Discover Best Stories

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUpGpPIROuo

Best Stories of Purpose-Driven Selling

We have all, at some time or another, been part of a successful, rewarding selling experience, whether it was selling a pretty pink lipstick, a million-dollar service contract, or tickets to your local arts fund-raising dinner. Reflect on a time when you felt at your best in a selling situation. Everything seemed perfectly aligned—timing, customers, your knowledge and message, the questions, and how you managed your responses, and so forth. Share your story.

• What was the situation?
• What was the purpose?
• Who was there?
• What was the outcome?
• How did you feel?

Without being modest, what do you value about yourself in your story?

What do you value about the work you were doing?

What did you value about the organizations—yours and your customer’s?

The participants paired off to interview each other. Very soon the room was alive with energy as the pairs exchanged stories of their best selling experiences.  After 25 minutes, single pairs linked up with another 2 pairs to form groups of six where interviewers introduced their interview partners and shared highlights of their partners’ stories of a high point purpose-driven sales experience.  They were invited to:

• Listen respectfully, focus on the common themes that came up across the stories;  listen for the collective strengths across all the stories:  key roots of success.   They selected a story that exemplified the strengths, best assets, and successes in a sales experience and shared with all other groups.

We then reconvened to listen to what came up for people during this discovery interview.

Collective findings of best selling experiences

We identified the most powerful and successful selling experiences happened when the following elements were present:

• we took time to notice and observe client behavior;
• we listened deeply;
• we engaged with full presence (not distracted by others, seeking information from them);
• we proposed a solution that represented the above two points and was fresh in its presentation;
• there was synchronicity and alignment of mutual respect and purpose;
• we knew we were helping;
• we felt confident and were very well-prepared; we were authentic and loved what we did; we trusted our intuition; we let go of assumptions;
• it felt easy and natural;
• we were acknowledged, complimented and  invited back;
• clients reported to feeling heard and understood and the solution offered was very good.

Participants agreed participating in the AI approach was an empowering experience, as most of them didn’t believe that selling was a strength, yet during their interviews they discovered strengths they were not yet aware of, or did not consider to be valuable.   Moreover, in hearing stories from other consultants in the room, they discovered skills and behaviors they too had, and made the connection that they could develop those same skills sets and behaviors that would help them shift to a new level of performance when it came to selling their services and products.

As a close, they each made a wish or two (in the form of a personal commitment) about what they would do to reconnect to their latent talents around selling-on-purpose and how to co-construct it with their clients.

Debriefing

As a debrief we contrasted this strength-based, generative approach to selling to the more traditional approach of telling people how to sell.  Moreover, there is a strong underlying assumption in sales-drive organizations, that sales people  are motivated by financial incentives, competition and fear of failure.  We recognized the negative consequences of contraction in such circumstances, when we feel fear and unconsciously we  jump to control mode and shut down.  On the other hand, when we come from a place of strength and feel positive about ourselves, we access our generative states, trusting ourselves and others.  We open ourselves up to possibilities, become more personally expansive and are more inclusive of others. We also spoke of the value being in positive resourceful states that the AI process facilitates, such as appreciating, imagining, collaborating and empowering.

I thank all who showed up to participate in the workshop to make it a fun and generative learning experience.  I would be most honored for those of you who were there, if you took a moment to add your own insights and experience to this blog post.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaFa91DSRi4

Workshop details -- FREE

Wednesday, July 28 2010 5:45 -- 8:00 PM

You’re invited to experience Appreciative Inquiry in Action and discover your strengths in relation to selling. If you think you can’t sell, or wish to improve, come along to this workshop on the affirmative topic of PURPOSE-DRIVEN SELLING and discover strengths you did not know you had in relation to selling.

I  will be facilitating this workshop which is one of the 21 workshops in my new book, Appreciative Inquiry for Collaborative Solutions: 21 Strength-based Workshops.

Location

John Jay College
899 10th Avenue @59th Street
New York, NY
Room 531

To Register

Please register in advance at this link:  http://bit.ly/bQZxcN
Questions: contact robyn @ positivematrix.com

How to register for this free event.

This was the most diverse AI conference to date: the location, Kathmandu, Nepal, the participant mix from 42 countries, and the range topics showing the many, many applications of AI in the world today in all sectors was a testament to the power of AI globally. It was a simultaneous online and in person conference.

I, together with Susanne Mueller, Barbara Christian and Timothy Germany,  will be sharing the high points of our experience.  Come hear our stories as we share examples of how AI as an instrument of change is impacting the lives of people in the poorest communities, in schools, in government, in industry, in hospitals, on topics of social justice, environmental responsibility, aging, leadership, families and so much more.

