Engagement Is More Important Than Ever – With Yourself and Others!

By Dr. Ron Bonstetter of TTISI,

(edited for ELAvate Sales Blog)

As each of us, as sales persons or business owners, face the growing need for social distancing as a part of our daily lives, it seems appropriate to provide the tools that can help the employer, sale person and customer engage in ways that benefit everyone involved. Ron determined the first step is to cultivate a First Person Perspective – your perspective.

Cultivate a First Person Perspective

This was on Ron’s mind as he discovered the power of active questions and how a first-person perspective can alter your workplace and customer engagement levels.

Define Engage – “to participate or become involved in.”

“How engaged were you this week? Do you find your work meaningful and fulfilling in this time of social distancing and crisis?”

 Personal Responsibility Is Key to be Engaged

Many people or employees far too often expect the employer, not the employee to solely be responsible for creating engaged workers. This sentence created a flash back to comments Ron often heard from my brother Bill: “One of the most important soft skills needed by most employees (and sales people) is personal accountability.”

Most of our checks of productivity are designed with a passive third person voice. Things like “How engaged were you this week? Or do you find your work meaningful and fulfilling?”

Not only are these examples lacking any form of measurement, but failure when stated from the third person viewpoint can easily be attributed to others with no personal accountability. Author Marshall Goldsmith of “Triggers” offers six starter questions that he suggests be visited every day and that running scores using a 10-point scale of accomplishment be recorded.

He goes on to point out that those few who actually stay with this list end up establishing new habits of mind that lead to far more workplace engagement as well as increased personal satisfaction. This is especially important in this time of social distancing, working from home and possibly alone

These daily engagements checks include:

1. Did I do my best to set clear goals today?
2. Did I do my best to make progress toward my goals today?
3. Did I do my best to find meaning today?
4. Did I do my best to be happy today?
5. Did I do my best to build positive relationships today?
6. Did I do my best to fully engage today?

The simple process of making these statements personal (first person) and having these thought-provoking ideas on our mind each day, alters our attitude and behaviors.

While this list of six daily engaging questions are a great place to start, Ron shares his personal list so you can consider adding questions to your own list. Ron stresses that embracing this or any other form of daily reflection you’re your personal decision and is best accomplished when you initiate and commit to the process of asking daily questions rather than a top down mandate from your boss.

Dr. Ron’s Daily Engagement Questions

A sense of personal control can be harnessed when you have a personal voice and an environment of choice. As social distancing moves through our society and more sales people find themselves working with greater unsupervised time, you must refocus your efforts to be a productive individual. Accountability and engagement truly are personal opportunities to grow as a sales person, and, a self-directed leader through this crisis. Click below to download Ron’s Engagement Worksheet of Daily Questions to ask yourself to be motivated and productive each and every day.

Download Dr. Ron’s Daily Engagement Worksheet to increase your personal productivity!

If you wish to discuss this engagement checklist and your personal growth strategy during this Covid 19 crisis you may email me!

[email protected]

Michael J Griffin

Founder ELAvate!

TTISI Partner since 1997