SUCCESS OF THE WEEK
This week’s success shows how our learner was able to use questions to turn around a potential project loss, to a project win…
“We were about to lose a big project and I had a conversation with the leader in charge of the team. We could have a rescue meeting with the customer to support the local salesperson, and this wouldn’t suit the leader as he already had visits of his own booked. Normally I would just say “no let’s get a meeting face to face” and ask them to book it in (better chance to rescue the situation). But I wanted the leader to come to this conclusion himself so he had more ownership of it.
Instead, I asked: “What do you think is the best action to give us the best chance to convince the customer to go with us for the project?” The leader answered: “Going face to face would be better, but I have a day of my own sales calls booked and I am really trying to lead by example for the team, so cancelling them wouldn’t be ideal” I responded: “Out of your sales calls and this rescue visit, what would have the biggest impact on your overall sales result?” The leader answered: “The visit with one of my members, as the repeat amount is huge” I answered: “Ok, and what would the negative be for you moving or changing your visits” The leader answered: “I would just have to move them, and have slightly less of my own visits this month” I responded: “Ok, what shall we do then?” So the leader visited the customer face to face with the local salesperson, moved his visits and we rescued the project.
I think we would have made that action anyway in the end, and got a similar result, but the way we got there was way more engaging/consultative and supportive.”
Project win £720,000
Our learner used what they had learned in one of their STAR® missions to resolve this customer complaint. How would you have responded in the same situation?
This week’s success shows how our learner was able to use STOP triggers to diffuse a difficult situation, resolve a conflict and deliver a better solution for everyone…
“A customer came into the branch and complained (in an aggressive manner) that our driver was useless and wouldn’t be using the branch again. Before becoming too defensive, I used all of my different triggers to make sure I didn’t become too confrontational and this calmed the situation down, almost immediately. After carefully listening and not interrupting, I asked them if I could discuss it with them further on site, and on their own terms. This gave me further time to make sure I had all the correct information. On further investigation, it was discovered that we couldn’t gain access to the site with the size of our vehicles. We came up with a solution, and going forward we have been supplying the site using our smaller vehicles. Rather than using a defensive reaction I used the STOP triggers to make sure there was a better outcome for all parties.”
Our learner used what they had learned in one of their STAR® missions to resolve this customer complaint. How would you have responded in the same situation?
This week’s success shows how our learner used a powerful combination of listening and asking to help a team member to get back on track…
“Listening effectively helped me to better understand the underlying problems that were impeding a team member from meeting a programme deadline. I used powerful questions to help them to establish what was required to rectify the issues and facilitate the completion of the task. This challenging conversation went as planned due to the techniques I’d learned on the STAR® Manager programme about how to better prepare for and conduct my conversation.”
Could you benefit from learning how to take the challenge out of challenging conversations with your team members?
This week’s success shows how our learner was able to use an Enquiry-Led Approach (ELA®) to help a manager in their team to address and resolve problems that were getting in the way of performance and engagement……
“When a manager was complaining about an issue they were having with a direct report, I was able to change the interaction into a coaching conversation. By actively listening I quickly realised that an Enquiry-Led Approach would likely help them to reflect and see a more positive way forward. The manager was avoiding what they knew they needed to do. By asking effective questions about his perception vs reality I was able to get him to focus on the real problems that he needed to address. At the end of the conversation, they had agreed to move forward two specific actions: setting an improvement plan for the manager with specific targets and target dates agreed, and referring the manager to our EAP to support some issues they were having around work-related stress. When I followed up with the manager I found that by systematically working through the improvement plan, as well as offering and providing support, the manager had really improved his engagement and performance. Mistakes started to reduce and the relationship became more open.”
How could you use an Enquiry-Led Approach (ELA®) to help your managers to step up?
This week’s success shows how our learner adopted a coaching state to help a team member overcome their limiting beliefs which resulted in revenue generation of over half a million pounds…
“A team member was struggling to work out how to agree new commercials and contracts for a client. I utilised my learnings from the STAR® programme to get into a coaching state and asked a series of powerful questions to help explore the areas they were struggling with. This uncovered some limiting beliefs which were holding them back. We talked through their limiting beliefs which resulted in being able to remove these barriers. The outcome – they closed a new contract with the client resulting in increased revenue for the company. Revenue Generation – £637,000″
Do your team members have limiting beliefs holding them back? Could you benefit from learning how to use a coaching approach to help them overcome them?
This week’s success shows how STAR® helped one learner to quickly improve the results of recruiting a critical hire by using the power of questions…
“After 18 months of struggling to fill a vacancy, having advertised and interviewed candidates in two unsuccessful campaigns, I decided to use a coaching, enquiry-led approach when working with the Director of Operations & Finance to fully explore the requirements of the role, why the previous campaigns had not yielded results and what we could do differently in order to fill the vacancy. By thinking slightly differently, we discovered that the job description was getting in the way of us finding the right candidate and making it impossible to appoint anyone. Consequently, we decided to prioritise the soft skills required over the hard skills, and we have now appointed a talented candidate. This has been a great success for the Business School and has resulted in a cost-saving of £10,000.”