In addition, I will provide a quick overview of the contents and objectives of my  new book  “Appreciative Inquiry for Collaborative Solutions: 21 Strength-based Workshops”, published by Pfeiffer Imprint of Wiley, ISBN 978-0-470-48316-9 will be available. David Cooperrider  has described it as “a brilliantly applied book with over 21 workshops ready for prime time delivery – helping leaders tap the revolutionary power of appreciative inquiry…”

Date:  Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Time:  5:45 pm  – 8 pm
Location:   John Jay College, 899 Tenth Avenue @ 59th Street , Room 610 T
Registration Fee:  Free
Here is the closest Subway stop/lines   59th Street Columbus Circle/Broadway  – Subway A, B, C, D, 2, 1

Participants will need to pre-register in order to access the building.   (You may need to sign in to yahoo groups.)

The NYAISIG is a community of practice that is committed to the study, exploration and application of the Appreciative Inquiry Philosophical Approach along with other positive/collaborative approaches and practices around change and transformation.  It is our hope to create a supportive community of practitioners to bring more of these approaches into New York City and Area Organizations.   It is co-sponsored by Dispute Resolution Program at John Jay College.

I am equally inspired by their responses, so I’ve created a comment area on my blog for us to continue sharing ideas, stories, experiences, insights and aspirations.

Below are some examples of their emails:

“I read the activity about Business as a change agent in the world … I love the legacy aspect. So this gave me an idea for my storytelling….You inspired me at lunch, and also in the subway! This book arrives at the perfect time for me it seems!”

“Now that I’ve had a little time to actually read the book (the first few sections), I love it more. It’s got clear insights and your tapestry of weaving together the several strands that influence your thinking/this book is one of golden and silver threads. Just stunning synthesis and vision. This book is simply wonderful.  Much success!”

“I’m back in Germany now after a very exciting two weeks in New York City. Your workshop at Marymount was one of the highlights of the workshop circuit. I am planning on using appreciative inquiry in BPW and present it, as you did, as a useful trainer tool and at the same time to find out what members and prospective members want and need from BPW.  Perhaps I can also use the method in a team building workshop.”

“I’ve had a quick browse – what a wonderful resource it will be for the AI community ”

“I love your book! It’s a perfect tool for incorporating Appreciative Inquiry in group coaching/training, so I can’t wait to put it into action. Thanks for this beautiful work, it’s really going to change things ”

“Looking forward to working with your book – maybe already next week in an interview with a friend to capture her Art of Hosting training experience in Sweden last month. Will let you know -   Here is my little report from Friday’s event on Pioneers of Change.”

“Robyn Stratton-Berkessel led us through an Appreciative Inquiry exercise that showed us the power of hearing other people telling our own leadership story.”

“Can your workplace benefit from better collaboration + appreciation of each others work? Try @robbiecat‘ s workbook.”

Please also read my interview on Axiom News,  whose mission is “To be the news agency of the world’s most socially generative organizations’.

I am very grateful to you all!

And let’s keep sharing and here’s the comment area to share ideas and practices.

My publisher had emailed me 3 days earlier with the following heartwarming message:

It’s here and it’s beautiful!!!!
Congratulations.  You should get your copy soon.

I am really happy, as my book is a unique application of Appreciative Inquiry to the world of learning and development.  Amid global challenges and complexities, the Appreciative Inquiry worldview asks, “What is it that we do already that is working for us, and how can we leverage our strengths going forward?”

The twenty-one workshops in this book are on topics of strategic importance, addressing the desire and need, in our interconnected world, for greater participation and active collaboration in meaning making and resource sharing.   This book is for change agents, leaders, trainers, facilitators, organization development professionals, and consultants.

All 21 workshops are ready for delivery; the topics are all highly relevant in today’s world, and with the Appreciative Inquiry design, they are equally applicable in global corporations, local communities, schools, colleges, universities, government agencies, non-profits, non-governmental agencies, special interest groups, communities of practice, and small business.

Workshop titles include classic topics, such as team building, leadership, and change, as well as on newer topics, such as cultural diversity, corporate social responsibility, intergenerational mix, and social media, to name a few.

This book takes Appreciative Inquiry principles and processes and applies them to real, everyday work and relationship issues in a workshop format that allows organizational members to resolve issues and create solutions from a strength-based perspective.

