Posts Tagged ‘mentoring’
Halftime – Down Means Up
Tags: Coaching, Markeing, mentoring, motivation, Recruitment, sales
Posted in Uncategorized on March 22nd, 2009
I unabashedly admit that I am a college basketball junkie. My team, the University of Louisville Cardinals, earned the top overall number one seed in the N.C.A.A. tourney and at this writing; they are headed for the Sweet 16.
Lately, my Cards have been down at half time and then just demoralize their opponent in the second half. I am curious as to what goes on in that locker room to make the light come on for the players. Does being down inspire a team or an individual to reach their maximum potential?
Jonah Berger, assistant professor of marketing and Devin Pope, an assistant professor of operations and information management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, analyzed game outcomes based on the half time score. They researched N.C.A.A. teams across all divisions and found that teams down by 4 at halftime lose about 60 percent of games. Teams down by 8 lose about 80 percent of the time. They analyzed more than 6,000 N.C.A.A. basketball games played in the past four seasons. Surprisingly, the data show that trailing by a little can actually be a good thing.
According to Berger and Pope, on average the team with the lead should win more than half of those games. The data however shows the opposite. The team trailing by a point actually wins more often. According to the research, being slightly behind increases a team’s chance of winning by 5 percent to 7 percent.
I suspect that a good reason for the second half turnarounds is the result of great coaches, motivational techniques and good team chemistry.
If you are like most people, you are probably feeling like a team that is down at half against a very tough opponent, the economy. Therefore, it is incumbent upon all of us to become that great coach. We need to be that motivational coach to others and ourselves everyday.
When it comes to sales, recruitment or maintaining existing clients, never underestimate the power of motivation. As coaches we need to motivate our teams to do that one little extra thing that will make us better than the competition.
Often time’s leaders think that money is the motivator for those that we mentor. In fact, the desire for more money tends to score much lower. Motivation is best delivered when we understand the human need to belong to a group. The three motivators that consistently rank at the top of employee list are:
- Advancement
- Type of work
- A company that they are proud to work for
So, if your team finds itself a little ahead at half, perhaps you should remind them what is going on in the other locker room – they are planning a big second half surge. I hope you enjoy the rest of the N.C.A.A. tournament. Go Cards!
Boosting the Bottom Line Through Retention
Tags: business, cognitve elaboration, Higher Education, mentoring, Non-Profit, retention
Posted in Business Development, Communication, Higher Education, Internal Communication, Non-Profit on March 1st, 2009
A New York Times article raised an interesting question. Is the GOP losing a generation?
Americans identifying themselves as Democrats outnumber those who say they are Republicans by 10 percentage points, the largest gap in party identification in 24 years.
I wrote shortly after Obama’s election that he had garnered a 66% share of the 18-29 demographic or about 16 million people. Brand loyalty is created as a result of cognitive elaboration (thinking about it) by an individual. Since 16 million young voters assigned a positive attribute to Obama and ultimately the Democratic Party, chances are good the large majority will live a life loyal to the democratic brand. It is a fundamental principle of positioning.
The challenge before us as communication practitioners is not only gaining market share but also retaining those that are loyal to our brand. Higher education needs to retain the students enrolled. Nonprofit must retain core individuals who are active with time or money. Business must retain clients and key employees.
Higher Education
A top down approach to staff and faculty mentoring of students creates a family environment and identifies potential problems before they arise. International or minority students are an extremely high at risk demographic. Faculty and upper classman who reach out to the new students, prior to arrival, are sure to create a bond. It is this sense of inclusiveness that will tie the student to the university well beyond their four years.
Non-Profit
Shifting money from salaries to other priorities sends managers into a never-ending downward spiral of dealing with frequent turnover. An alternative approach is paying more to gain stability, maturity, and the skill sets to sustain long-term initiatives. Retaining those grass roots organizers and donors will be enhanced as the time manager spent on training and retraining staff can now be devoted to personally strengthening key relationships.
Business
Engaging your new clients is very much like higher education. Your account executive should be communicating with the client between projects and not just during the projects. Personal client engagement by senior executives creates an environment of partnership instead of a vendor status.
Employee retention may not be an issue today, however there is a way to thwart key staff turnover when the economy heats up again. Authentic engagement, mentoring and training by senior management today will pay dividends in the future.
None of us can afford to lose a generation of students, customers or employees. How we manage our human relations with stakeholders will ensure that we don’t fall into a chasm of disconnect and disinterested.
