When: May,7, 2012 3pm – 4pm
Location: Town & Country Convention Center
(550 Hotel Circle North, Mission Valley, San Diego, California 92108)
Simon Vetter will speak about
“Helping Successful Pople Get Even Better
/ Learn a Powerful Tool to Create Positive, Lasting Changes”.
Please join us and don’t miss a great networking opportunity.
The Circle of Excellence provides an honest, safe business forum, diverse perspectives, new insights and professional, candid advice from peers.
It can be lonely at the top. The Circle of Excellence provides an honest, safe business forum, diverse perspectives, new insights and professional, candid advice from peers. This will lead to:
-Better decision making
-More clarity in strategic direction
-Faster execution
-Greater financial success
Call or Email us to reserve your seat Today!!
858-793-6279, info@simonvetter.com
Business owners and key executives with 15+ years business experience who have run and managed their business for 5+ years.
Simon Vetter works with executives and professionals who want to create positive lasting change and build a stand out leadership brand. He is an international recognized executive coach helping companies develop their high-potential leaders and senior executives.
His client list includes Agilent Technologies, Bosch Siemens Home Appliances, Bumble Bee, Callaway Golf, Daimler, LG Mobile, Mitchell International, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Siemens, UBS, etc. He is the author of STAND OUT! Branding Strategies for Business Professional
“Simon is an expert in helping professionals build their personal brand.”
Marshall Goldsmith, best-selling author of “what got you here won’t get you there
“Simon helped me take my leadership skills to the next level.”
Shawn A. Covell, Vice President, Qualcomm
By Simon Vetter
Broken agreements, lack of follow through, and unclear expectations significantly increase the risk that projects get delayed, customers miss a shipment on time, or quality standards are not met. Additionally, it creates frustration, dissatisfaction or even resentment for the people involved.
How do you respond in a situation when a co-‐worker,
manager or peer that doesn’t live up to their word?
Just recently, I had an experience of this nature with a business partner:
I have known Lewis for over 8 years. He is one of the top recruiters in the executive arena, and I consider him an expert in recruiting top talent for Fortune1000. He is ambitious, intelligent, and an exceptional conversationalist. Lewis’ biggest professional strength is his superb questioning and listening skills.
Recently, we met over lunch and bounced off business ideas to partner together on a client project on leadership assessment and training. This is a topic that we both feel passionate about. I left that lunch with excitement, but not a specific next step.
A week later, I followed up with a phone call. Lewis picked up, politely saying that he was stepping into a meeting and would get back the same day. Five days later, I still had not heard from him, so I called again, and heard the same response: “Simon, let me get back to you later today.“ Another few days later, I still was waiting for his call.
I got frustrated and started to question how we can develop a successful partnership if we are not responsive (and responsible) to each other. I wanted to call him again and tell him straight in his face “Hey buddy, if we do business together, I’d expect you to follow through on what you say. Instead, I took a step back and wondered how to get that message across without appearing critical and even offensive. I crafted a message, which I edited several times to make it sound appropriate. Here is what I sent to him:
Dear Lewis,
I highly respect your professional expertise and I am interested to further explore how to partner together and develop a successful project for our client.
At the same time, I am concerned about your responsiveness. When I called you the last two times, you said “I’ll get back to you later today.” I am still waiting for your call. I understand that you are very busy and have many things going on.
Please let me know your level of interest and commitment. Again, I appreciate our professional relationship.
Best regards,
It is a skill to call someone out without coming across critical or offensive. The key is to find the appropriate tone. Follow through on promises.
To my surprise, I received an email in my in-‐box after only 15 minutes. Obviously, I got his attention.
Here is his reply email:
Simon, my apologies for my delayed response.
We just finished an end of period and so schedules/tasks gave way to higher priorities from the internal clients. I do welcome the opportunity to connect again and will suggest some times for a follow up call next week. I agree that we may have some powerful business ideas. Thank you for taking the time to reach out to me here.
Regards,
Lewis
A week later, we met again for lunch and briefly addressed the topic of responsiveness and follow through. He admitted that when he saw my email, he had to smile and said: “It has been years since anybody had called me out!“ I was pleased to hear that and replied, “I accept your apology,“ and off we went to further discuss our business endeavor.
Calling out your business colleagues, partners and even managers is a skill that can be learned.
Please consider the following principles:
1. Deal with your emotions first. Never respond when you are frustrated, annoyed, or angry with the other person’s behavior.
2. Be specific: Call someone out by stating what happened, not your interpretation of what happened.
3. Ensure that the tone of the message reflects an attitude of support, candor and honesty (instead of criticism or irritation. People appreciate supportive feedback. They resent critical feedback.)