See larger image Appreciative Inquiry for Collaborative Solutions: 21 Strength-Based Workshops (Paperback) By (author) Robyn Stratton-Berkessel List Price: $60.00 USD New From: $46.50 In Stock Used from: $46.74 In Stock

We are offering some great presentations and workshops online using iCohere collaborative platform and we are seeking a number of volunteer online hosts who will be able to participate in the conference and perform some support activities.   This is a great opportunity for those who want to participate, but for a variety of reason can’t make it to Nepal in November.  Colleague, Sue James is co-ordinating the online hosting activities.

What are the benefits of volunteering?

• Receive support and training in the virtual conference environment, prior to the conference itself;
• Become part of a global network of volunteers, all of whom share your interest in Appreciative Inquiry;
• Gain personal and professional recognition across the AI community; and
• If you can act as an online host for six (6) hours or more over the four days of the conference, you will receive a 50% discount on virtual conference registration!
• (These hours will not have to be contributed in one block, but can be spread out in two-hour time slots over the four days)

For all the details and to register, please go to http://suejames.com/aihosts2009/

I am fortunate to be able to travel to Nepal for the Conference and will also co-facilitating an online workshop, “Flourishing Destinies: How to Sustain Positive Change.”  I will be happy to answer any questions and request that you use the contact form on this site to reach me.

I have reason to be excited.   Our workshop “Flourishing Destinies: sustaining continuity for positive change” received media attention and was the lead story yesterday in  Axiomnews , based in Ontaria Canada and whose mission is “to publish news, on behalf of organizations, that catalyzes meaningful contribution.“

The New News Media such as Axiom News are helping to shift cultures to cultures of responsibility and positive, sustainable actions. Axiom News has “A Passion for Organizations that Make a Difference“.  From their website:

“We believe the organizations we all work for, and access goods and services through, are the best vehicle for influencing social change and for finding fulfilling, meaningful work. We are committed to our mission of helping organizations make the greatest contribution they possibly can to society, and the self-actualization of their team members.

We know that high functioning, open and dynamic social ecologies are the best environments for making this happen. As practitioners of the journalistic arts we are passionate about our Constructive Stakeholder Journalism approach as a high-yield catalyst for such environments, social contribution and the creation of meaning in work.”

With news networks like that, we will focus on growing that which we want.

The overall theme of the Global Forum is “Manage in an era of massive innovation” and our workshop’s purpose is to prototype a container for massive innovation. Our container is made up of a process with web-based technologies.  Our process is Appreciative Inquiry and our web-based technologies are Facebook, Linked-In, Twitter and a collaborative platform iCohere.

So through the Appreciative Inquiry process we seek to discover high peak stories of when the energy, innovation and  commitment generated in the planning process of a workshop or conference have not withered on the vine, but  continued to build after the event, spiraling into greater levels of achievement.  Through all of our shared stories and experiences of successful sustained implementation and our dreams for what such implementation could look like, we will develop a deeper understanding of how the energy and innovation created in the planning process can build after the event and spiral into ever greater levels of achievement that lead to flourishing destinies.  We will co-create insights and understanding that we can take away to apply within our own organizations and projects in order to create sustained continuity for positive change and innovation at the scale of the whole.

You are welcome to participate free by going to our site www.flourishingdestiny.org and follow the prompts.   To join the Twitter discussion, use @BAWBGlobalForum;  Facebook; LinkeIn

Key insights from their conversation:

Positive emotions increase our thought-action repertoire creating a broadening effect that opens us up to generativity, to creativity and to each other.   By paying attention and increasing the frequency of positive emotions, we build up more positive resources that increase our resiliency over time.   This translates into the ability to hold our positivity in the face of adversity.  We are able to hold both sadness and fear and feel at the same time, gratitude and love.  We are more able to see and feel what is real and difficult while at the same time maintain our uplifted spirit.  Resilient people can hold the positive and the negative side by side.  The ratio of holding the positive affect to offset negative affect is 3:1.  Nurses who show greatest resiliency are the best able to uphold the human spirit when dealing with their patients’ great pain and suffering.

Our social construct has been to emphasize our ‘brokenness’ over strengthening our potential and goodness.  There are greater numbers of positive acts in the world than negative, yet it is the negative ones that get emphasized.  Most of millions of day-to-day positive acts are quiet and don’t attract attention.

Whatever we focus on, grows.  Therefore, as a practice, we can grow our capacity to flourish (feel joy and happiness) as we focus on all the micro moments of positive emotions.   We are mindful that positive emotions are fleeting; and we are reminded of the impermanence of life and that all things will pass.   Loving-kindness meditation is one way to build our positive emotions and hence our resiliency.

Final takeaways:

• The skill is to develop a sense of renewal through self-compassion and letting go, as opposed to hanging onto states that do not support us
• Our everyday thoughts and practices shape who we are.
• The neurons that fire together, wire together.
• Experience is fundamental to memory.