Are you struggling to attract talent right now? How could STAR® help you?
This week’s success shows how our learner used a powerful question to help a team member secure support from key stakeholders for an important project…
“During a conversation with a team member about a project, I asked a powerful question: ‘You have a stakeholder session coming up, to enable you to move forward with this, who else do you need to speak to and how will having that conversation help you with this project?
This caused them to stop and think about the purpose of the stakeholder discussions and what they wanted to get from them. In doing so, they developed a better understanding of the stakeholders’ expectations BEFORE they went into the group stakeholder meeting and were better prepared to answer the stakeholders’ questions.
Consequently, the stakeholders were able to develop a clearer picture of the project costs versus the benefits and agreed to develop the project in the next fiscal year.
Without my use of powerful questions there would have been a delay in the project work and less support from the stakeholders.”
What powerful question could you ask to help your team members to get the best possible results?
This week’s success shows how our learner identified a coachable moment in a meeting that resulted in the faster execution of a project and cost savings of £40,000…
“I identified a coachable moment during a meeting with a team member. The focus of the meeting was on a project that required planning, preparing, resourcing and budgeting.
I had a positive feeling and my anchor was fully triggered and I stopped and listened to everything that was being said, I then asked some really great questions, for example: ‘This project is a concern, so what is concerning you?’, ‘What might help to speed this up?’, ‘Great idea. How will you do this?’ We then moved on to ‘Result’- which led to clear actions with deadlines being set.
Successes include the project being signed off first time and the budgeted savings being achieved on time and in full, saving £40,000. The coaching approach also helped develop my team member to do more of this thinking and way of working on future projects with further potential savings.”
What could happen if you used a coaching approach in your meetings?
This week’s success shows how our learner was able to increase team engagement and improve results by asking questions rather than telling…
“I struggled at first to get to grips with asking questions rather than telling. It took some time to get the hang of it however I can honestly say the success from this has been huge. Embedding this Operational Coaching® style in my day-to-day job role has really helped the engagement of my staff members. Once I got more comfortable in asking questions you could see the whole dynamics of the team change for the better. I had more engaged staff members and we could see that our results improved.”
Could you improve the dynamics in your team by learning how to ask better questions?
This week’s success shows how our learner used better questions to help a team member rethink unhelpful assumptions and take actions that resulted in time and cost savings…
“I asked a member of my team if there were other options we could explore? They said that they’d been looking at possible alternative suppliers but didn’t think we had enough time to progress with them. I asked them what they could do to find out what was possible. This led my team member to make contact with the other suppliers, and after exploring options, we were able to choose a different supplier with a lower total cost and shorter lead times which resulted in a cost-saving of £30,000.”
What questions could you ask to remove the barriers that prevent your team members from taking action?
This week’s success shows how a learner used powerful questions to unlock limiting beliefs which enabled them to gain buy-in and deliver a commercially important reorganisation…
“I wanted to integrate one of the departments into the main function that oversees that area of the business. Commercially it made sense but the Team Leader wasn’t keen to move into this department because of their perception of the current team.
By asking questions, we uncovered limiting beliefs that were causing these concerns.
I explored their concerns further and agreed actions which included them speaking to others within the team to get their views on how they actually worked. Through these actions, the individual discovered that their beliefs were misaligned with the reality of the situation.
As a result, they were happy to move into the new team and went on to proactively put in place an integration plan.“
What beliefs may be stopping change from happening in your organisation and what questions could you ask to find out more?
This week’s success shows how our learner used powerful questions to help their team members to identify improvements that resulted in time savings…
“I asked one of my team members a powerful question which led to them stop for a moment and think after which they identified for themselves an improved method for sharing stakeholder updates. Consequently:
1. ‘Internal customer value’ (ICV) will have a standard template for the teams to use
2. In having this template it will save time for the people sharing stakeholder updates
3. It will also save time for my team in the future when running any ICV sessions across the business”
What benefits could you drive by asking more powerful questions?
This week’s success shows how our learner was able to use powerful questions to engage the team in resolving a resourcing issue and bridge a skills gap…
“I encouraged the whole team to get involved in producing a job specification for a replacement member of staff. I started the conversation by asking powerful questions to find out what everyone felt were the most important parts of this role were and how those related to their individual functions. Together, we produced a revised job spec which we forwarded for consideration by the Director.
The conversation made everyone feel less worried about how we would fill the skills gap in our team and made everyone feel part of the process.
