How to Drive for Results Training for Managers and Professionals

What you'll take away from this course

You’ll be able to drive successfully for results without having a negative effect on people. We'll help you find a way of being both tough on the issue and soft on the person.

How the skills you'll practise on this course will make you much more successful at driving for results

Here's an example of someone who was passionate about driving for results but needing to be better at motivating people

He was a dedicated manager working extremely hard and getting frustrated with members of his team who seemed less aware of the urgency of things than he was. He couldn’t always rely on them to do what he needed when he needed it. He would try to chivvy them up by repeating his instructions and raising his voice, but it didn’t inspire people to a greater sense of urgency. He felt bad about it because he put it down to his own lack of leadership ability. 

The way he drove for results before he had the training

The problem lay in how he reacted mentally when people failed to do excwhat he wanted and when he wanted it. The fact that he was in the habit of shouting at them implied that he must have been assuming they were either lazy or unwilling to co-operate. He never considered that there might be a specific obstacle in their way, and that by slowing down and exploring the obstacle he might be able clear it out of the way, and that by doing so he could have what he wanted, plus a much better atmosphere in the department, without expending so much effort, making so much noise, and being so intimidating. 

A wrong assumption that was preventing him from getting the results he was driving for

He was assuming that motivation is something a good leader injects into people. He thought if he could say the right things in the right way somehow his enthusiasm and dedication would rub off on them. When this didn't happen he blamed himself, and his sense of failure was getting in his way. He wasn't applying the same intelligence he used routinely on technical problems. With technical problems he was confident that by slowing down (instead of panicking) and analysing precisely what was going wrong there were few difficulties he couldn't overcome. It never occurred to him that the same mental approach could be very successful with people.

A new approach and new skills that enabled him to drive more successfully for results

First he needed help to be aware of his own assumptions, and to see that an alternative, non-blaming approach would be much more likely to succeed. Then he needed to learn a simple approach that he could rely on as a matter of habit instead of panicking and shouting. The approach was to say firmly and clearly, but quietly:-

• “I’m not happy. That's because you’re not doing what I need you to do. This is not acceptable. But I’m not blaming you. I assume there's something making it difficult for you to do what I want. If we can look at it together and understand exactly what it is we'll probably be able to remove the obstacle it. Then we’ll both be happy.”  

In order to use this approach he needed to develop two skills, the skill of speaking assertively rather than aggressively, and the skill of listening with empathy. He said years later that this training had transformed his management and leadership style. It had taught him that the normal state of employees is to be motivated, and that if they're not it is a sign that there's a specific obstacle that can be identified, understood and cleared away. It had made him much more relaxed. He was now confident he could get people to do what he wanted without creating friction. He said it was the best management lesson he had ever learned.