When invited to say what attracted them to the workshop they offered the following shared themes:

• To gain greater understanding of AI and how I can integrate this into various aspects of my work with individuals and groups.
• Learn how to do it right so that the outcomes for people and organisations (and me!) are realised.
• Looking for practical examples.
• Understand the process of moving through an AI
  “discovery” with the others in the room as well as gaining insight into
  the facilitation process itself.

• Feel comfortable about integrating AI methods/approach in my coaching and facilitation.

What stood out as highlights and common themes following the discovery interviews of a high point in their work:

• creating environments where people can act in a positive way, facilitating challenge, using skills, creating something, making a difference, discovery of skills and unlocking potential, awakening, contribution to something value, creating value for others.

And what they valued about the experience of the discovery interview:

• having my story validated by others, encouragement;
• prompt that reflection on past success should be done more often to feed future growth and success;
• I valued the opportunity to remember my story and to get in touch with how significant it was in my own growth and awakening. It was also uplifting to hear my colleague’s story and to recognise another person’s amazing growth and discovery…
• Time to reflect … the interview was an opportunity to learn about my own experience and then the value is real as it was what had happened. No need to justify or to prove the research….it was re living something real; real listening and appreciation of the story;
• Just a chance to take some time and space; to be able to slow down;
• Sort of acknowledgement, validation as well as delight in the fact that the important bits were successfully communicated and understood. Being present when people are experiencing positive emotion seems to itself create the atmosphere of creativity and potential;
• Sense of one’s self at a higher place.
• Reinforced the worth of my work, realisation that I can make a difference, am positive about the next stage;
• I was happy to find that that someone else could see the value in the story I was telling. I was also moved by the story that was narrated to me because it had simpatico vibes for me;
• Opportunity to get closer to a new friend;
• I felt uplifted, positive, a sense of something greater than myself, encouraged;
• The simple sharing of stories and having a conversation of personal experiences.

This caring group of eight individual professionals identified their positive core as

• not leaving their heart at the gate, shared endeavour, valuing and encouraging people, passion, sense of purpose; collectively working in a relationship of trust and creating an environment where people can learn.

The wishes expressed to realise the dream workplace in 10 years time included:

• Happy place;
• Positively focused collaboration;
• Flexibility, trust, fulfillment;
• I wish for people to have the time and space to appreciate their fellows, share understanding and grow together;
• Camaraderie, energy and meaningful work;
• New directions by collaborative design and sharing leadership;
• Work which is in line with my deeper purpose.

Here are some responses to the question: What do feelings of joy bring out in you, as you work, play and relate to others? Where do you feel joy in your body?

• Song in the heart literally!
• Lightness of body and mind, easing and reduced tension of muscles.
• I feel joy in my face and in my core – feel light and happy – almost floating.
• A satisfaction and tiredness with the inner glow.
• A lightness and warmth in the gut.
• More ideas, alive and invincible.
• Overall heightened sense of well being.
• Relaxation, ease.
• Feeling joy – lightness, feel it in your chest/heart – breathe deeper, feelings of warmth, connected.
• Heightened connectivity of ideas and concepts firing at a faster rate.
• Relieved; stress makes you smile and be animated. Feel it in your face, feel warm.
• Jumping for joy – literally I feel like expressing myself physically – like a child jumping up and down with glee.

The collaborative software platform we use facilitates the capturing, sharing and sense making of all participants’ ideas in a generative way.

What becomes clearer to me each time is how valuable the technolgy is, not only to capture participants own words and feelings throughout the workshop as shared above, but especially when it comes time to do the operational, more linear tasks as well, such as creating provocative propositions, making the topic selection and creating the interview protocol.

As an example of the latter, the task was: (1)Take your selected topic; (2) create a “lead-in” statement and (3) write two affirming questions to elicit “high peak” experiences related to the topic and the lead-in statement just created. The tool truly facilitates this process elegantly.

Teams worked on these three steps and in a very short time produced three excellent interview protocols. Using the technology provides a focussed energy augmenting teamwork, the co-creative process and the desire to share and contribute.

At the end of our two-day workshop, when invited to express how they will introduce AI into their work and personal life these views were recorded.

• Hope as the lead-in.
• AI frame will help my work with groups facing challenges.
• Taking a refreshed / fresh perspective and positive approach.
• Make a real difference, new approach that may engage people.
• Satisfaction to add (not deficient thinking).
• Discovering and deploying strengths, both active and dormant.
• Growth and benefit to all concerned a real positive experience of life through a new way of seeing and being.
• An approach that I can draw upon to help move groups forward in a positive, generative way.