The finalised job specification has now been issued for approval and will help us to identify the right candidate to fill the position and meet the operational requirements of the Marketing Department.“
Could you build more ownership and generate more support for solutions simply by asking better questions?
This week’s success shows how developing feedback skills has been a game-changer in terms of driving engagement and productivity for this learner…
“The feedback module has been incredible! From STAR® Coach I worked on my appreciative feedback. Now I’m using developmental feedback too and it’s working really well. Asking for permission has been such a game-changer, rather than just trying to squeeze it in. Brilliant! The ownership of feedback and ‘I’ statements makes such a difference, and having powerful questions to follow up is really helpful.“
Could you benefit from developing great feedback skills?
This week’s success shows how our learner was able to empower their team to take ownership for their work…
“By asking powerful questions and engaging my team members in discussions around decision making, I feel that I’ve started to get to know my team better. I now see them as allies in working towards a more streamlined and effective service.
By empowering my team and unleashing their potential, I have already seen them take more ownership for their work and develop into more independent workers, freeing up my time to think strategically rather than always playing catch up.
This has helped my team members to develop personally and professionally and as a result, the team is happier, more effective and delivers robust and dependable services.”
What could you do to improve ownership in your team?
This week’s success shows how our learner was able to spend more time focusing on higher-value work by helping a project team member become more independent and resourceful…
“A Project Manager brought a potential issue to me which required solving. Instead of solving it for them, I asked them ‘what do you think we could do to solve this?’.
They stopped, thought through the issue and next steps, took ownership of the actions, completed them and then subsequently reported back on the task once completed.
This reinforced to them that they knew what they were doing, which will save us both time going forward. As a Project Team, this allowed me to continue with higher-value work.”
What powerful questions could you ask to bring more clarity to a situation?
This week’s success shows how our learner used powerful questions to help their team member take ownership of their career development and retain talent…
“I recently had a catch up with a member of my team about their development plan. The conversation was open and honest in relation to the role they are in now and what they could achieve in the future. I used powerful questions to enable the individual to realise their own plan and potential to progress.
The very next day I had a call from a colleague asking who the individual was as they had applied for an internal role that would be an internal promotion.
The success was the individual realising their own potential and applying for a new role to achieve their personal development plans plus we got to retain our talent.”
What powerful questions could you ask to bring more clarity to a situation?
This week’s success shows how our learner successfully used STOP to change the course and the outcomes of a meeting…
“I tested the STOP triggers within a Steering group meeting. The site General Manager had raised a point however I noticed that the team had not fully understood it. So I asked: ‘What is it you are wanting to get from the team today?’ which then led to another question: ‘What are you expecting to see?’
Following the initial responses I then asked:
‘What would be the benefits of this?’ and,
‘What will it look like when it’s fully in place?’ and,
‘What is the outcome overall?
The team then started to reflect, explored scenarios, shared their thoughts, ideas and plans in a way that generated clear actions and accountability with timelines.
I didn’t step in giving answers but rather triggered many questions that the team then thought about and discussed.
We ended up with a clear and robust plan that everyone was brought into implementing.”
What powerful questions could you ask to bring more clarity to a situation?
This week’s success shows how our learner used a questioning approach to drive new solutions that got quicker results and saved them money…
“We had many positions to recruit. In a meeting, we were told to submit 6 roles to an agency with a high fee, because the roles urgently needed to be filled.
During a discussion with the team, I asked: ‘Who else in the organisation has previous recruitment skills?’. We identified 4 people in the business. The next question was: ‘What would motivate them to assist recruitment with these roles?’.
Once we had put a plan together, these 6 roles were filled in 10 days and saved the company over £30,000 in agency fees”
What opportunities could you be missing by not asking really great questions?
This week’s success shows how our learner used powerful questions to have a much more effective 1-to-1…
“I prepared in advance some powerful questions to ask my team member at our one-to-one meeting.
The result of asking these questions led them to share some useful feedback which has allowed me to understand how I can further help them develop in their role.
We have now scheduled some additional training sessions and I’m adapting my working style to further assist them.
It turned out to be a very useful exercise and it has inspired me to use questions much more going forward.
What could you do differently to get even better results from your 1-to-1s?
This week’s success shows how our learner used a questioning approach to empower their team to make decisions that really have an impact…
“I had a tendency to try and make all the decisions myself. As a result of the programme I’ve started to ask more questions of the team such as: ‘What decision would you make in these circumstances?’
This has allowed my team to start thinking more for themselves, which has led to them making better decisions to benefit the business when I’m not there to support them.
One example was making the decision to change maintenance exams to protect the availability of the fleet. This decision generated a business benefit that was valued at £15,000.”
What would happen if you stopped making all of the decisions and instead let your team come up with their own answers?
