review a fascinating book, “How To Get Anyone To Do Anything,” by R. Philip Hanes. Hear about Hanes’ strategies for how to jump-start the impossible, based on his life’s experiences doing just that.

As always, we will also have an update on the latest tools and “What’s New” on the Mind Tools site.

We hope you enjoy this issue and, like us, are already looking forward to the next. Happy reading!

Until next time,

James

James Manktelow

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