I heard you do free executive team communication assessments. Is it really free? What’s the catch?
Yes, it really is free. In the course of our assessment, we hope to discover at least one or two helpful tips that you can use immediately to increase efficiency and effectiveness. We would like to earn your business if it’s a good fit and if you believe our services can add value for you. No one solution is right for every situation, or every company. The assessment is one way for us to determine fit and value.
Because people are what run business, and Next Element is in the people-business, more often than not, we discover workplace inefficiencies stemming from relationship and communication problems. One of our goals is to advance the success of the businesses in our community. When you succeed, our whole community succeeds.
Here’s the only catch. We will travel up to 3 hours from Wichita to do the assessment. If it’s further than that? We can discuss options that address travel and lodging costs.
Stutterheim, newest certified PCM trainer
Dan Stutterheim, President of Kasa Companies celebrates his recent PCM Trainer Certification with Nate Regier, Trainer, on top of the Newton Train Station.
“I am president of Kasa Companies. We offer other manufacturers solutions in automation, paint finishing, metal fabrication, and large turnkey project management. A typical project for us is to work with a manufacturer to discover and define their problems. Then, together we create and implement a solution. This could mean that we design and manage a large capital project or build a new plant. Our clients include global Fortune 500 Manufacturers as well as small, local customers.
I believe in PCM and have experienced its effectiveness. I am grateful to Next Element for the creative way they trained and educated my team. They’re dang good! Why become a trainer? Becoming a PCM trainer allows me to better support my employees as they grow in their knowledge and use of the tools. Also, we realized that by their nature, capital projects create stress. PCM tools have allowed us to predict distress behaviors in ourselves and our customers and respond in ways that foster productivity and clear thinking. Long term, I’d like to train our manufacturing customers in PCM.”
Dan Stutterheim
President
418 E. Ave. B
Salina, KS 67401
785-825-7181
dans@kasacontrols.com
Switch – Chapter 5, See-Feel-Change
In “Switch, How to Change When Change is Hard,” Chip & Dan Heath, pose a formula for change in this chapter that is contrary to the traditional ANALYZE-THINK-CHANGE. Instead, they propose that in order to change, a person must SEE-FEEL-CHANGE. They share stories of motivating children to take their chemotherapy drugs, and how the mega-store, Target, achieved its success using this formula.
The basic premise is that for real change to happen, people have to experience it, not just have information about it. They suggest that the more information a person has, the more that person [or organization] is unable to change. This may be a clue into why many organizations seem unable to change until they are bankrupt.
So, could it be possible that the enemy of change is OVER-ANALYZING and THINKING? I do not believe that it is necessary to throw these two processes out completely. However, we must learn to know when to let go and just go for it!
How many of us have had an experience that we wanted to elaborate on, only to analyze and think ourselves out it? I bet we all have. The number 1 point I hope to make with this blog post is for you to trust what you see and feel, and then go for it – trust your gut!
Point number 2: In order to sell a product, you must create an experience. People can resonate with an experience, and when they do, they’ll want to re-create it. Re-creation is selling. The more positive experience a person has, that is based on what they saw and felt, the more likely they are to buy the product that created that experience, and the more likely they are to become a long-term customer.
See and feel it!!
Training The Dragons In Your Life: Lessons From An Unlikely Hero
“I don’t want to kill a dragon.”
At this moment, we know that Hiccup has discovered something special within himself. For most of the movie, the scrawny, misfit son of a Viking warrior has repeated the phrase, “I can’t kill a dragon,” as if he is a victim of his own weakness and character flaws. As How to Train your Dragon unfolds, however, we experience a moving story of choice, courage, and the true meaning of compassion. What can the unlikely hero in this movie teach us?
Lesson 1: When drama is the norm, insanity rules
A village five generations old, yet every building is new. Why? Because the dragons keep destroying the village, and the stubborn inhabitants keep rebuilding it. In the dance of drama, people assume the roles of Persecutor, Rescuer, and Victim. The Persecutor righteously attacks or blames others for his own problems. The Rescuer martyrs herself overdoing for others without empowering them; and the Victim accepts the abuse day after day as if it’s his destiny. All three roles play off each other, and recruit others to join the dance. Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. That’s the nature of Drama – lots of damage while nothing changes.
Lesson 2: Even good people (and dragons) do bad things
The Process Communication Model (PCM®) suggests that when people are not getting their inborn psychological needs met in healthy ways, they will attempt to get those same needs met in negative ways – which is called distress. Whether it’s a Viking father fearful that his son won’t make him proud as a dragon-slayer, or a toothless dragon who just wants a friend, we all can do some pretty damaging things out of desperation. How to train your dragon is a story of looking past the negative behaviors to the essential human needs beneath.
Lesson 3: Energy spent trying to control negative behavior is wasted
The entire identity and culture of the Viking clan is tied-up in defending against, and defeating the dragons. From elaborate books on the arsenals and ordinance of each dragon species, to dragon-slaying basic training, every waking hour is spent focusing on how to deal with negative attention behaviors. While his classmates are embroiled in gladiator-style trial and error, Hiccup discovers that attending to the authentic needs behind the negative behaviors of dragons increases his effectiveness and efficiency beyond what anyone else has imagined. Trying to control negative attention is fruitless.
Lesson 4: Cultures of Openness, Resourcefulness, and Persistence produce unlikely heroes
Hiccup makes the choice to respond openly, resourcefully, and persistently to the dragons. By opening himself up to the Night Fury, he creates a safe space for both to learn from each other, and gains the trust and protection of this feared dragon. He resourcefully applies his skills in new ways to make progress – for example, he uses his blacksmithing skills to craft a tail-fin prosthesis for his new friend. Rather than doing for the dragon, he assists the dragon in empowering itself. And, he persistently sticks with his new friend, Toothless, as they both learn how to fly with new appendages.
Lesson 5: Leveraging diversity can produce incredible results
For me, the final scene of this movie was the most poignant. As Hiccup awakes from the epic final battle, we realize he has lost his left leg. Then, we see that his blacksmith mentor has crafted him a cutting-edge prosthesis, already retrofitted to operate the system he originally built to help his dragon-friend fly. As the movie ends, these two imperfect beings are working together to compensate for their weaknesses and leverage their strengths. As others in the village come around, we see that they have made friends with, and learned to utilize the tremendous skills of the dragons to do good instead of harm. The Vikings have always been creative and dogged in their determination. The dragons have always been powerful. Finding ways to make these gifts mutually beneficial instead of mutually destructive was one of the most powerful lessons of the movie.
Lesson 6: Choosing compassion instead of drama takes courage and perseverance
Throughout the movie, Hiccup is ridiculed by his family and clan for being weak, stupid, and misguided. Yet he persists, realizing that while anyone can feel justified by doing the same thing they’ve always done, it takes much more courage to chose a new path. By dropping his knife at the moment he could have killed the most feared dragon of them all to become a hero in the Viking world, Hiccup chooses instead to find the connection between these two supposed enemies. By doing so, he changes the course of history for his village.
Choosing compassion instead of drama takes courage, and can reap benefits beyond your imagination. Make the effort today to learn new ways of relating to others, new ways of leveraging the diversity around you, and be a Hiccup in your world.