This week’s success shows how our learner was able to use enquiry to help improve processes and reduce lead times…
“There were lots of people involved in the process from sales to planning to manufacture to installation. It seemed that each person was doing things their way without knowing how other people were working or what would make the process easier.
After having conversations with each of them individually and asking better questions such as: ‘What would make your section of the process easier?’ They called a team meeting and clearly identified what the process would look like and what each person would need.
Since then, the lead time has been reduced by a week.” Value £10,000
Could you benefit from taking more of an ‘enquiry-led approach’?
This week’s success shows how by starting a conversation with a question our learner was able to help their colleague solve an issue themselves…
“I had a conversation with a developer who kept coming to me with a repeated issue. In the past, I went into ‘doing’ mode right away to help them out. This time I started the conversation by asking: ‘What do you know already that will help you fix this problem?’
After initial retrospective thinking, they realised they already knew the answer to this question, from reviewing various ways they had solved the issue before. As a result, they didn’t require my assistance and they no longer come to me about this or similar issues.”
Think of the possibilities if you stopped ‘doing’ and started asking questions instead.
This week’s success shows how our learner’s coaching approach has helped them have much better conversations with their team members about their PDPs…
“I have been coaching my team on PDPs for themselves and also as part of their role to coach and enable others. Using coaching skills; great questions, listening, probing and summarising has really worked to build their confidence both in PDPs but also doing a coaching session with others on this. The result of this is that they are growing in confidence and will release my time to focus on Store Managers… One of my team has been inspired to attend an IML5 coaching and mentoring taster.
Is your team getting the most out of their PDPs?
This week’s success shows how our learner used an insightful question to engage a colleague and generate far better than expected results worth thousands…
“We needed a roadmap and plan for an existing product. I started the conversation with an insightful question and the person got more involved and the outcome was even better and more detailed than I hoped.” Value: £10,000
Try opening your next conversation with an insightful question and see what happens next.
This week’s success shows how our learner was able to save time and resources by helping a colleague become more resourceful and independent instead of stepping in to solve the problem…
“My colleague asked me to attend a troubleshooting session because they thought that I knew more than they did about a specific IT issue. I knew there weren’t many items they needed to learn before they could resolve it themselves, so I asked them to think of the things they think they should know in order to solve the problem. In the end, they successfully worked with the troubleshooter to fix the problem. Working together in this way saved me time and my colleague is now trained and more confident to work independently, which is also saving the company resources.”
Where would you invest your extra time if your colleagues were more resourceful and independent?
This week’s success shows how our learner used a new approach to help a colleague to step up and shine in a strategic meeting which contributed to future business worth £1m…
“I created an opportunity for one of my team members to present their ideas during a strategic meeting. I wanted them to have the chance to shine in front of the management team. They prepared well, secured my support, and the presentation went very well. They got positive feedback and their ideas helped prepare for future new business.” Value £1m.
Are you shining a light on the talent in your team and unlocking their full potential?
This week’s success shows how our learner is using their new coaching skills to have more effective conversations…
“In a recent conversation I used the STOP skill and went to my NLP anchoring technique, it changed the conversation greatly, and my whole outlook was different. By using the coaching skills I’ve learnt, I was able to have a really good conversation with the individual which resulted in them going away and resolving the issue all by themselves.”
Wow – This week’s success shows how moving to ASKING instead of TELLING can lead to transformational outcomes. In this example one conversation generated £200,000 of cost savings.
“By asking the team to describe the status of team utilisation, office utilisation and what people were doing we found efficiency gains.” Cost Savings: £200,000
This week’s success shows how one learner used insightful questions to help a team member generate new ideas that created increased ownership and a great commercial outcome.
“I was holding a budgeting session with my team member and I was continuously asking insightful questions. This led my team member to think, generate new ideas and feel to be the owner of their area. The net result was a list of new targets we could add to our pipeline…” Value: £50,000
This week’s success shows how our learner took a coaching approach during a team meeting rather than ‘managing’ the meeting to generate ideas and ownership for actions…
“I helped facilitate a team meeting to review our returns process by encouraging the group to attend but I tried not to over-control the conversation. I found the less I interjected and the more I asked insightful questions, the more the team responded with their opinions which led to the team establishing takeaways and to-dos. I was about to document these and circulate them at the end of the conversation, however, the team did this without prompting. Not only are there benefits to the items we discussed and the takeaways, I found I didn’t have to ‘manage’ the situation as much as I would have insisted on previously.”
What would happen if you spent less time ‘managing’ and more time ‘coaching’ your team?
This week’s success shows how listening helped our learner to collaborate more effectively with their team…
“I had to hold consultations with the team regarding the office relocation. All of the views were different but I approached the meetings in a more collaborative way and allowed people to get their objections off their chest. I asked a number of open questions and allowed people to finish before speaking. I was very open and explained that many of the requests they had made could not be met… I’m certain that it was a lot smoother as I actually listened to them and they were able to get their points across.”
