Tag

communication training

Browsing

© Articolo estratto con il permesso dell’autore, Dott. Daniele Trevisani dal libro “Ascolto Attivo ed Empatia. I segreti di una comunicazione efficace. Milano, Franco Angeli

__________

Nell’articolo di oggi parleremo delle “Means-End Chains“, o “catene mezzi-fini“, strategia che ha l’intento di scavare a fondo nel sistema di credenze dell’interlocutore per poter comprendere le motivazioni che si nascondono dietro alle parole, ai comportamenti e agli atteggiamenti.

Le convinzioni sono il motore del comportamento. Le convinzioni, o credenze, possono essere utili (es, se mangio frutta e verdura mi farà bene) o letali (es, vado forte in auto tanto a me non succederà niente). 

Ascoltare le credenze significa setacciare l’ascolto andando alla ricerca delle convinzioni (beliefs, credenze radicate o periferiche) di cui la persona è portatrice. Le credenze sono in parte consce, ma in larga parte inconsce e non espresse, non verbalizzate. 

Come un vento vorticoso, le credenze attorniano le persone e non gli offrono spazio per guardare oltre. Se guardo una persona sollevare un attrezzo (un peso), penso che non abbia altro da fare che farsi del male, o cerco di comprendere e capire perché lo fa. Molto probabilmente quel gesto meccanico, nella sua visione delle cose, ha il fine di stimolare il muscolo, bruciare grassi, ottenere migliore forma fisica e quindi piacere di più, fino ad auto-accettarsi di più. Benvenuti, siamo in una palestra. Adesso quel gesto fisico assume un senso, o almeno una parte del senso totale. Difficilmente, però, se chiediamo a questa persona cosa stia facendo, dirà: “voglio essere più seduttivo e auto-realizzato”. Molto più probabilmente risponderà: “sto facendo palestra, per stare in forma”. Possiamo quindi dire che dietro ad ogni parola (mezzo), o azione che osserviamo, esiste un fine che possiamo scoprire. La Means-End Chain (catena mezzi-finalità) è il meccanismo basilare attraverso il quale si crea un valore. 

Vediamo un’analisi svolta relativamente al prodotto “yoghurt magro”. 

La catena esposta nella figura vede presenti diverse “promesse” (sulla destra), che il cliente percepisce, associate ad altrettanti “stati” del prodotto (sulla sinistra), sino al punto in cui si trasformano in valori. 

Notiamo: 

  1. un attributo concreto (concrete attribute: bassa percentuale di grasso); 
  1. un attributo più intangibile e derivato, ad esso collegato (abstract attribute: meno calorie); 
  1. delle conseguenze funzionali (functional consequences: un dimagrimento); 
  1. conseguenze psicosociali (psychological consequences: superiore accettazione sociale); 
  1. valori strumentali (instrumental value: maggiore fiducia in se stessi – aumento della self confidence o fiducia in sè); 
  1. I valori terminali e più profondi dell’individuo (terminal values): l’incremento del grado di autostima (self-esteem). 

L’analisi delle Means-End Chains ci illumina su un punto critico: ascoltare le parole, di per sé non significa nulla, finché esse rimangono scollegate da sfere semantiche (aree di significato) ed emozioni che vi stanno dietro.  

Servono almeno 5 “Perché?” per arrivare ad un valore terminale. E spesso di più. 

Le catene mezzi-fini sono anche fondamentali per fare domande in profondità, in un approccio di ascolto attivo. 

Il basso contenuto di grasso di uno yoghurt non è positivo o negativo, può essere entrambe le cose: per un muratore cui servono le energie necessarie ad affrontare un lavoro faticoso, il basso potere calorico è assolutamente negativo, mentre per una modella farcita di immagini mentali di magrezza, ossessionata a mantenere la linea, rappresenta un elemento positivo. La catena sopra esposta può essere una delle diverse catene in azione che creano valore semantico del prodotto, ma soprattutto, è soggettiva. Possiamo anche sbagliare nel comprenderla, soprattutto quando cerchiamo di completarne i nodi con le nostre personali credenze. 

Saper ascoltare in profondità significa arrivare a capire il perché le persone fanno ciò che fanno, e quindi arrivare a capire le loro catene mezzi-fini. Finché non capiamo le catene mezzi-fini attive, non riusciremo mai a guidare una persona in un cambiamento, perché siamo come barche che cercano un’isola circondate da una coltre di nebbia. Ascoltare le catene mezzi-fini significa invece fare luce sui motivi dei comportamenti. Questa tecnica è anche fondamentale per “coltivare motivazione” all’interno di sessioni di coaching, e scatenare la motivazione verso obiettivi positivi. Perché le domande, quando sono attive e in profondità, non sono mai neutre verso il destino. Le domande cambiano le persone. 

"Ascolto Attivo ed Empatia" di Daniele Trevisani

Altri materiali su Comunicazione, Ascolto, Empatia, Potenziale Umano e Crescita Personale disponibili in questi siti e link:

Altre risorse online

TAGS:

  • ascolto attivo
  • communication training 
  • comunicazione assertiva
  • comunicazione autentica
  • comunicazione costruttiva 
  • comunicazione efficace
  • comunicazione interculturale
  • comunicazione aziendale
  • comunicazione positiva
  • comunicazione diretta
  • differenze linguistico-culturali
  • differenze valoriali
  • Metodo ALM
  • Modello delle Quattro Distanze
  • marketing interculturale
  • marketing internazionale 
  • marketing e comunicazione strategica
  • strategic selling
  • distanza del self
  • distanza relazionale
  • distanza referenziale
  • distanza ideologico-valoriale
  • distanza dei codici comunicativi
  • empatia 
  • farsi capire
  • imparare a capirsi
  • negoziazione interculturale
  • ponte tra diversità 
  • rispetto della cultura altra
  • strumenti e metodi della negoziazione 
  • tecniche di ascolto attivo
  • potenziale umano
  • approccio consulenziale
  • capacità comunicative
  • Ascoltare le convinzioni e i sistemi di credenze
  • evocare concetti e immagini
  • parole evocative
  • mondi semantici
  • mondi di significati
  • rete semantica
  • percezione del prodotto
  • barriere semantiche
  • valutazioni sociali
  • valutazioni culturali
  • valenze culturali
  • valenze etiche
  • valenze sociali
  • capire cosa motiva le persone
  • scegliere con cura le parole
  • training attivo
  • raggiungere risultati
  • rompere le barriere dell’incomunicabilità
  • abilità comunicative
  • abilità conversazionali
  • adattamento interculturale
  • sistemi culturali
  • dialogo tra aziende
  • approcci culturalmente diversi
  • contesti culturalmente diversi
  • “Get-Ready” Mindset
  • tecniche di gestione della conversazione
  • know-how
  • leadership
  • negoziazioni strategiche
  • pensare da professionisti
  • comportarsi da professionisti
  • conoscere noi stessi
  • conoscere gli altri
  • attenzione strategica all’interlocutore
  • identificare informazioni di importanza critica
  • fonti informative
  • equilibrio cognitivo
  • dissonanza cognitiva
  • filtri valoriali
  • mappe mentali
  • sospendere il giudizio
  • flusso comunicativo
  • presenza mentale
  • fare domande in profondità
  • ordine informativo
  • Means-End Chains
  • Catene mezzi-fini
  • sistemi di credenze
  • convinzioni
  • motore del comportamento
  • creare valore
  • sfere semantiche

© Articolo estratto con il permesso dell’autore, Dott. Daniele Trevisani dal libro “Ascolto Attivo ed Empatia. I segreti di una comunicazione efficace. Milano, Franco Angeli

__________

Oggi ci concentreremo sui 3 errori più comuni che di solito vengono fatti durante la fase di ascolto.

Vista la complessità e varietà di casi e situazioni, è normale aspettarsi che quando facciamo una domanda o ascoltiamo, la mente sia aperta a qualsiasi informazione entri. In realtà possono succedere i seguenti errori prevalenti.

Ascoltare solo per avere conferma di avere ragione. Questioni di dissonanza cognitiva in noi e nel cliente

Questo tipo di ascolto è denominato “ascolto confermativo”, poiché l’obiettivo è solo quello di cercare la conferma di avere ragione, di essere nel giusto. 

Questo ascolto fa scartare molte delle informazioni in ingresso, e soprattutto non fa cogliere quei segnali dubitativi che le persone lanciano tramite micro espressioni, gesti corporei e segnali dei muscoli facciali che possono comunicare disapprovazione, disgusto, o sorpresa. 

È confermato che le persone evitino accuratamente di esporsi a fonti informative che possano disturbare i propri equilibri cognitivi, e portare dissonanza cognitiva.  

La dissonanza cognitiva è un concetto introdotto da Leon Festinger e usato prevalentemente in psicologia sociale per descrivere la situazione di elaborazione mentale in cui credenze, nozioni e opinioni su un certo tema entrano in contrasto tra loro. 

Certe volte preferiamo letteralmente non venire a conoscenza di qualcosa che andrebbe ad alterare ciò che pensiamo sia vero e giusto. 

Ascoltare le persone e le loro dissonanze cognitive è un esercizio fondamentale. 

