I think we all know that we are in for tougher times ahead, and in the training and development world that often means that training budgets are cut because ’soft-skills,’ training is often seen as a nice to have rather than a have to have. And of course, as a sales team, we will need to get very clever as to how and where we apply our efforts…

I was reading an article last night about how to ‘Recession-Proof your Workforce,’ by TalentSmart. In this article they spoke of the importance of organisations focusing on increasing the emotional intelligence of their workforce so that they can more effectively deal with the tough time ahead. So how does ‘Sussing Personalities,’ fit in…?

Well for those of you who have seen the magic that can be created when people (or personalities) are in sync with each other, or the devastation when they are not, I probably don’t need to paint you a picture! But just to get a little more specific, in most work environments, one of the things that can have a huge impact on productivity is people’s ability to communicate and collaborate together in order to get the work done. When this is not happening, some of the things you may see are: one strong personality shutting down another in a meeting, good ideas not being shared or considered as they should, people that absolutely rely on each other to get the work done avoiding each other, compliance vs commitment, communication styles that clash, prolonged decision-making because you need to get the people stuff sorted out first, need I go on…?

One of the greatest benefits of the ‘Sussing’ workshop is that it introduces some very practical ways to help improve one’s emotional intelligence in the areas of self-awareness, self-management, and relationship management. It creates a common platform for people to understand themselves better, as well as those on their team. As times get tougher and the pressure and volitility in our work environments increases, ‘All the knowledge and technical skill in the world, can’t address a productivity issue that is rooted in poor emotional coping mechanisms (2008, TalentSmart).’ I strongly believe that the organisations who really get this and make a deliberate effort to do something about it, will come out better and stronger as a result.

Oh, and by the way, I wouldn’t be a good sales person if I didn’t go in for the close, if you want to be one of those organisations that comes out better and stronger as a result…give us a call…I know we can help!