How to Merge Psychological Safety & Accountability

Hey, Enablers, happy Friday! Mike Kunkle here. Welcome to this week’s edition of Sales Enablement Straight Talk!

Today, I want to talk about merging two important concepts that some believe conflict with each other. I admit, it can seem counterintuitive.

As you know from the title, I'm talking about how to merge Psychological Safety and Accountability.

I have a post being published elsewhere on this topic soon, so I don't want to repeat that content - so today, I'm going to offer some specific advice and examples about how to hold sellers (learners) accountable for using what they are taught, while doing so in an environment of psychological safety.

Why this topic?

Here's why: According to 59% of respondents in ATD's 2019 State of Sales Training Report, the top barrier to sales training effectiveness was that salespeople were not held accountable for applying skills learned in training.

As you can see from the image, three years before, that figure was 50%. I recognize this study is now four years old, but seriously - do you believe this has changed? Adoption of almost anything we do in enablement is still a major barrier, and a requirement for success.

So, let's dig in.

Here's this week's video. Click the image to watch it on YouTube and if you haven't, please subscribe there.

VIDEO

NEWSLETTER

Let's get into fostering Psychological Safety first. Remember, in this newsletter edition, I'm targeting vs. going broad, so I'm going to do it in terms of fostering deliberate practice and role play, to develop skills (and practice what was taught in training).

Psychological Safety

Talking about psychological safety seems to be all the rage now. This is a good thing, but I still don't see it in action as much as I'd like.

Google’s two extensive studies called Project Oxygen (what makes a great manager?) and Project Aristotle (what makes a top-performing team?) examined top performance to identify differentiators. Creating a safe, empowering, inclusive, psychologically-safe environment was a common theme in these studies at Google, and in other studies, as well. ???

“Psychological safety is the key to creating a workplace where people can be confident enough to act without undue fear of being ridiculed, punished, or fired – and be humble enough to openly doubt what is believed and done. As Amy Edmondson’s research shows, psychological safety emerges when those in power persistently praise, reward, and promote people who have the courage to act, talk about their doubts, successes, and failures, and work doggedly to do things better the next time.”

~ Robert I. Sutton

Someone told me recently that a conference speaker boiled this down to "Trust." While I believe that is a major component of psychological safety, the studies report it's more than just trust. It's Trust + the Vulnerability that trust encourages + a feeling of Security + a Nonjudgmental atmosphere + Tolerance for mistakes (and differences) + Comfort with a manager and colleagues.

If we're applying this concept to role play, how you introduce, set the stage, and lead the role play sessions will all contribute to a psychologically-safe environment. Good, clear instructions and positive, supportive, growth oriented messaging will help. But the practice that will likely have the biggest impact on how it's perceived (and whether your team will continue to engage), is how you lead the debrief sessions.

Debrief Role Plays for Psychological Safety

Start with the Sales role first (self-feedback). Begin with their positive review, then move to constructive.

SALES ROLE

Start with Positive

• Example: "Mike, let's start with you, as the salesperson. What did you like about that... what do you feel you did well?"
• Note: People will naturally start to critique themselves first or shift into a critique quickly after mentioning one positive thing. Redirect that and shape that behavior into the right pattern to form a habit. Positive first, then constructive.
• Example: "Thanks, Mike, I appreciate your desire to improve, but we'll get to that, in a moment. Let's step back into what went well. What else went well?"

Then Constructive

And even the constructive feedback should be done in a positive manner.

• Example: "Okay, Mike. Great analysis. Now, if you were to do it all over again, what would you like to do differently or even better?"

CUSTOMER ROLE

Do the Customer role second for perspective on what it felt like on the receiving end, using similar positive phrasing for the questions, as demonstrated above.

• Positive first: "What did you like about what Mike did?" or "What felt great about that to you, as the Customer?"
• Then constructive: "What suggestions do you have for Mike, for him to consider for next time?"
• Note: You will occasionally have a great opportunity here to help your Sellers understand how they come across to others. When someone is learning a new model or following steps to practice a new skill, they are "in their head" thinking about the model/skills, and trying to use them. To them, it may feel awkward, forced, or fake. It's new; it's uncomfortable. Yet, often to the other people (Customer role and Observers), it just seems natural, like the Seller is simply having a conversation. If you sense your Seller is feeling this way, or they express it, ask the Customer what it felt like from their perspective and the Observers what it seemed like from the outside. This can drive home several important points for your learners. A second option to help with this, is to record the role play using the seller's phone, so they can watch themselves afterward or later, to get an outside perspective.

OBSERVER(S) ROLE

This could be the single Observer in a Triad role play, or the audience in a Fishbowl role play. In either case, ask for feedback from the Observer role next.

• Positive first.
• Then constructive.
• Using similar positive phrasing for the questions, as demonstrated above.

SALES MANAGER / COACH

The Sales Manager should weigh in last and flip the order: Do constructive first, then positive (to end on encouragement).

This debrief method, when well-led and facilitated by the Sales Manager/Coach, can foster psychological safety and a growth mindset. It's not magic pill nor a silver bullet, but it will help you turn the most grizzled role play haters into sellers who can at least tolerate it, until they see results, when they'll start to really get engaged. I have personally seen this happen in just a few sessions, and sometimes, a few weeks (or maybe a few months), with consistent application. Just remember that many of your sellers may have had bad past experiences, and may need some time to get over having "their hand pressed onto the stove burner" in the past, or to get over their fear of messing up (FOMU) or fear of public speaking (yes, even in sales pros). Be patient - it pays off.

Fostering Accountability

With a foundation of psychological safety, you can now also foster accountability. You can do this in several ways.

The Role Playing Itself (and Continuations)

Simply role playing what was taught and reinforcing the skill use is a great first step. Continuing to do it over time is better. While you should also state it explicitly (set clear expectations; state your positive and helpful intentions), the action you take does a better job of establishing expectations through behavior, versus just words. (Walk the talk.)

Use the Concept of Reruns

When a seller role plays and gets feedback, what usually happens next? Yes, that's right, you move on to someone else's role play. What a missed opportunity.

Now, realistically I understand that time restrictions may sometimes make this difficult or impossible, but whenever the role plays are short (single skill practice, for example) or you have time time, ask the seller to redo (the "rerun") the role play immediately (or after some brief planning), to incorporate the feedback they received.

When that's not possible, set the expectation that you (or their manager, if you're not) will follow up to rerun the role play with feedback incorporated at their next team meeting, or 1:1 coaching session.

Use and Check Worksheets (Prep!)

Using job aids and worksheets, and incorporating them into workflow, is a great way to help your reps use what they've learned on the job.

If you're not building worksheets and tools like this as part of your training and enablement efforts, I highly recommend it.

You can embed the concepts directly into your CRM, or attach documents at appropriate places, but in either case, getting the reps to use the worksheets to plan how to apply what they learned in training to the real world, is a wonderful support tool to foster accountability.

Use a Practical Application Template

This was the exact topic from the previous newsletter, so I'm just going to direct you to that one: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/sales-support-content-methodology-adoption-mike-kunkle/, where you can also Download the template in PowerPoint (ungated).

Using this tool helps keep your reps focused on applying the content they're learned in their daily sales interactions.

Observe Sales Interactions

Observing your sellers in action, or listening to call recordings, are two wonderful ways to ensure what is taught is being used - and, of course - to coach them to mastery

Continue from Group Practice to Your One-on-Ones

I mentioned this above as part of reruns, but it bears repeating. If you follow up group sessions or training with a continuation in your smaller team meetings or one-on-one meetings, it definitely encourages accountability to continue to use and hone what was learned.

Generally, Inspect What You Expect

"Trust in Allah, but tie your camel."

~ Muslim proverb

I heard this phrase many years ago and it also reminds me of the more recent "Trust, but verify" (attributed commonly to Ronald Reagan, who popularized it during his presidency, but it may have Russian origins).

In both cases, all these sayings simply mean to inspect what you expect. Not due to a lack of trust, but because even with the best of intentions, other things get in the way of people doing what you want them to do, or they know they should.

This always makes me think of Ferdinand F. Fournies' book, "Why Employees Don't Do What You Want Them To Do, And What To Do About It." With his permission, in 2003, I incorporated his reasons into an abridged tool (The Solutions Chart) that I still use to this day, along with The Performance Analysis Flowchart from Robert Mager and Peter Pipe.

Bottom-line, there are a myriad of reasons why people don't do things, and when it's important (like getting adoption of your sales methodology and achieving mastery), it's important to inspect what you expect, to foster accountability.

The Power of Understanding Checks

In Sales Coaching Excellence, I teach a field training model and a coaching model, that both include Understanding Checks at every step. While this is really just great communication, it is also an excellent excuse-remover and tool to foster accountability.

In the above graphic, note the checkmarks at the end of each step. These are the Understanding Checks. Using the Field Training Model as an example, you:

• Tell the reps what to do (teach, educate) and then have them summarize your expectations back to you. That's the Understanding Check. You don't leave this step until they can summarize to your satisfaction.
• Show the rep how it should be done (role play the skill to demonstrate it), and then have them role play it back to you. That's the Understanding Check. You don't leave this step until they can demonstrate the skill to your satisfaction.
• And so on, throughout the model. It's the same with the Sales Coaching Model.

This is a excellent way to foster accountability. If the rep can clearly explain what you expect and demonstrate that they can do it, there is no knowledge or skill gap that would prevent them from executing. That still doesn't mean they will - but they can. Other things might get in their way, such as fear or lack of belief it will work in the real world. But if they don't do it, it's no longer a skill issue - there are other barriers you must address.

Closing Thoughts

I hope this helps you see how psychological safety and accountability are not as counterintuitive as one might initially think. And by merging them into your reinforcement efforts (think: "change management"), you will definitely get better results.

RESOURCES

• Newsletter: How to Maximize Sales Practice Opportunities
• Article: How to use Sales Enablement to Build a Culture of Continuous Improvement
• Article: Maximizing the Power of Role Play and Sales Simulations
• Video: The Power of Role Play Reruns

Well, that's it for this week, Enablers! Did you learn something new reading/watching this newsletter? If you did, or if it just made you think (and maybe chuckle from time to time - bonus points if you snorted), share it with your favorite enablement colleague, subscribe right here on LinkedIn, and check out The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement Learning Experience. Felix Krueger and Mike Kunkle are both Building Blocks Mentors for the weekly group coaching sessions, and we hope to see you there! For other courses and content from Mike, see: https://linktr.ee/mikekunkle

Until next time, stay the course, Enablers, and #MakeAnImpact With #Enablement!