Are you listening to your team?
This week’s success shows how our learner was able to improve email communication with customers using a new approach…
“By stopping and thinking before asking, I was able to ask a thoughtful question that the customer via email was able to understand and provide usable feedback. I’ve discovered that email doesn’t provide the best way to have a conversation unless you ask the right questions.”
Could you improve your customer emails by asking insightful questions?
Wow! This week’s success shows how a series of small coaching moments can deliver huge rewards in increasing confidence, productivity, quality and efficiency…
“With one colleague, in particular, I have had multiple coaching moments and opportunities to ask them insightful questions and I have been able to give positive feedback. As a result, I have seen a very big uplift in their confidence, ability to problem solve and complete new tasks without assistance and also an increase in productivity which has benefited the team and the company. The colleague is now able to work much more independently without having to validate their work; this confidence has led to an increase in the quality and accuracy of what they do as well as increasing their efficiency.”
This is such a great example of how a small change in your approach can reap massive benefits for the people you manage and, in return, for your performance too as a manager.
Don’t you want to be an awesome manager like this learner?
This week’s success shows how our learner used a simple and powerful question to increase motivation in their team…
“I flipped the discussion I had with my team by asking “Where would you like to be by the end of the week?” This seemed to motivate them as well as giving me a better insight into their current understanding of how tasks fit into the wider business. A small win, but a win!”
Great question! Every good question can lead to a win and small wins add up fast to big changes.
What small win could you have today that will help your team to increase their motivation?
“With one colleague, in particular, I have had multiple coaching moments and opportunities to ask them insightful questions and I have been able to give positive feedback. As a result, I have seen a very big uplift in their confidence, ability to problem solve and complete new tasks without assistance and also an increase in productivity which has benefited the team and the company. The colleague is now able to work much more independently without having to validate their work; this confidence has led to an increase in the quality and accuracy of what they do as well as increasing their efficiency.”
This is such a great example of how a small change in your approach can reap massive benefits for the people you manage and, in return, for your performance too as a manager.
Don’t you want to be an awesome manager like this learner?
This week’s success shows how our learner used a coachable moment with excellent results for their colleague and their customers…
“A Contact Centre colleague called me asking whether I could action something from a call they were having with a customer. Instead of agreeing to the action and doing it myself, I noted the action only took a couple of minutes so we had time to do it together whilst they were on the phone. I coached them through the process and they completed it on their system and took notes for future reference. They will now be able to complete the action themselves which saves them time calling me and also shortens the call with the customer. I am doing this with any Contact Centre colleagues moving forward if I know a coaching moment is possible.”
How many coachable moments do you have every day?
This week’s success shows how our learner was able to diffuse a situation through really listening and using a coaching approach to move forward…
“I was able to diffuse a situation with a colleague who had a negative response to a work arrangement. I acknowledged her concerns, listened to her and asked her questions. In the end she was happy to proceed because she felt listened to.”
What might you learn about your colleagues if you listened more often and more effectively?
This week’s success shows how asking questions rather than giving advice can transform previously challenging 1-to-1s…
“Wow! What a difference. I’ve always had a strained relationship with one of my team. We work together professionally, but we haven’t managed to build much rapport. I decided to try out my last Mission during our 1-to-1 and asked a question instead of giving advice; they immediately relaxed and started talking. I felt that we achieved more in that 1-1 than in the last 2 years working together.”
How could you use questions to transform your 1-to-1’s?
This week’s success shows the direct impact this manager has had by developing their leadership and management skills – namely a happier and more productive team! How fantastic is that?
“I feel I am a better leader now than I was. My team is happier and they are more productive. They are achieving more without having to come to me for the solutions. I’ve used the tools and methodologies I’ve learned to get better overall results.
What could you and your team achieve if you developed yourself as a leader?
This week’s success shows how our learner used questions, appreciative feedback and empathy to engage a colleague in driving a commercially valuable project to be completed on time…
“I’ve learned a HUGE lesson. When working with a colleague to move a project on I asked many questions; how he was coping, what issues he was experiencing and how he thought that would impact the project. I gave feedback, I empathised, I gave praise for an outcome he’d achieved and I also got approval from him to help with adding tasks to his Gantt chart. This reinforced communication and collaboration and resulted in a plan to keep driving his department with tasks on time and also help the procurement and planning of the project.
The overall value to us is £189,000.”
In what different ways could you engage with your colleagues to guarantee that your projects deliver fantastic results?
This week’s success is a great example of how making small changes in the way you interact with your team can reduce your stress.
“I am now helping my team to unlock their own potential. I am not just taking over and doing it myself and adding to my work load. As a result, I feel less stressed because I am helping individuals to solve problems and not taking them on myself.”
