Simon Chassar

Don’t just look at formal education - take notes in conversations with diverse knowledgable people and ask questions if you don’t know - listen intently and pay attention. Learn from others who are passionate about the subject.

All communication of value should be done in line with understanding who you are speaking to and what their objectives, beneficial gains and measures are - once you have that established you need to group your communication into the three categories of value - Unique - not available from anyone else and why. Comparative - Superior attributes when compared to others. and Holistic - attributes that would make someone feel good about doing business with you.

Active listening sounds so cold like some buzzword generated by AI or Professor. In essence it is about being interested and caring .....honestly. I would prefer Active Learning because if you really want to understand challenges or needs / concerns you need to learn about the problem and that involves questions to become educated so its not just about listening but being engaged. If you actively learn then your body language will naturally nod - tilt head etc as you give visual signs you are engaged and it will be natural so no BS meters will go array on the other side because you do really want to get involved learn and help where you can and this will create a peered and trustful relationship.

I talk about the need for peering and pairing regularly with my teams. It is the process of moving a human interaction away from a get, give and get relationship to one which establishes an equalisation of feelings, emotions, trust and credibility. Before I say on how to do this it is more important to recognise when you are in a get, give, get relationship where maybe you are asking for something and/or giving something backwards and forwards without any real connection to what happens when the other side has the ball. if you don't care what happens (or how it happens) on the other side then you are not in a relationship of peering and pairing - or an emotionally linked trust friendship. Now to do that you will need to read my blog on it.

It is less about setting clear expectations to the team but setting the direction and vision for the strategy backed with credible objectives that are measurable (SMART) and then you can lay out clear expectations cross departmentally and within your teams which support the vision and directions being achieved.

Emotional connection - Brand and purpose of vision should be emotionally connecting as effectively you want a strong brand with a clear vision or strategy which is impactful to the company culture as well as the stories which will create client attraction to your brand so that your sales organisation can sell the goods and clients can feel emotionally connected as well as wanting to align with the purpose of the brand and it’s impacts or benefits.