Naturalmente, lo stesso vale per noi. Quando scopriamo una dissonanza cognitiva in noi, faremo bene ad esaminarla con un supporto professionale di coaching, counseling o terapia, perché “tenersi dentro” delle dissonanze è “tenersi dentro” confusione mentale, e anche dolore. 

Ascoltare utilizzando solo il proprio filtro di opinioni e valori senza accettare che ve ne possano essere altri  

Ascoltare con pregiudizio è un passo di partenza sbagliato. Io chiamo questo tipo di ascolto “ascolto filtrato” ed è normale che accada: quando sentiamo una notizia, la valutiamo in base ai nostri filtri valoriali.  

Quello che è sbagliato, nell’ascolto attivo, è pensare che la persona che stiamo ascoltando abbia esattamente i nostri filtri valoriali, e le stesse nostre mappe mentali, dando per scontate le sue risposte, e adombrandoci quando non assomigliano per niente a quelle che avremmo dato noi. L’ascolto attivo deve essere neutro. 

Nel flusso di comunicazione che stiamo ascoltando, inevitabilmente qualcosa che la persona dirà va contro alcune delle nostre opinioni, persino contro alcuni dei nostri valori, o addirittura è contrario a qualcuno dei nostri principi più solidi.  

Appena questo “contrasto” emerge, rischiamo di irrigidirci e smettere di ascoltare. È fondamentale invece per un ascoltatore avanzato, saper “sospendere il giudizio”, ascoltando tutto il flusso comunicativo.

Ascolto in Cloud 

Partecipare all’ascolto significa sospendere la nostra ruminazione mentale e praticare la presenza mentale, portare la nostra mente “li”, nell’ascolto. Significa ascoltare e basta, spegnendo ogni altro pensiero. 

L’ascolto nella nuvola mentale o ascolto “in Cloud” è invece un ascolto che si pratica mentre la mente si perde in altri pensieri e si deconcentra.  

Consiste in sostanza nel lasciare che l’ascolto rimbombi nella propria testa. È normale che mentre ascoltiamo si aprano pensieri, ricordi, riflessioni. Altrettanto normale è che si creino riverberi interni su quanto ascoltiamo, e altri pensieri.  

Tutti questi pensieri possono formare una “nube” che arriva ad assorbire completamente la nostra attenzione. In questo modo la nostra attenzione diventa auto-centrata, cioè diretta solamente verso noi stessi, perciò, anche se l’altro “emette” parole, queste non entrano realmente nella nostra mente, diventando puro rumore di fondo.  

Questo “ascolto in cloud” o ascolto nella nuvola, può e deve essere spezzato: 

  • da momenti di breve riformulazione (quindi eri a Roma, giusto?);  
  • da domande (in che zona di Roma?);  
  • da momenti di ricapitolazione (Se ho capito bene la storia è andata così…);  
  • da gesti non verbali del capo (come, per esempio, cenni che facciano intendere all’interlocutore che abbiamo capito);
  • da brevi punteggiature para verbali (es, ah, uhm, ok).

Fondamentale è l’assenza di rumori di fondo, di distrattori come televisione, telefoni, chat, e altri elementi di disturbo. È anche possibile dire apertamente “mi sto perdendo, hai parlato di Davide, e poi?” 

Possiamo dire senza ombra di dubbio che la base di una comunicazione in stato di cloud sia il caos, il non capirsi, il disordine mentale, lo stato di entropia comunicativa.

Da questa base di partenza, l’ascolto attivo agisce per inserire maggiore ordine informativo, estrarre informazioni, dati, segnali, emozioni, e coordinarle per trarvi significato. Un lavoro non da poco.

"Ascolto Attivo ed Empatia" di Daniele Trevisani

Altri materiali su Comunicazione, Ascolto, Empatia, Potenziale Umano e Crescita Personale disponibili in questi siti e link:

Altre risorse online

TAGS:

  • ascolto attivo
  • communication training 
  • comunicazione assertiva
  • comunicazione autentica
  • comunicazione costruttiva 
  • comunicazione efficace
  • comunicazione interculturale
  • comunicazione aziendale
  • comunicazione positiva
  • comunicazione diretta
  • differenze linguistico-culturali
  • differenze valoriali
  • Metodo ALM
  • Modello delle Quattro Distanze
  • marketing interculturale
  • marketing internazionale 
  • marketing e comunicazione strategica
  • strategic selling
  • distanza del self
  • distanza relazionale
  • distanza referenziale
  • distanza ideologico-valoriale
  • distanza dei codici comunicativi
  • empatia 
  • farsi capire
  • imparare a capirsi
  • negoziazione interculturale
  • ponte tra diversità 
  • rispetto della cultura altra
  • strumenti e metodi della negoziazione 
  • tecniche di ascolto attivo
  • potenziale umano
  • approccio consulenziale
  • capacità comunicative
  • Ascoltare le convinzioni e i sistemi di credenze
  • evocare concetti e immagini
  • parole evocative
  • mondi semantici
  • mondi di significati
  • rete semantica
  • percezione del prodotto
  • barriere semantiche
  • valutazioni sociali
  • valutazioni culturali
  • valenze culturali
  • valenze etiche
  • valenze sociali
  • capire cosa motiva le persone
  • scegliere con cura le parole
  • training attivo
  • raggiungere risultati
  • rompere le barriere dell’incomunicabilità
  • abilità comunicative
  • abilità conversazionali
  • adattamento interculturale
  • sistemi culturali
  • dialogo tra aziende
  • approcci culturalmente diversi
  • contesti culturalmente diversi
  • “Get-Ready” Mindset
  • tecniche di gestione della conversazione
  • know-how
  • leadership
  • negoziazioni strategiche
  • pensare da professionisti
  • comportarsi da professionisti
  • conoscere noi stessi
  • conoscere gli altri
  • attenzione strategica all’interlocutore
  • identificare informazioni di importanza critica
  • Gli errori più comuni dell’ascolto
  • ascolto confermativo
  • segnali dubitativi
  • fonti informative
  • equilibrio cognitivo
  • dissonanza cognitiva
  • ascolto filtrato
  • filtri valoriali
  • mappe mentali
  • sospendere il giudizio
  • flusso comunicativo
  • ascolto in cloud
  • presenza mentale
  • riformulazione
  • fare domande
  • ricapitolazione
  • gesti non verbali
  • punteggiature para verbali
  • disordine mentale
  • entropia comunicativa
  • ordine informativo

© Articolo estratto con il permesso dell’autore, Dott. Daniele Trevisani dal libro “Ascolto Attivo ed Empatia. I segreti di una comunicazione efficace. Milano, Franco Angeli

__________

L’articolo di oggi, così come quelli a seguire, si concentreranno sull’importanza dell’empatia e dell’ascolto attivo nella comunicazione e nelle negoziazioni. Ciò che leggerete qui di seguito è un’introduzione all’ascolto dei sistemi di credenze del nostro interlocutore. Comprendere le mappe mentali di chi ci circonda, infatti, ci permette di scegliere con cura le parole da utilizzare e apre le strade ad una comunicazione strategica ed efficace.

Le credenze o beliefs sono qualcosa che la persona possiede, e sente propria ben più di un bene materiale. 

Immaginiamo di chiedere ad una persona “cosa ne pensi dello yoghurt al naturale”? E di non sapere veramente niente di quella persona, non averla mai incontrata prima.  

Potrebbe rispondere “buono”, ma in realtà quello che evoca il concetto “yoghurt al naturale” è qualcosa di estremamente più complesso.

Quanta di questa complessità sapremo cogliere? Dipende dalla nostra abilità di ascolto. Questo esempio serve per capire che dietro alle parole si nascondono “mondi semantici”, “mondi di significati“. Lo yoghurt, è solo una scusa per capire come funziona il meccanismo.  

Le mappe mentali che si nascondono dietro alle parole sono il nostro interesse, la nostra ricerca. Le infinità di sfumature e interi universi di significato che si nascondono tra le pieghe delle parole. 

E ci interessa davvero coglierle? Dipende, a volte può non interessarci, a volte, soprattutto nel lavoro d’azienda, può essere ciò che fa la differenza tra il capire un cliente e vendere, e non capirlo e non vendere. La differenza tra fallimento e successo. 

Nell’esempio illustrato qui di seguito si evidenzia la rete semantica che si associa ad uno specifico prodotto: lo yoghurt intero, non scremato. 

Questo è letteralmente “ciò che ha in testa” quella persona, la sua “rete semantica”. Ed è questo il concetto che ci interessa, oltre lo yogurt. 

Una convinzione è un’idea su “come funzionano le cose” che viene accettata come se fosse vera o reale. 

Le reti semantiche toccate dal “prodotto tradizionale non scremato” sono ben lontane dalla valutazione puramente alimentare. Esse infatti vanno dal “ricordo dei vecchi tempi”, al senso di fiducia, dalla possibilità di avere più energia per lavorare sodo, sino al senso di felicità ed armonia interna. 

Se compariamo la mappa precedente con quella di un prodotto molto più “problematico” (yoghurt modificato geneticamente) capiamo come le mappe percettive consentano di far emergere le percezioni di prodotto e le barriere semantiche

Il prodotto geneticamente modificato si carica di paure, sfiducia, senso di immoralità. Vengono alla luce componenti valutative “organiche”, psicologiche (dissonanza tra innaturalità biologica e armonia interna) e valutazioni sociali e culturali, sino alle responsabilità per il benessere dell’umanità: a cosa contribuisco con questo acquisto? Che valori supporto?  

La scelta smette di aver a che fare unicamente con il prodotto come “cibo” ma assume una connotazione densa di valenze culturali, etiche e sociali (cosa faccio mentre acquisto, chi finanzio, che distanza di valori c’è tra me e loro). Il percorso valutativo agisce indipendentemente dal valore economico del bene, e si correla altamente al valore simbolico assunto dall’atto d’acquisto. La consapevolezza di quali siano le reti semantiche “attive” nel cliente è un tema centrale dell’ascolto delle credenze. Ascoltare le credenze e convinzioni è fondamentale anche per capire cosa motiva le persone. Sia gente comune che grandi campioni formulano credenze, che si ripetono come paradigmi di verità, e nel corso del tempo diventano la loro realtà. 

"Ascolto Attivo ed Empatia" di Daniele Trevisani

Altri materiali su Comunicazione, Ascolto, Empatia, Potenziale Umano e Crescita Personale disponibili in questi siti e link:

Altre risorse online

TAGS:

  • ascolto attivo
  • communication training 
  • comunicazione assertiva
  • comunicazione autentica
  • comunicazione costruttiva 
  • comunicazione efficace
  • comunicazione interculturale
  • comunicazione aziendale
  • comunicazione positiva
  • comunicazione diretta
  • differenze linguistico-culturali
  • differenze valoriali
  • Metodo ALM
  • Modello delle Quattro Distanze
  • marketing interculturale
  • marketing internazionale 
  • marketing e comunicazione strategica
  • strategic selling
  • distanza del self
  • distanza relazionale
  • distanza referenziale
  • distanza ideologico-valoriale
  • distanza dei codici comunicativi
  • empatia 
  • farsi capire
  • imparare a capirsi
  • negoziazione interculturale
  • ponte tra diversità 
  • rispetto della cultura altra
  • strumenti e metodi della negoziazione 
  • tecniche di ascolto attivo
  • potenziale umano
  • approccio consulenziale
  • capacità comunicative
  • Ascoltare le convinzioni e i sistemi di credenze
  • evocare concetti e immagini
  • parole evocative
  • mondi semantici
  • mondi di significati
  • rete semantica
  • percezione del prodotto
  • barriere semantiche
  • valutazioni sociali
  • valutazioni culturali
  • valenze culturali
  • valenze etiche
  • valenze sociali
  • capire cosa motiva le persone
  • scegliere con cura le parole
  • training attivo
  • raggiungere risultati
  • rompere le barriere dell’incomunicabilità
  • abilità comunicative
  • abilità conversazionali
  • adattamento interculturale
  • sistemi culturali
  • dialogo tra aziende
  • approcci culturalmente diversi
  • contesti culturalmente diversi
  • “Get-Ready” Mindset
  • tecniche di gestione della conversazione
  • know-how
  • leadership
  • negoziazioni strategiche
  • pensare da professionisti
  • comportarsi da professionisti
  • conoscere noi stessi
  • conoscere gli altri
  • attenzione strategica all’interlocutore
  • identificare informazioni di importanza critica

© Article translated from the book “Strategic Selling: Psicologia e Comunicazione per la Vendita Consulenziale e le Negoziazioni Complesse” (Strategic Selling: Psychology and Communication for Consulting Sales and Complex Negotiations) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the Website on Intercultural Negotiation

__________

Today’s article is about the importance – for negotiators – of having an analyst’s mind to observe, analyse and understand what happens around them, grasping all meanings behind words and gestures.

The world of sales and marketing is made up of choices. 

As Mick notes, “the macromarketing system is, to a large extent, the function of many micro marketing decisions made every day.” 

And, for every micro-decision, our mind must be prepared to carry out quick, sometimes even immediate, analyses. 

Complex selling can be considered as the function of many micro and macro behavioural and strategic skills (such as the ability to conduct a conversation, observe non-verbal details, doing scenario analysis, planning and creating projects and reports, etc.). 

The analyst’s mind does not stop at deskwork, but can be found in every contact, in every handshake, in every meeting and in every analysis. 

Nothing is overlooked. 

It also includes macro skills, such as the ability to carry out socio-economic analyses, to design complex plans, to process data, to carry out an entire scenario analysis and to set up a strategy. 

No one can expect to conclude deals or create complex projects without having, or developing, a deep analytical attitude or an “analyst’s mind“. 

An analyst always asks himself “why”. He notices signs and symptoms, develops hypotheses, looks for more information, researches, wants to understand. 

This attitude, called strategic empathy, includes different levels of understanding, a strategic attention to the client

  1. behavioural empathy (understanding all behaviours of the company/client, with whom we want to work and interact), 
  1. cognitive empathy (understanding how other people think), 
  1. emotional empathy (understanding other people’s emotional state),  
  1. relational empathy (understanding others’ relationships network). 

Let’s think about the opposite: 

  • we do not understand others’ behaviours and we cannot grasp their meaning, 
  • we do not understand the reasons of what is happening,  
  • we do not understand what role the other party is playing, 
  • we do not understand how other people think and we believe that they think exactly as we want them to think according to our logic. 

Let’s also imagine what it means to carry the burden of emotional insensitivity, the inability to grasp emotional nuances or to understand if the person we are dealing with is sad or happy.  

Let’s imagine what it means to be indifferent to how and why the person in front of us reacts to a choice – or to some aspects of the project we are developing – in a certain way, instead of another, without being able to understand what worries him/her, or what interests him/her. 

And again, let’s think about the problem of cultural gaffes that can offend a foreign executive, whose position is extremely important for the success of the deal. 

Another major issue concerns the insensitivity towards the decision-making framework, the power relationships, the power matrix, the risk of not understanding whether we are dealing with a real decision maker or with a simple emissary, an influencer, or with someone who has no power. Wasting time is not pleasant for anyone. 

the lack of an analyst’s mind can lead us to lose sight of people and corporate roles that we should involve in projects, even though we are completely neglecting them, and, even worse, to take inter-relationships for granted, for example we do not understand that there is a gravity centre (key concepts and people) in every purchase, in every decision. 

A large part of complex negotiations consists in “attracting” decision-making gravity centres, and in the ability to manage personal meetings and develop human relationships. 

In this difficult world, only knowledgeable people and people who have an “analyst’s mind” can penetrate hostile systems, identifying priorities and the “moves sequence” that can help them shift the decision-making balance in their favour. 

People who have an analyst’s mind ask the following questions:  “Why are you saying this?”, “Why are you saying this now?”, “What lies behind this question?”, “Why is Dr. X… not present at this meeting, while he was present at the other one? “,” For what reasons could they say no to us? “,” What unique products can we offer? “. Obviously, there are many other questions, but they are never stereotyped, never the same. 

For complex projects, an overview ability is needed to understand all relationship systems. 

grasping the meaning of a macro-project, understanding when it’s time to have a meeting, identifying what critical information are needed (Info-Gap) and examining negotiation’s micro-details are all part of the overview skills. 

Micro-analysis skills are equally essential (e.g. understanding how a phone call, a meeting, a handshake, a glance or a gesture is managed). After that, we can focus again on macro-details and, when needed, rethink an entire strategy. 

In other words, business successes depend not only on great strategies, but also on the ability to achieve results in every single sale and become proficient in every single conversation that is part of the sales line. 

The sales action line, as well as the action line of negotiations, require specific sensitivity: we must be sensitive to “holistic” communication, where every action, behaviour, or non-action has a meaning. 

We must develop and improve this sensitivity through daily practice, contact after contact, negotiations after negotiations, meeting after meeting, phone call after phone call, etc. 

This ability is useful in any situation and can help us understand the place where we must park near the client company, if we must open the door to someone or not, if we must offer a coffee or a gift, etc. 

Strategic sales and complex negotiation professionals have a way of working that is also a way of being. 

Corporate titans and small businesses must continuously face “moments of truth” in their Business-to-Business negotiations with distributors, suppliers, sales networks, corporate buyers, such as face-to-face meetings, discussions, emails, presentations, answers to questions, etc. 

For each of them taking care of their relationship skills and of their personal skills of analysis and communication is essential and can help them develop large projects and important sales. 