How could you benefit from being stress free in 2021?
This week’s success shows how our learner was able to change their approach during a difficult conversation to achieve a much better outcome…
“I recently had a difficult conversation with a team member. Normally this type of conversation would have ended in me getting fairly angry, however, the tools learnt throughout the STAR® programme enabled me to actively listen and be much more constructive which resulted in a far better outcome for both of us.”
Could you benefit from learning how to take the challenge out of challenging conversations?
This week’s success is about how one learner used powerful questions to resolve a long-standing customer query and improve processes to prevent the issue reoccurring…
“I’d just started working on a new account which had a long-standing query. By asking questions across numerous meetings I was able to resolve the query, which was worth £35,000 to us, and put in solutions to avoid costly queries being outstanding for long periods of time again.”
What’s your approach to handling customer queries? Could you be asking better questions to get better results?
Our first Success of 2021 is a great example of how using insightful questions ultimately frees up your time and allows you to focus on the future…
“By asking insightful questions and engaging team members in discussions around decision making, I have started to get to know the team better and can see them more as potential allies in working towards a streamlined and effective service. By unleashing the potential within the team I can already see them take more ownership. The team is benefiting from personal and professional development and my time is freed up to think about future initiatives rather than always playing catch up, and the organisation benefits from having a happier and more effective team, leading to more robust and dependable services.”
What steps could you take to unleash more time for your priorities?
This week’s success is a great example of how asking powerful questions can lead to a customer-centric approach that also offers creative and commercially valuable solutions…
“In a complex situation but with a clear trend visible, I asked: ‘What would you suggest to do internally to create a solution to unlock the business?’ The question provoked an out of the box answer that is moving the organisation to find a solution valued at £300,000 rather than leaving the customer to struggle with the issue.”
How could you use questions to provoke out of the box solutions?
This week’s success shows how our learner used insightful questions that led to an increase in the sales pipeline…
“In a budgeting session with my team member I continuously asked insightful questions that led him to think, to feel like the owner of his area and to generate new ideas. The net result was a list of new targets that we could add to our pipeline with a value of £45,871.”
Great result!
This week’s success is about how our learner was able to empower their team to come up with new ways of working that’s already delivered commercial results…
“Through giving a task to the team, asking open questions and asking them to come up with a structure and proposals, they have developed themselves, created an improved structure and a new way of working. The value of this new way of working has already been over £45,000.”
In what better ways could your team be working?
This week’s success shows how our learners changed their habitual behaviour resulting in them empowering a member of their team…
“In a recent conversation I used the STOP skill and my NLP anchoring technique and it changed the conversation greatly. My whole outlook was different. Using my new coaching skills, I was able to have a really good conversation with the individual which resulted in them being able to resolve the issue on their own..”
When talking to your team members, could you change the course of events if you took a moment to STOP?
Learning to STOP is the first part of the 4-step STAR® Model that can transform your management capability.
This week’s success shows how our learner was able to generate huge commercial results by asking their sales team great questions…
“I thought through questions to ask my sales team. I asked them to evaluate how they are doing on value-added products. Starting with an assessment of what they have to sell and how they expect to do that. I also asked if they need support from the organisation. This has led to a more rigorous assessment of the task and more progress in closing accounts. The impact of this evaluation has been worth £500,000 to us.”
What questions do you think could drive performance in your team?
This week’s success shows how our learner used questions to help deepen everyone’s understanding of critical issues with very powerful consequences…
“We’ve been working on our race equality commitment in the light of Black Lives Matter. I was due to deliver some training around this to a number of leaders. Instead of starting with the slides, I started with some fantastic open questions, asking BAME colleagues questions about their experience, based on genuine curiosity.
The result? A really fantastic conversation, culminating in 20+ leaders having thought very carefully about race and really committed to have similar conversations in their teams – with a significant impact on BAME colleagues and leaders and the community.
ROI? Immeasurable – as powerful as it gets.”
Could questions change the conversations you’re having and help you to drive real change?
This week’s success shows how our learner was able to use powerful questions in a negotiation…
“In a price negotiation, the prospect wouldn’t share any information on their expectations and only demanded better pricing; through my questions, we were able to help them understand that our questions were meant to help them get a better proposal from us. As a result, they shared much more information and now we have a very good opportunity to close the deal.“
Are you using powerful questions in your negotiations?
This week’s success shows how by using a coaching approach with their team our learner has been able to get valuable time back for themselves…
“The key success for me has been the time I have managed to create in my own schedule by coaching the members of my teams to take more responsibility for finding solutions to problems and taking ownership of next steps.
Rather than ‘spoon-feeding’ the next steps, we are now moving towards the members of the teams proactively taking responsibility and bringing potential solutions to me.”
