CHANGE AND VISUALIZATION 

• Change is as inevitable as the passage of time. It ripples across our economic universe eventually flowing into all market niches.
• Change alters customer needs/preferences, product delivery systems and ultimately company profitability.
• Since change IS; how do we insure it has a positive affect on achievement of our long term goals not a chaotic one? We begin the process by visualizing our new goals.
• Visualization requires us to use our collective experience, current knowledge, professional goals and our imagination to create a positive model for success.

Second, with the evolved market model as a guide we examine our marketing vision and reformulate our strategy to create greater harmony with customer preferences.

Third, based on our reformulated marketing strategy, we develop our priorities to restructure product mix, delivery system and company culture to better synchronize with customer preferences and industry realities.

• We assume other parties have the same identical dictionary as we do for word meaning and intention.
• The spoken message and behavior displayed are not congruent suggesting insincerity.
• There is a failure to listen to the actual message because we think we know, are distracted, bored or disinterested.

In a business environment it is always the entrepreneur/managers responsibility to communicate in ways that encourage understanding and compliance.

The basic concepts supporting goal effective communication include:

• All communication is first filtered through our personal cultural assumptions and experience as we create a mental image of the message.
• Content of the speaker’s message must conform with the experience driven knowledge and assumptions of the listener.
• Behavior displayed by both speaker and listener must be consistent with the message stated and understood purpose.
• Language structure of the message must encourage creation of mental images by the listener consistent with speaker’s goals.

Persuasion contributes to effective communications because it builds the necessary compliant behavior to achieve the business goals. The process of persuasion is founded on six basic tendencies in human behavior that contribute to generating a positive and compliant response.

• Reciprocation - individuals feel obligated to repay in kind what they have received.
• Consistency - individuals have a strong desire to have their behavior seen as consistent with their agreements.
• Social Validation - individual choices of behavior is most often guided by the behavior of peers.
• Liking - individuals prefer to say yes to those people they like, identifying similarity will expedite rapport.
• Authority - individuals are guided in making their choices by the display of knowledge, power and experience of others.
• Scarcity - individuals have a more positive response when information on opportunities presented seem exclusive.

Effective communication is essential to achievement of business goals. Described below are a few key points to keep in mind when engaged in the communication process/persuasion process:

• Our life experiences affect the images we create when speaking and directly impact how our message is accepted.
• Preconceptions affect how we receive information on any topic. Negative preconceptions cause us to dismiss messages automatically because of their source or content.
• Becoming defensive when another persons offers a comment always reduces clarity of the communication.
• Never assume that by virtue of your position, status, training, or age you posses the ability to read minds.

IN SUMMARY REMEMBER:
AS MANAGER YOU MUST COMMUNICATE WITH THE STAFF SO THAT THEY UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPTS YOU ARE RELATING.  EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION WILL ENCOURAGE POSITIVE AND COMPLIANT BEHAVIOR. 

For the small business entrepreneur, trust based relationships play a critical role when achieving their business goals. To sustain these relationships, communication and action must be consistent with their vision for success.

The entrepreneur and the warrior face similar challenges
in these principal areas of behavior:

• Their vision and related behavior must be consistent in order to develop sustainable trust based relationships;
• They must avoid self-deception when assessing opportunities, potential strategies, and communicating action plans;
• They must demonstrate an ability to put aside fear of risk and remain committed while acting with exuberance and determination to succeed;
• They are assisted when achieving goals by maintaining cooperative alliances, building trust relationships and honoring commitments.

These common behaviors are reasons why the warrior's code offers a strong model for successful management of small business.

A copyrighted article discussing this model in detail is available on request.