"Strategic Selling" by Daniele Trevisani

© Article translated from the book “Strategic Selling: Psicologia e Comunicazione per la Vendita Consulenziale e le Negoziazioni Complesse” (Strategic Selling: Psychology and Communication for Consulting Sales and Complex Negotiations) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the Website on Intercultural Negotiation

__________

For further information see:

TAGS:

  • ALM business method
  • acting like professionals
  • active training
  • achieving results
  • awareness of one’s role in negotiation
  • Best coach in intercultural communication in the world
  • Best coach in intercultural facilitation in the world
  • Best coach in intercultural negotiation in the world
  • Best world consultant in intercultural communication
  • Best world consultant in intercultural negotiation
  • Best world expert in intercultural communication
  • Best world expert in intercultural negotiation
  • Best world trainer in intercultural communication
  • Best world trainer in intercultural negotiation
  • book on intercultural communication
  • book on intercultural negotiation
  • book on strategic selling
  • breaking the barriers of incommunicability
  • communication difficulties
  • communication skills
  • communication skills acquisition
  • Communication techniques intercultural communication
  • Communication techniques intercultural negotiation
  • communication training
  • conversational skills
  • creative strategies
  • cross-cultural communication
  • cross-cultural misunderstandings
  • cross-cultural adaptation
  • cultural systems
  • dialogue between companies
  • different cultural approach
  • different cultural context
  • direct line of communication
  • disagreements
  • Effective intercultural negotiation techniques
  • face-to-face communication
  • fighting spirit
  • front-line communication
  • Get-Ready Mind Set
  • helping relationships
  • high-context cultures
  • How cultural differences affect negotiations?
  • How does culture influence negotiation?
  • Human Potential
  • intercultural communication
  • intercultural communication book
  • Intercultural communication books
  • Intercultural Communication Coaching
  • intercultural communication pdf
  • Intercultural Communication Trainers
  • Intercultural Communication Training
  • Intercultural conversation management techniques
  • Intercultural Negotiation
  • Intercultural negotiation books
  • Intercultural Negotiation Coach
  • Intercultural Negotiation Coaching
  • Intercultural Negotiation Communication
  • Intercultural Negotiation Consultant
  • Intercultural Negotiation Consulting
  • Intercultural Negotiation Counselling
  • intercultural negotiation definition
  • Intercultural negotiation exercises
  • Intercultural Negotiation in International Business
  • Intercultural Negotiation Mentoring
  • intercultural negotiation PDF
  • Intercultural Negotiation Process
  • Intercultural Negotiation Strategies
  • Intercultural Negotiation Timing
  • intercultural negotiation training
  • intercultural training
  • Intercultural Training Consultants
  • know-how
  • leadership
  • low-context cultures
  • negotiating rules
  • negotiation preparation
  • negotiator’s emotional awareness
  • negotiator’s growth
  • open communication
  • physical and mental energies
  • Strategic Selling
  • strategic spirit
  • strategic negotiations
  • think like professionals
  • transparent communication
  • What are the 5 stages of negotiation?
  • What is effective intercultural negotiation?
  • What is intercultural negotiation?
  • winning relationships
  • working on attitudes
  • working on skills
  • World’s most famous expert in intercultural communication
  • World’s most famous expert in intercultural negotiation
  • self-knowledge
  • knowledge of others
  • ways of relating
  • an analyst’s mind
  • micro and macro behavioural and strategic skills
  • strategic empathy
  • strategic attention to the client
  • behavioural empathy
  • cognitive empathy
  • emotional empathy
  • relational empathy
  • power matrix
  • decision-making gravity centres
  • identifying critical information
  • sales’ action line

© Article translated from the book “Strategic Selling: Psicologia e Comunicazione per la Vendita Consulenziale e le Negoziazioni Complesse” (Strategic Selling: Psychology and Communication for Consulting Sales and Complex Negotiations) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the Website on Intercultural Negotiation

__________

Today, I would like to talk about the increasing importance of face-to face communication and the supremacy of the human factor in negotiations, that force us to analyse our interlocutor’s mental framework and to create helping and winning relationships with our clients.

The mental approach of professional communicators and negotiators is completely focused on the objectives that must be achieved through the evaluation of the interlocutors’ mental framework

Nobody can talk to a wall. Professional communicators, salespeople and negotiators talk “with” someone, they have to deal or negotiate “with” someone. They must understand how the other person thinks. 

As an expert in Senior Sales Coaching, Antonio Greci, argues: 

  1. Strategic Selling is a way of being. 
  2. Strategic Selling is not a procedure. 
  3. Strategic Selling professionals can be recognized by the fact that they listen deeply. 
  4. The main talent of those who practice Strategic Selling is to be naturally empathetic. 

The presence of “other people” therefore forces us to become analysts and to understand: 

  1. if we are dealing with a person or company who has a strong propensity to plan or not;
  2. if our interlocutor is looking for a quick and immediate remedy, moved by urgencies, or if he/she is in no hurry; 
  3. if we are dealing with materialistic or narrow-minded people or with deeply humane people; 
  4. if we are working with someone looking for a pure personal advantage or with someone who’s looking for his/her company advantage, or a mix of both;
  5. which benefits our counterpart seeks for himself/herself and which benefits he/she seeks for his/her company. 

It is equally essential to understand if there is only the possibility to sell a single product or if – on the contrary – we will be able to create the conditions to become a continuous and trusted supplier, the multi-year partner of a customer with whom we are going to create long-term projects. 

Some clients act instinctively, even irrationally, other clients think with cold logic. 

Concerning all these variables, we cannot take the buyer’s psychology for granted. Each buyer possesses a psychological profile to frame. 

In fact, we can deal with non-planning-oriented people, whose time perspective is limited to the day after, or with long-term oriented people, who work not only for themselves, but also for those who will follow them in the company and in life. 

The former do not ask themselves what the long-term consequences of their choices will be. The latter do. 

Negotiation can be considered as a meeting with human variety. 

We need to get into the right mindset to deal with any kind of mentality, to meet any kind of attitude, culture and values. Otherwise, we would be able to negotiate only with a certain type of customers and not with others. This concept of “communicational stretching” helps us being effective with different types of customers. Here lies the flexibility of professional communicators and negotiators. 

A gear manufacturer who wants to sell products to a machine manufacturer certainly cannot think of resorting to television advertising in prime time, “aiming” at 10 million viewers, hoping to find among them 3 or 4 important decision makers, like purchasing managers and executives of that company.  

Every business can take two main paths:   

  1. advertising communications, which is often expensive, conformed and based on enormous budgets. It is the result of a mirage made of useless senseless sparkles; and   
  1. – especially in Business to Business – the choice to train as professionals in the field of interpersonal negotiations and human meetings, made of real people.  

For most companies and organizations, it makes no sense to invest in a large-scale advertising. We need to learn how to get the attention of decision makers. A more focused approach is needed.  

Advertising is not useless, it is a tool used in very specific cases, but it should not be confused with communication in a broad sense. They are two legs with which companies run: the leg of advertising is often beautiful and massaged, while the leg of human communication and negotiation is usually amputated.  

We are surrounded and pestered by advertisements, by messaging technologies, to the point of nausea. We have been filled with lies and empty promises, and we do not trust anything and anyone anymore, but we have good reason to be tired.  

For this reason, the importance of the human factor and the human encounter started growing again: looking into each other’s eyes, wanting to understand who we are dealing with, has become essential to build projects that really matter. 

The business of the future is the result of projects that companies carry out together with other companies, through people in flesh and blood. This is the return of human supremacy. 

Working in partnership with customers is a challenge. It means building tailor-made projects for customers from the beginning, having the ability to offer uniqueness, specific advice, quality and, above all, “added relational value” that makes the difference between us and others. 

The world of face-to-face business human meetings is more “real” than advertising and much more frequent for small, medium and large companies. Since it is a daily occurrence, it is essential for companies to train on this topic. 

The fate of projects destined to change entire companies and the future of their staff and families is decided by the skills of a few people in a few hours of negotiation. 

There, on the “stage” of sales and negotiations, the fate of companies is at stake, but, whatever happens, we want to remain on this “stage”.  

"Strategic Selling" by Daniele Trevisani

© Article translated from the book “Strategic Selling: Psicologia e Comunicazione per la Vendita Consulenziale e le Negoziazioni Complesse” (Strategic Selling: Psychology and Communication for Consulting Sales and Complex Negotiations) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the Website on Intercultural Negotiation

__________

For further information see:

TAGS:

  • ALM business method
  • acting like professionals
  • active training
  • achieving results
  • awareness of one’s role in negotiation
  • Best coach in intercultural communication in the world
  • Best coach in intercultural facilitation in the world
  • Best coach in intercultural negotiation in the world
  • Best world consultant in intercultural communication
  • Best world consultant in intercultural negotiation
  • Best world expert in intercultural communication
  • Best world expert in intercultural negotiation
  • Best world trainer in intercultural communication
  • Best world trainer in intercultural negotiation
  • book on intercultural communication
  • book on intercultural negotiation
  • book on strategic selling
  • breaking the barriers of incommunicability
  • building relationships
  • communication difficulties
  • communication skills
  • communication skills acquisition
  • Communication techniques intercultural communication
  • Communication techniques intercultural negotiation
  • communication training
  • conversational skills
  • creative strategies
  • cross cultural communication
  • cross cultural misunderstanding
  • cross-cultural adaptation
  • cultural systems
  • dialogue between companies
  • different cultural approach
  • different cultural context
  • direct line of communication
  • disagreements
  • Effective intercultural negotiation techniques
  • face-to-face communication
  • fighting spirit
  • front-line communication
  • Get-Ready Mind Set
  • helping relationships
  • high-context cultures
  • How cultural differences affect negotiations?
  • How does culture influence negotiation?
  • Human Potential
  • intercultural communication
  • intercultural communication book
  • Intercultural communication books
  • Intercultural Communication Coaching
  • intercultural communication pdf
  • Intercultural Communication Trainers
  • Intercultural Communication Training
  • Intercultural conversation management techniques
  • Intercultural Negotiation
  • Intercultural negotiation books
  • Intercultural Negotiation Coach
  • Intercultural Negotiation Coaching
  • Intercultural Negotiation Communication
  • Intercultural Negotiation Consultant
  • Intercultural Negotiation Consulting
  • Intercultural Negotiation Counselling
  • intercultural negotiation definition
  • Intercultural negotiation exercises
  • Intercultural Negotiation in International Business
  • Intercultural Negotiation Mentoring
  • intercultural negotiation PDF
  • Intercultural Negotiation Process
  • Intercultural Negotiation Strategies
  • Intercultural Negotiation Timing
  • intercultural negotiation training
  • intercultural training
  • Intercultural Training Consultants
  • know-how
  • leadership
  • low-context cultures
  • negotiating rules
  • negotiation preparation
  • negotiator’s emotional awareness
  • negotiator’s growth
  • open communication
  • physical and mental energies
  • Strategic Selling
  • strategic spirit
  • strategic negotiations
  • thinking like professionals
  • transparent communication
  • What are the 5 stages of negotiation?
  • What is effective intercultural negotiation?
  • What is intercultural negotiation?
  • winning relationships
  • working on attitudes
  • working on skills
  • World’s most famous expert in intercultural communication
  • World’s most famous expert in intercultural negotiation
  • interlocutor’s mental framework
  • human value
  • human factor
  • getting the attention of decision makers
  • focused approach
  • face-to-face business human meetings
  • offering uniqueness
  • offering quality
  • offering advice
  • offering added relational value
  • advertising
  • creating the conditions to become a long trusted supplier
  • different mindset
  • different mentality

Articolo a cura della dott.ssa Ginevra Bighini, www.negoziazioneinterculturale.wordpress.com; mentoring a cura del dott. Daniele Trevisani, www.studiotrevisani.it

__________

L’articolo di oggi ruota attorno ad uno dei temi più discussi nel mondo del lavoro, ossia la comunicazione aziendale e la gestione delle risorse umane. 

Come imprenditori, c’è da chiedersi innanzitutto che valore attribuiamo ad entrambe, e quindi: 

  1. quanto contano per me le persone che lavorano nella mia azienda? 
  1. Considero utile la loro formazione? E quanto sono disposto ad investirci? 
  1. Quanto conta per me la comunicazione in azienda? La considero indispensabile per raggiungere il successo come impresa, oppure preferisco non sprecare ore preziose di lavoro per formarmi e formare i miei dipendenti alla comunicazione efficace? 

Ci sono molte altre domande che potrei aggiungere, ma se dovessi elencarle tutte, probabilmente al posto di un articolo produrrei un libro. 

È chiaro che, una volta che ci siamo posti le giuste domande, dobbiamo anche darci le giuste risposte. E proprio a questo punto sarei curiosa di leggere nel pensiero di ogni imprenditore che sta leggendo questo post, per creare una statistica reale della concezione che le aziende italiane hanno del capitale umano e del supporto consulenziale in marketing e comunicazione strategica. 

Potrei sbagliarmi, ma dalle precedenti esperienze lavorative mi sono accorta che, in Italia, la maggior parte delle aziende vede le persone come numeri sostituibili e i corsi di formazione come una spesa inutile.  

Il nostro compito, come consulenti, è quello di sfatare questo mito e di provare in tutti i modi a far aprire gli occhi delle aziende sul futuro del lavoro. 

Il futuro che io vedo, forse ancora nell’utopia della giovinezza, è un futuro dove le aziende valorizzano sé stesse attraverso la cura per il proprio personale, dove ogni dipendente viene posto al centro di ogni discussione, dove le persone riescono a bilanciare con serenità vita privata e lavorativa, ma soprattutto dove la comunicazione sia argomento fondamentale nella formazione di ogni lavoratore. 

Rendiamoci conto che, raggiungere obiettivi all’interno di qualsiasi società comporta il doversi relazionare con colleghi, clienti e fornitori: in altre parole con altri esseri umani che, come noi, hanno sogni, aspirazioni, valori e credenze specifici, con cui dobbiamo fare i conti ogni giorno quando interagiamo. 

Se l’interazione non è fluida si creano ostacoli, spesso insormontabili, al successo e si rischia il fallimento. Per questo motivo lavorare sulle proprie capacità comunicative, e soprattutto su quelle dei nostri dipendenti, è fondamentale per permettere alla propria società di diventare sempre più competitiva sul mercato. 

Saper comunicare bene giova sia al personale interno, che all’immagine stessa dell’azienda nei confronti di clienti e fornitori esterni con cui condurremo negoziazioni positive e svilupperemo rapporti di fiducia duraturi. 

Per concludere vorrei dire due parole a tutti quegli imprenditori che si sono soffermati a leggere queste poche righe: se davvero ci tenete al futuro della vostra impresa osservate il mondo che cambia, poiché se sta cambiando significa che l’essere umano ha raggiunto nuove consapevolezze e vuole vivere la propria vita privata e lavorativa in modo diverso. Le nuove generazioni si sono rese conto che per lavorare bene, bisogna essere felici e anche l’azienda è responsabile della loro felicità. Dipendenti felici significa maggiore produttività, che, unita ad una comunicazione strategica consapevole, può davvero fare la differenza nel mondo che verrà. 

Articolo a cura della dott.ssa Ginevra Bighini, www.negoziazioneinterculturale.wordpress.com; mentoring a cura del dott. Daniele Trevisani, www.studiotrevisani.it

__________

TAGS:

  • communication training 
  • comunicazione assertiva
  • comunicazione autentica
  • comunicazione costruttiva 
  • comunicazione efficace
  • comunicazione interculturale
  • comunicazione aziendale
  • comunicazione positiva
  • differenze linguistico-culturali
  • differenze valoriali
  • Metodo ALM
  • Modello delle Quattro Distanze
  • distanza del self
  • distanza relazionale
  • distanza referenziale
  • distanza ideologico-valoriale
  • distanza dei codici comunicativi
  • empatia 
  • farsi capire
  • imparare a capirsi
  • negoziazione interculturale
  • ponte tra diversità 
  • rispetto della cultura altra
  • strumenti e metodi della negoziazione 
  • tecniche di ascolto attivo
  • risorse umane
  • gestione delle risorse umane
  • imprenditori e dipendenti
  • corsi di formazione
  • capitale umano
  • valorizzare il potenziale umano
  • bilanciare vita privata e lavorativa
  • approccio consulenziale
  • marketing e comunicazione strategica
  • il lavoro del futuro
  • l’azienda del futuro
  • cura del personale
  • la persona al centro
  • supporto consulenziale
  • felicità significa maggiore produttività
  • capacità comunicative

© Article translated from the book “Strategic Selling: Psicologia e Comunicazione per la Vendita Consulenziale e le Negoziazioni Complesse” (Strategic Selling: Psychology and Communication for Consulting Sales and Complex Negotiations) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the Website on Intercultural Negotiation

__________

In the following article I would like to introduce the concept of the “Get-Ready Mindset”, explaining the importance of an adequate preparation both on self-analysis and on the analysis of other people’s way of thinking and behaviours.

It is not easy explaining in a few words what the Get-Ready Mindset is, but I will try to do so by using a metaphor: it is the preparation work that boxers, karateka, or kickboxers do before facing an important match. 

This preparation consists of studying the opponent’s moves, analysing the videos of his/her fights and any possible material concerning him/her, such as what fighting styles he/she may know, his/her masters, his/her preferences, his/her previous defeats , who defeated him/her and how, what are his/her winning strokes, with whom he/she trains, etc.. It includes studying his/her resume, his/her history and the way he/she moves, searching for his/her strengths and weaknesses. 

After having analysed the “other”, it’s time to analyse ourselves:  

  • what are my strengths?  
  • What can I do to improve myself?  
  • Is improving a certain aspect of myself useful or useless?  
  • On what specific development should I focus for that meeting? And how do I convert all this into a training plan? 

We then proceed with building specific combat strategies and techniques. We create a road map, test the progresses made and the state of preparation on the ring with sparring partners. 

This training is related both to fundamental skills (strength, endurance, speed) and to specific techniques. No detail must be overlooked. 

This preparation combines strategy with hard daily gym training, made up of sweat and fatigue, so as to automate the techniques that are going to be used in the match. The best schools do not disregard athletes’ mental training, but they work on focusing and relaxation techniques and on the search for the most profitable mental state, which keeps away the “background mental noises” allowing athletes to be at their best. 

In fact, in every meeting, as I have been able to highlight in the intercultural negotiation field, it is important to know how to keep the background mental noises out of the arena, the retro-thoughts that can weaken us, making us lose tactical clarity of mind and situational awareness (Mental Noise Theory). 

In companies, as well as in sports, one must not rely on destiny or on the hope of being lucky, but on preparation, because that is the only way to strengthen ourselves, to rise to the challenge and to be able to face it. 

And again, a lot of sparring, simulation and training activities must be combined with the indispensable courage that facing challenges that can be lost takes.  

Sales and negotiation in complex environments require specific trainable skills: strategic analysis and communication psychology. In other words, high-level skills. Nothing that can be stereotyped or memorized. 

Just as the fighter prepares himself/herself in the gym, the negotiator can prepare himself/herself through role-playing and simulations. Just as the fighter analyses his/her opponent, mapping his/her strengths and weaknesses, companies can do the same to be ready for strategic meetings. 

We will explore each of these topics in detail. Effective preparation for strategic sales and complex negotiations concerns some very important points: 

  1. The inner will to adopt a consultative approach, with all its consequences: consultancy behaviours, an analytic attitude and a strong psychological and communicational training that can support one’s methods and actions; 
  1. the self-knowledge:  the knowledge of one’s strengths and weaknesses, combined with the full awareness of the value mix that a person, or a company, can create for customers or stakeholders, with whom they must deal; 
  1. the knowledge of others”: their vulnerabilities, their decision-making mechanisms, their balances and imbalances, their dissonances, the problems that can create a state of need or necessity in them, the drives and tensions capable of triggering them to purchase, while bringing us to the positive closing of a negotiation; 
  1. the spaces, options and ways of relating that lead to success, the traps that can cause our failure, the pitfalls, the lines of action and the sense of the “journey”, that must be undertaken to reach the goal by building the right path, step by step. 

"Strategic Selling" by Daniele Trevisani

© Article translated from the book “Strategic Selling: Psicologia e Comunicazione per la Vendita Consulenziale e le Negoziazioni Complesse” (Strategic Selling: Psychology and Communication for Consulting Sales and Complex Negotiations) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the Website on Intercultural Negotiation

__________

For further information see:

TAGS:

  • ALM business method
  • act like professionals
  • active training
  • achieving results
  • awareness of one’s role in negotiation
  • Best coach in intercultural communication in the world
  • Best coach in intercultural facilitation in the world
  • Best coach in intercultural negotiation in the world
  • Best world consultant in intercultural communication
  • Best world consultant in intercultural negotiation
  • Best world expert in intercultural communication
  • Best world expert in intercultural negotiation
  • Best world trainer in intercultural communication
  • Best world trainer in intercultural negotiation
  • book on intercultural communication
  • book on intercultural negotiation
  • book on strategic selling
  • breaking the barriers of incommunicability
  • communication difficulties
  • communication skills
  • communication skills acquisition
  • Communication techniques intercultural communication
  • Communication techniques intercultural negotiation
  • communication training
  • conversational skills
  • creative strategies
  • cross-cultural communication
  • cross-cultural misunderstandings
  • cross-cultural adaptation
  • cultural systems
  • dialogue between companies
  • different cultural approach
  • different cultural context
  • direct line of communication
  • disagreements
  • Effective intercultural negotiation techniques
  • face-to-face communication
  • fighting spirit
  • front-line communication
  • Get-Ready Mind Set
  • helping relationships
  • high-context cultures
  • How cultural differences affect negotiations?
  • How does culture influence negotiation?
  • Human Potential
  • intercultural communication
  • intercultural communication book
  • Intercultural communication books
  • Intercultural Communication Coaching
  • intercultural communication pdf
  • Intercultural Communication Trainers
  • Intercultural Communication Training
  • Intercultural conversation management techniques
  • Intercultural Negotiation
  • Intercultural negotiation books
  • Intercultural Negotiation Coach
  • Intercultural Negotiation Coaching
  • Intercultural Negotiation Communication
  • Intercultural Negotiation Consultant
  • Intercultural Negotiation Consulting
  • Intercultural Negotiation Counselling
  • intercultural negotiation definition
  • Intercultural negotiation exercises
  • Intercultural Negotiation in International Business
  • Intercultural Negotiation Mentoring
  • intercultural negotiation PDF
  • Intercultural Negotiation Process
  • Intercultural Negotiation Strategies
  • Intercultural Negotiation Timing
  • intercultural negotiation training
  • intercultural training
  • Intercultural Training Consultants
  • know-how
  • leadership
  • low-context cultures
  • negotiating rules
  • negotiation preparation
  • negotiator’s emotional awareness
  • negotiator’s growth
  • open communication
  • physical and mental energies
  • Strategic Selling
  • strategic spirit
  • strategic negotiations
  • think like professionals
  • transparent communication
  • What are the 5 stages of negotiation?
  • What is effective intercultural negotiation?
  • What is intercultural negotiation?
  • winning relationships
  • working on attitudes
  • working on skills
  • World’s most famous expert in intercultural communication
  • World’s most famous expert in intercultural negotiation
  • inner will
  • self-knowledge
  • knowledge of others
  • ways of relating

Article written by Ginevra Bighini, www.interculturalnegotiation.wordpress.com; mentoring by Dr. Daniele Trevisani, www.studiotrevisani.com

__________

Today’s article will focus on intercultural leadership. Starting from the definition of the term, we will then proceed with listing and describing the problems that may arise in an intercultural team and the skills that every leader must possess if he/she wants to work in a cross-cultural environment.

First of all, I would like to use the definition from the website 3blmedia.com to explain the differences between cross-cultural leadership, multicultural leadership and intercultural leadership:

“Cross-cultural, multicultural, intercultural…these terms are often used interchangeably yet have finely nuanced distinctions. For a leader, the cross-cultural context means literally crossing cultures to do business, provide service, or vacation in another culture. Multicultural refers to multiple cultures existing in a geographic place or organization, each separate and distinct. Intercultural refers to the act of understanding the values and beliefs of a culture and being able to communicate and collaborate with people across multiple cultures. Interculturalism has as its goal innovation, inclusion, and friendship. Intercultural ism implies interaction.”  (1)

 let’s now continue with Wikipedia’s explanation of intercultural leadership:

Intercultural leadership has been developed to understand leaders who work in the newly globalized market. Today’s international organizations require leaders who can adjust to different environments quickly and work with partners and employees of other cultures”. (2)

In other words, an intercultural leader must be able to:

  1. manage people from different cultures with cultural respect and an understanding attitude;
  2. achieve a common goal with his/her multicultural team.

Obviously, the problems that may arise in these cross-cultural contexts are numerous, for example:

  • intercultural differences in verbal and non-verbal communication;
  • communicative difficulties in the decision-making process, due to different cultural preferences for length of turns, pauses between turns, simultaneous talk, or discrete turns;
  • poor group cohesion;
  • etc.

Possible intercultural leadership challenges can be related to:

  • different cultural view of leaders’ behaviours: cultures accept different leadership behaviours and have different opinions about what can be considered appropriate and inappropriate.
  • Power paradox arousal: one part of the team questions the legitimacy and authority of the leader based on his leadership style.
  • Different culturally-based leadership expectations: members of multicultural team hold different culturally-based leadership expectations and prefer different leadership styles.
  • Team members’ culturally different reactions to leadership: team members from different cultures react differently towards the leader, based on the leader’s leadership style and on how a leader approaches them as team members. (3)

To overcome all this, intercultural communication skills are needed.

In fact, Intercultural management is more than just communicating, working and leading people across cultures. It is about interacting in a conscious and mindful way and it involves:

  • the readiness to recognize our own cultural conditionings and to discover how we came to believe and see things the way we do. This helps us to realize and accept that our own way to see and judge things is just one among many;
  • learning about the other person’s culture, including history, economy, political situation and all those aspects that help us understand the underlying reasons for someone’s behaviour, beyond our personal assumptions and values. This can provide a totally new perspective on a person or situation;
  • the ability to reflect on how our behaviour may be perceived, interpreted and judged by someone from a different culture, as well as the maturity to recognize how we may be unintentionally contributing to a problem (and how we can contribute to solving it);
  • the ability to adapt our behaviour in order to find a common ground with the people we work with, valuing cultural differences and co-creating new and better ways to do things. (4)

To conclude, in order to become global leaders, we cannot just learn how to manage a team or how to be charismatic, because that’s not sufficient. We are all living in a new globalized world, where everyone is forced to interact with many culturally different people, people with different opinions, values and beliefs, people that possess a different world view. All these people must work together to achieve greater results and only an intercultural leader, not a common manager, can help them do that.

Article written by Ginevra Bighini, www.interculturalnegotiation.wordpress.com; mentoring by Dr. Daniele Trevisani, www.studiotrevisani.com

__________

(1) https://www.3blmedia.com/News/Challenges-Intercultural-Leadership

(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-cultural_leadership

(3) https://edepot.wur.nl/496325

(4) https://www.cuoaspace.it/2018/02/why-developing-intercultural-management-skills-is-essential-in-todays-complex-world.html

TAGS:

  • ALM business method
  • active training
  • awareness of one’s role in negotiation
  • Best coach in intercultural communication in the world
  • Best coach in intercultural facilitation in the world
  • Best coach in intercultural negotiation in the world
  • Best Intercultural communication book
  • Best world consultant in intercultural communication
  • Best world consultant in intercultural negotiation
  • Best world expert in intercultural communication
  • Best world expert in intercultural negotiation
  • Best world trainer in intercultural communication
  • Best world trainer in intercultural negotiation
  • Best Intercultural negotiation book
  • book on intercultural communication
  • book on intercultural negotiation communication
  • communication difficulties
  • communication skills
  • Communication techniques intercultural communication
  • Communication techniques intercultural negotiation
  • communication training
  • conversational skills
  • creative strategies
  • cross cultural communication
  • cross cultural misunderstanding
  • cross-cultural adaptation
  • cultural systems
  • dialogue between companies
  • different cultural approach
  • different cultural context
  • direct line of communication
  • disagreements
  • Effective intercultural negotiation techniques
  • face-to-face communication
  • front-line communication
  • high-context cultures
  • How cultural differences affect negotiations?
  • How does culture influence negotiation?
  • intercultural communication
  • intercultural communication book
  • Intercultural communication books
  • Intercultural Communication Coaching
  • intercultural communication pdf
  • Intercultural Communication Trainers
  • Intercultural Communication Training
  • Intercultural conversation management techniques
  • Intercultural Negotiation
  • Intercultural negotiation books
  • Intercultural Negotiation Coach
  • Intercultural Negotiation Coaching
  • Intercultural Negotiation Communication
  • Intercultural Negotiation Consultant
  • Intercultural Negotiation Consulting
  • Intercultural Negotiation Counselling
  • intercultural negotiation definition
  • Intercultural negotiation exercises
  • Intercultural Negotiation in International Business
  • Intercultural Negotiation Mentoring
  • intercultural negotiation PDF
  • Intercultural Negotiation Process
  • Intercultural Negotiation Strategies
  • Intercultural Negotiation Timing
  • intercultural negotiation training
  • intercultural training
  • Intercultural Training Consultants
  • know-how
  • low-context cultures
  • misunderstandings
  • negotiating rules
  • negotiation preparation
  • negotiator’s emotional awareness
  • negotiator’s growth
  • open communication
  • transparent communication
  • What are the 5 stages of negotiation?
  • What is effective intercultural negotiation?
  • What is intercultural negotiation?
  • working on attitudes
  • working on skills
  • World’s most famous expert in intercultural communication
  • World’s most famous expert in intercultural negotiation
  • Intercultural Leadership
  • Cross-cultural Leadership
  • Multicultural Leadership
  • intercultural differences in verbal and non-verbal communication
  • communicative difficulties in the decision-making process
  • poor group cohesion
  • different cultural view of leaders’ behaviours
  • Power paradox arousal
  • Different culturally-based leadership expectations
  • Team members’ culturally different reactions to leadership

© Article translated from the book “Strategic Selling: Psicologia e Comunicazione per la Vendita Consulenziale e le Negoziazioni Complesse” (Strategic Selling: Psychology and Communication for Consulting Sales and Complex Negotiations) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the Website on Intercultural Negotiation

__________

In the following article we are going to introduce the importance of negotiation preparation, focusing on professional training.

In the business field there is a lot of confusion about what training is. Some people think that it is possible to prepare negotiators and salespeople through a couple of hours of theoretical lessons based on abstract theories and concepts, relying on university professors who have never sold anything in their life. 

Others rely on people who make them walk on fire, telling them that this will lead them to dominate the universe, with the practical effect of burning their feet, or drag them into sales meetings where they will have to sing and dance like poor delusional morons. 

Others rely on renowned consulting firms to carry out their assignments, hoping to solve the problem (since they have got trained negotiators and salesmen) by turning to alleged Gurus who show sparkling slides, effective phrases, authors with exotic and famous names. Useful, but insufficient. 

Others focus on the “do-it-yourself” method, making young people flank with senior sellers, without filters, with the practical effect of propagating and disseminating all their mistakes for generations and generations. 

A strong “awareness” is more needed, than a classic training, something that goes beyond stereotyped rules, for example:

  • learning to observe how we react to other people’s communications and how our internal dialogue works; 
  • understanding how to examine a conversation and grasp its strategic moves;
  • preparing to be an analyst. 

Serious training is a very strong form of learning. It starts with a self-analysis that no PowerPoint can replace, and allows us to come to terms with who we really are. 

Unlike those seminars held by “training shops”, a good deep coaching (personal coaching or team coaching) can help the person and the team to pay attention to what previously eluded them, and this has nothing to do with a classic training. 

We need to help people to act like professionals, to “think” like professionals. The search for Human Potential, hidden in every person, is neither easy nor immediate, and we all know it very well. But, sometimes, we look for shortcuts that do not exist. 

There are many situations in which communication changes things. 

We can have a job interview, that can represent a turning point in life, where we have to show who we are and prove what we are worth. 

The effects of every word and every gesture will be decisive. 

Effective communication can also solve the problem of finding a financier for a project, or make a dream come true. 

Many situations, one common denominator: the result of communication and negotiation activities changes life. Facing this intriguing world requires the examination of many variables. But let’s first look for a common trait and reflect on the few certainties we have. 

A first basic awareness is the need for great seriousness in those who work in the world of communication and complex negotiation: being aware of the fact that professional changes – changing-life effects – depend on the results of strategic negotiations. 

If negotiations are well managed, they can lay the foundations for a better future. On the contrary, if they are badly managed, they can cause enormous damage. 

A second certainty is related to the fact that a specific training is needed to communicate well. As a matter of fact, negotiations require a mental preparation: we must use all our mental resources, managing negotiations as professional and strategic activities (mental approach of the Get-Ready Mind Set), without neglecting any detail. 

A third certainty is linked to the need of taking care of the seller’s (negotiator or communicator) “machine”, even before worrying about its external performance. A person who’s feeling well, full of physical and mental energies, will have an excellent chance of expressing his/her communicative potential as well. Conversely, a physically debilitated or exhausted person, who’s also psychologically tired or feels out of place, will only make continual mistakes. 

As an important Italian psychologist and advisor, coach of the Italian national freediving team and freediving world champion, points out: “when you “immerse yourself” in relationships and negotiations you come into contact with yourself and your own subconscious, as a free diver does. 

Reasonable or unreasonable fears, conscious or subconscious anxieties or inconsistencies may emerge. 

If they block us, slow us down, we will suffer many negative effects. 

On the contrary, a person who keeps working deeply on himself/herself can “dive” safely both in water and in the most difficult negotiation, keeping his/her composure, despite the difficult environment, without losing his/her emotional awareness. 

"Strategic Selling" by Daniele Trevisani

© Article translated from the book “Strategic Selling: Psicologia e Comunicazione per la Vendita Consulenziale e le Negoziazioni Complesse” (Strategic Selling: Psychology and Communication for Consulting Sales and Complex Negotiations) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the Website on Intercultural Negotiation

__________

For further information see:

TAGS:

  • ALM business method
  • act like professionals
  • active training
  • achieving results
  • awareness of one’s role in negotiation
  • Best coach in intercultural communication in the world
  • Best coach in intercultural facilitation in the world
  • Best coach in intercultural negotiation in the world
  • Best world consultant in intercultural communication
  • Best world consultant in intercultural negotiation
  • Best world expert in intercultural communication
  • Best world expert in intercultural negotiation
  • Best world trainer in intercultural communication
  • Best world trainer in intercultural negotiation
  • book on intercultural communication
  • book on intercultural negotiation
  • book on strategic selling
  • breaking the barriers of incommunicability
  • building relationships
  • communication difficulties
  • communication skills
  • communication skills acquisition
  • Communication techniques intercultural communication
  • Communication techniques intercultural negotiation
  • communication training
  • conversational skills
  • creative strategies
  • cross cultural communication
  • cross cultural misunderstanding
  • cross-cultural adaptation
  • cultural systems
  • dialogue between companies
  • different cultural approach
  • different cultural context
  • direct line of communication
  • disagreements
  • Effective intercultural negotiation techniques
  • face-to-face communication
  • fighting spirit
  • front-line communication
  • Get-Ready Mind Set
  • helping relationships
  • high-context cultures
  • How cultural differences affect negotiations?
  • How does culture influence negotiation?
  • Human Potential
  • intercultural communication
  • intercultural communication book
  • Intercultural communication books
  • Intercultural Communication Coaching
  • intercultural communication pdf
  • Intercultural Communication Trainers
  • Intercultural Communication Training
  • Intercultural conversation management techniques
  • Intercultural Negotiation
  • Intercultural negotiation books
  • Intercultural Negotiation Coach
  • Intercultural Negotiation Coaching
  • Intercultural Negotiation Communication
  • Intercultural Negotiation Consultant
  • Intercultural Negotiation Consulting
  • Intercultural Negotiation Counselling
  • intercultural negotiation definition
  • Intercultural negotiation exercises
  • Intercultural Negotiation in International Business
  • Intercultural Negotiation Mentoring
  • intercultural negotiation PDF
  • Intercultural Negotiation Process
  • Intercultural Negotiation Strategies
  • Intercultural Negotiation Timing
  • intercultural negotiation training
  • intercultural training
  • Intercultural Training Consultants
  • know-how
  • leadership
  • low-context cultures
  • negotiating rules
  • negotiation preparation
  • negotiator’s emotional awareness
  • negotiator’s growth
  • open communication
  • physical and mental energies
  • Strategic Selling
  • Sellers
  • strategic spirit
  • strategic negotiations
  • think like professionals
  • training shops
  • transparent communication
  • What are the 5 stages of negotiation?
  • What is effective intercultural negotiation?
  • What is intercultural negotiation?
  • winning relationships
  • working on attitudes
  • working on skills
  • World’s most famous expert in intercultural communication
  • World’s most famous expert in intercultural negotiation

© Article translated from the book “Strategic Selling: Psicologia e Comunicazione per la Vendita Consulenziale e le Negoziazioni Complesse” (Strategic Selling: Psychology and Communication for Consulting Sales and Complex Negotiations) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the Website on Intercultural Negotiation

__________

Communication and negotiation are very delicate areas of human existence. Successes and failures, victories and falls, as well as the possibility of making dreams and ideals come true, depend on communication skills and that’s why the following articles will revolve around the tools for building our future: communication, strategic selling and complex negotiations.

Our desires, our human and professional aspirations – the ideas we would like to realize – our own life projects, etc. are all linked to this often-unexpressed ability to communicate, a latent skill, a flower to be made bloom. A skill that we rarely cultivate and study. 

It represents one of the most precious power of human nature: being able to express and share feelings, ideas, thoughts, visions, dreams, projects. 

Here below I would like to make a few examples related to the vital importance of communication skills: 

  • a diplomat or an officer have the lives of thousands of people on their shoulders when negotiating peace; peace and war have always been linked to misunderstandings, lack of communication, negotiation successes or failures; 
  • when an executive negotiates a decisive sale, he/she builds the company’s future; in fact, it also influences the future of the families of those who work in the company. His every move, his every action will have a consequence. 

The vital importance of these skills is not a metaphor, it is something tangible, real. We bumped into it in every job interview, where we were more or less good at presenting our strengths, more or less good at understanding who or what others were looking for, and why. 

The negotiation work is certainly not limited to the business level. 

The importance of communication skills can also alter (for better or for worse) the course of one’s love life; it can bring us closer to the people we love, or create distance, it can generate understanding or misunderstanding, passion or sadness, joy or pain. 

On one hand, good communication can give life to friendships and relationships that last a lifetime, but, on the other hand, bad communication determines the malfunction or irreparable breakdown of human and professional relationships. 

For every human being, the ability to communicate emotions, to open up to others, without letting these emotions being suffocated in an inner mental rumination, is a main factor of physical and mental health. 

Communication skills can even determine life and death, such as in military negotiations or for hostages’ release operations. 

In the business field, the abilities to analyse, present and listen are the core of every sales and partnership project and the heart of every complex negotiation. 

In this context, details also matter, for example: 

  • understanding who the real decision makers are, can change the life of a company; it may or may not let you win a competition, a tender, or the heart of a key customer; 
  • a typing error in an offer’s crucial point can produce a sense of carelessness and raise evaluation barriers, making the sale more difficult; but again… 
  • being distracted in the listening phase can make us lose important “signals” expressed by the interlocutor; 
  • catching or not catching a glance or a facial expression of approval or disapproval is also crucial. 

Concerning negotiations and human relationships, It is an exceptional achievement to understand each other, break the barriers of incommunicability, find ways to achieve cooperative success, and grow together. 

In fact, communicators, professional negotiators, salespeople, represent an active part of society and “put many things into motion”. Without them, companies cannot live. 

A company, where there is no one capable of selling, is a company on the edge of the abyss. All salaries come from a single source: sales. 

We must therefore prepare ourselves: the key is to develop our communication skills and support others’ growth. 

Communication skills must become a real asset (strategic resource) and not a weakness to be covered by discounts, rebates, humiliations, concessions and losses. 

This is why we must act with a fighting and strategic spirit, with a ready and resolute mind – an analyst’s mind – and “legs” ready to meet people everywhere. 

An ancient phrase, expressed by a Japanese Samurai, offers us a beautiful representation, which explains this attitude in a few words: 

Kenshin said: “Fate is in heaven, the armour is on the chest, the result is in the feet” (from the work “Cleary, Thomas. The Mind of the Samurai” by Adachi Masahiro, written from 1780 to 1800) 

The words of Samurai Masahiro help us understand that there are many areas of life that we cannot dominate, and others that are in our hands and that we must manage both personally and as a team. 

Kenshin’s “paradise” refers to global scenarios, for example the choices of the competitors, our armour is our preparation, our feet are the actions we choose to adopt. 

To conclude, we must absorb the fighting spirit proposed by Masahiro and adapt it to our purposes and our profession. 

There is no doubt that operating in sales today means having courage.

The courage of someone who goes out with a suitcase to win over a customer. 

The courage of those who face the world, of those who enter different cultures, new and unknown companies, of those who fight against stronger, more funded or powerful competitors, the courage of those who move on the front line. 

And even greater courage is needed to direct people, standing beside those men and women who work in the front line, especially in times of difficulty and greater need. 

This is leadership. This is a way of life. 

Negotiation is certainly a difficult game, but not a gamble. Serious negotiation never aims to produce free damage to the counterpart, but it is based on building “helping relationships”, that create value for all, and “winning relationships“, that benefit both parties. 

This also applies to marriage, where two people succeed in setting their own spaces of freedom for personal interests (sports, culture, gardening, travel, etc.), without letting marriage become a cage, but rather a springboard that can give power to both. 

This also applies to companies, when, thanks to a good negotiation, a project emerges, that no one, alone, would have been able to create. 

No result, however, is achieved by magic. We need negotiation activities and painstaking work to clarify roles, and roles boundaries. Relationships must be cultivated if we want to reap the fruit of our labour. 

In our everyday life we can negotiate consciously or unconsciously: for example, deciding which film to watch with friends can be considered a negotiation. In projects between companies, negotiation takes on an amplified, enormous importance, and can last for months. Months during which we must never loose our focus on the result. 

These needs require adequate training. 

Communication starts from a main need: the need to enter a relationship, to get in contact with someone or something, and – for those who work with negotiation on a professional level – preparing as professionals is the least that can be done. 

We have been negotiating since we were born, and we will do so for our entire life. 

"Strategic Selling" by Daniele Trevisani

© Article translated from the book “Strategic Selling: Psicologia e Comunicazione per la Vendita Consulenziale e le Negoziazioni Complesse” (Strategic Selling: Psychology and Communication for Consulting Sales and Complex Negotiations) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the Website on Intercultural Negotiation

__________

For further information see:

TAGS:

  • ALM business method
  • active training
  • achieving results
  • awareness of one’s role in negotiation
  • Best coach in intercultural communication in the world
  • Best coach in intercultural facilitation in the world
  • Best coach in intercultural negotiation in the world
  • Best world consultant in intercultural communication
  • Best world consultant in intercultural negotiation
  • Best world expert in intercultural communication
  • Best world expert in intercultural negotiation
  • Best world trainer in intercultural communication
  • Best world trainer in intercultural negotiation
  • book on intercultural communication
  • book on intercultural negotiation
  • book on strategic selling
  • breaking the barriers of incommunicability
  • building relationships
  • communication difficulties
  • communication skills
  • communication skills acquisition
  • Communication techniques intercultural communication
  • Communication techniques intercultural negotiation
  • communication training
  • conversational skills
  • creative strategies
  • cross cultural communication
  • cross cultural misunderstanding
  • cross-cultural adaptation
  • cultural systems
  • dialogue between companies
  • different cultural approach
  • different cultural context
  • direct line of communication
  • disagreements
  • Effective intercultural negotiation techniques
  • face-to-face communication
  • fighting spirit
  • front-line communication
  • helping relationships
  • high-context cultures
  • How cultural differences affect negotiations?
  • How does culture influence negotiation?
  • intercultural communication
  • intercultural communication book
  • Intercultural communication books
  • Intercultural Communication Coaching
  • intercultural communication pdf
  • Intercultural Communication Trainers
  • Intercultural Communication Training
  • Intercultural conversation management techniques
  • Intercultural Negotiation
  • Intercultural negotiation books
  • Intercultural Negotiation Coach
  • Intercultural Negotiation Coaching
  • Intercultural Negotiation Communication
  • Intercultural Negotiation Consultant
  • Intercultural Negotiation Consulting
  • Intercultural Negotiation Counselling
  • intercultural negotiation definition
  • Intercultural negotiation exercises
  • Intercultural Negotiation in International Business
  • Intercultural Negotiation Mentoring
  • intercultural negotiation PDF
  • Intercultural Negotiation Process
  • Intercultural Negotiation Strategies
  • Intercultural Negotiation Timing
  • intercultural negotiation training
  • intercultural training
  • Intercultural Training Consultants
  • know-how
  • leadership
  • low-context cultures
  • negotiating rules
  • negotiation preparation
  • negotiator’s emotional awareness
  • negotiator’s growth
  • open communication
  • Strategic Selling
  • Sellers
  • strategic spirit
  • transparent communication
  • What are the 5 stages of negotiation?
  • What is effective intercultural negotiation?
  • What is intercultural negotiation?
  • winning relationships
  • working on attitudes
  • working on skills
  • World’s most famous expert in intercultural communication
  • World’s most famous expert in intercultural negotiation