Could you benefit from a bit more time in your schedule?
When you stop telling people what to do and start asking powerful questions you’ll encourage a much higher level of contribution from your team members.
This week’s success shows how our learner used their new powerful questions toolkit to change the conversation and stimulate better results, even when working remotely.
“By having the ‘Powerful Coaching Questions’ open on one half of the screen during video calls, I was able to scan them and slot relevant questions into my conversations. This was particularly successful with the new Quality Engineer in my team who I’ve been telling to do everything – up until now – as he settles into the job. He has already started offering much more back to me in our discussions, instead of just listening.”
Is it time for you to try using powerful questions in your conversations?
Listening is an essential part of successful coaching and intuitive listening is a skill we teach in our programmes.
This week’s success shows how by really listening to their team, our learner was able to capture benefits in terms of time and money…
“I am a more active listener now with my team. I let them finish what they want to ask and instead of answering, I ask them: ”What do you think?”. Usually, they come up with good answers and these are getting better and better. They are sharing new ideas and giving solutions which is great. I can now manage my time better, be more focused on strategic things and make sure the sites are working more effectively. To date, I’ve already captured £1,000 worth of benefits from this approach.”
Are you listening to your team?
This week’s success shows how one learner used their new skills from the programme to improve the wellbeing of a team member whilst simultaneously increasing both team collaboration and productivity…
“My recent conversation with a member of my team regarding her workload showed me how important it is to consider the questions you’re asking, ensuring they are supportive rather than confrontational, particularly in situations where stress levels might be high.
The member of my team is a great worker but struggles at times with prioritising and delegating. There was another member of the team who could take on some of the work but she hadn’t considered handing it over. Talking through things in a constructive way helped to ease her stress and made her feel that things were more manageable. She left the meeting feeling better and more comfortable about getting everything done by involving more of her colleagues.
More importantly, this also reduced her need to feel she had to do overtime and made her more productive, with less time sitting and worrying about how much she has to do.”
This is a great example of a win-win.
This week’s success shows how one learner’s coaching conversation led to a fantastic commercial benefit…
“I had a coaching conversation regarding a design project and analysing the design and different solutions we could have had. We ended up with a design change to the project which gave the company a commercial benefit of £25,000.”
What a result!
This week’s success is about how one of our learners used their new skills to improve their internal processes and capture some amazing benefits…
“Working across two teams in my organisation I asked questions to find a better strategic solution about how we could automate a previously manual process. The result to date has saved us 600 hours, which equates to 20% of the total FTE of one department and allowed us to move 3 team members onto much higher value tasks.”
Great result!
Operational Coaching® creates opportunities for you to support and develop your team members and this week’s success shows how two of our learners used their new operational coaching skills to help junior team members step-up to new challenges.
“We were about to hand a project to an external organisation to run but by taking an operational coaching approach with a talented but junior member of my team they were able to step up into this role which saved us thousands on external resources. It also provided a huge development opportunity for the team member. A real win-win.”
“Asking better questions in a team meeting, opened the door for other team members to step up and take on new responsibilities which provided great alternative solutions.”
Our programmes show learners how to use an Operational Coaching® approach in a multitude of situations.
This week’s success shows how our learner used an insightful question during a budget discussion that led to a win-win result in an important negotiation…
“I asked a pertinent, insightful question during a budget discussion that took the conversation in a much more positive way. We brainstormed and identified an opportunity to go into a negotiation with, which resulted in a win-win for both parties and a £25,000 saving for us on a software license.”
Great result!
Using a coaching approach can help your team to become more resourceful and get you that all-important time back for yourself.
In this week’s success, we are showcasing two great examples of how our learners reaped the benefits of changing their approach…
“I have been able to coach two of my team to take on new responsibilities for the first time without me spearheading it. The big benefit is time for me which I can spend on other important work. When they have questions I am asking them how they would solve it and they are able to come up with their own ideas, building their confidence and capability.”
“Changing my behaviour from telling to asking a good question, has opened up the relationship with colleagues and provided a more collaborative conversation, pulling on ideas from experience – more planning, and less doing – which meant becoming more efficient.”
Win-win situations!
Coaching has the potential to transform commercial results stratospherically.
This week’s success, from one of our learners, demonstrates the size of the commercial value that can be achieved by adopting a coaching approach with your sales team…
“I am using the skills to have weekly operational coaching conversations with my sales team to specifically help them increase their closing rates. This has led to increased revenue this month of £100,000.”
Could you benefit from a management style capable of rocketing sales performance?
Sometimes a powerful question can bring to the surface inefficiencies that usually go unquestioned.
This week’s success shows how taking an enquiry-led approach helped one of our learners identify an easy cost-saving…
“I asked an insightful question about our purchasing strategy that led to a decision to buy from more local suppliers that has saved us £2,000 to date.”
This example demonstrates the power of a simple question – cumulative cost savings such as these can really make a difference to the bottom line.
Sometimes a powerful question can bring to the surface inefficiencies that usually go unquestioned.
This week’s success shows how taking an enquiry-led approach helped one of our learners identify an easy cost-saving…
“I asked an insightful question about our purchasing strategy that led to a decision to buy from more local suppliers that has saved us £2,000 to date.”
This example demonstrates the power of a simple question – cumulative cost savings such as these can really make a difference to the bottom line.
The size and scale of the benefits that can be achieved by adopting a coaching approach is often hugely disproportionate to the effort it requires.
This week’s success shows how our learner was able to generate huge commercial results in just one meeting simply by asking better questions.
“Asking better questions at one of our team meetings generated an idea that helped us to recognise a variance in a contract submission that has saved us circa £15 million for the project.”
Fabulous outcome!
Giving feedback can be difficult especially when relationships are complicated but like it or not feedback plays an important role in driving individual and team performance, so getting it right is critical.
Here’s what happened when one of our learners decided to put into action what they had learned in their STAR® Manager feedback module…
“I implemented the tools used in the feedback module and it yielded great results with a very ‘difficult’ colleague. I am happy with the result and I feel the relationship has changed.”
By taking a different approach, this learner started to shift the dynamics in the relationship and you can sense that it was a much more satisfying experience for both parties.
We’re super excited to share this week’s success with you…
…and to congratulate Jack Cooledge for becoming the VERY FIRST STAR® Manager to also achieve our brand new Level 4 Certificate in STAR Operational Coaching and Management.
We wanted to share with you a few words from Jack himself about how his leadership style has transformed as a result of the programme…
“I have never been very comfortable managing people as I want to work with them rather than tell them what to do. This course really gave me an insight of how to view leading without managing. The coaching approach made me feel much more comfortable in directing people and I am now able to encourage and develop the workforce for everyone’s benefit.”
So many leaders and managers get caught up with the unhelpful belief that ‘to lead’ is the same as ‘to tell others what to do’ when in reality telling others what to do is pretty ineffective and counterproductive.
Jack’s a great example of how our learners discover a new way to lead which transforms relationships and improves engagement, productivity and performance.
Amazingly well done Jack and many congratulations on achieving your Level 4 qualification.
Are you constantly being interrupted by members of your team asking you what they should do? Do you want your team to be more resourceful and to take more ownership for solutions?
The Success of the Week this week is chosen as it tells the story of what happened when one of our learners resisted the urge to tell a member of their team what to do and instead adopted an Operational Coaching® approach…
“I had a good exchange with a member of my team about a regular situation that arises, where they ask me something and I provide the answer. This time I didn’t. They had half the answer and I asked them a question. I asked them what they felt would be the best approach in this situation. They weren’t too certain and I asked them to go over what the situation was and consider what a reasonable course of action would be. It felt a much more fulfilling way, to come up with an answer rather than me telling them the answer, which doesn’t increase their experience or potential and doesn’t affirm their position and would make me feel like I’m doing their job for them and being interrupted.”
By taking a different approach, this learner started to shift the dynamics in the relationship and you can sense that it was a much more satisfying experience for both parties.
When you start to see the commercial benefits that can be achieved by incorporating the STAR® model into your everyday management style it will soon become a habit of a lifetime.
Here’s a success achieved by one of our learners in their very first STAR® conversation…
“I asked a great question and the thought process that it resulted in identified a solution that saved nearly £5,000. Amazing!”
Our clients frequently achieve a 5-100 times ROI using the STAR® model. It’s hardly surprising so much can be achieved when one person can make such a difference with just one question in just one conversation.
Imagine the possibilities.
We talk a lot about the magic that happens when you start asking powerful questions and so we’re always delighted to hear about the results you get when you try it for yourself for the very first time.
This week we’ve chosen a success where a learner turned around a very difficult meeting with a little help from STAR®…
“There was conflict within the meeting and a lot of finger-pointing and blame-shifting happening, and not much in the way of resolution and/or next steps. By really THINKING about the right question to ask and asking…
‘What would be the most helpful thing for you to take away from this discussion?’
Followed by…
‘What one thing could you do that would get you closer to that goal?’
… it really focused the conversation.
We ended up with a clear outcome that all parties wanted, we identified what was really needed and had very specific next steps to take away.”
This week we thought we’d share two very different successes with you. One success from home and one from work.
Success of the week at home:
“My wife had a tricky problem – rather than responding by giving more ‘advice’ which is my default, I reflected on the situation and asked more insightful questions about how she felt and what she thought she might do about the situation that was obviously playing on her mind. Financial value £0 – happier wife – priceless!”
Success of the week at work:
