pull Archives - Dennis E. Gilbert

26
Apr 21
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Project Push and Pull Should Work For You

Tags : goals objectives project management pull push

Have you jumped in with both feet? Are you working from a project push or is it more of a project pull?

Distance runners tend to like the wind pushing from behind. Facing it, and running directly towards it is an opposite force and one the burdens the runner.

It is true for throwing our kicking the football, it is true for gas mileage, and it is especially true for the project you are working on right now.

Much easier, is having the wind at your back.

When the customer requirements are supported and embraced, and it is a known dynamic, the wind is at your back. If something else is driving it, such as a new government regulation the wind may be blowing directly at your forward motion.

Project Push and Pull

Getting the people on board. The designers, the engineers, the widget makers and the sales force all matter. The team members involved in keeping your project moving are more engaged when they are pulled into the process.

If you try to shove a naysayer, you typically get more resistance. It’s the donkey sitting down with its hoofs dug in, trying to stop any motion in the direction you are pushing.

On the other hand, when there is something attractive, a point of interest, or a recognition of something that lies ahead people will typically be eager to get there. They are pulled or compelled to push themselves for the opportunity.

A project in motion, with a team that is being pulled, attracted, and compelled to reach the objective gets an enormous boost when the wind is blowing at their backs. The opposition is less, there is not as much resistance, and their motivation is strong.

The key then, is gaining the benefit of attraction which creates the pull and then supplementing it with a little bit of a push.

Paddling with the current is always easier.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

08
May 20
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Exercising Control, or Abusing It?

Tags : call-to-action control leadership pull push

Are you or other team members exercising control? Is someone abusing it?

A popular small business job title is, Controller. Typically, an accounting or finance person who skillfully provides accounting and operational expertise.

Climate of Leadership

In today’s business climate leadership is often not about authority, it is about skillful navigation that creates a compelling call-to-action.

Forcing people to follow is about pushing. People are pushed to do more work, have better quality, and exceed customer expectations. Push is often a, “do it, or die” approach. It’s about formal control.

A different method, a better method, involves pull. Pull is about people following with an interest and a goal. They are motivated and engaged because they believe as much in the cause as you do.

Passion is an emotion. People follow their passion.

Great leaders help stimulate this kind of environment. It’s in their tone, their body language, and the words they choose.

Their actions speak even louder.

Does the culture of your organization require control? Are people pushed or are they pulled? Are they following at will, or are they fearful of the consequences?

Exercising Control

Yes, many business ventures can benefit from a controller. It is wise to have this type of person in place. The right person in this role can demonstrate their value and worth.

Can things go too far?

Absolutely they can.

Can the wrong cultural attributes create more negative and unwanted results?

Absolutely they can.

People like to decide for themselves. When they decide to follow, it is a choice. A choice they make.

It is a powerful form of pull.

Every leader, regardless of job title, salary, or office size, should demonstrate a style that encourages and embraces a compelling call-to-action.

Nobody really likes to be pushed. Worse yet, nobody wants a shove.

Don’t confuse job titles or authority with leadership competence.

People with organizational authority need to lead. Attempting to control others through fear, intimidation, or bullying is an abusive state.

It’s not leadership.

-DEG

16
Aug 19
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Change Dynamics and the Leaders Who Drive Them

Tags : change compelling leaderhip pull

There is a difference between working in a changing environment and managing change. Change dynamics, or the situations and circumstances that drive organizational change, are often more about choice rather than force.

Work harder, push harder, do more, be efficient, are all commonplace thoughts for leaders wishing to improve metrics. One trouble spot is that leading through force is not as powerful as creating a compelling call-to-action.

Change Through Buy-in

Resistance to change, or the fear of change, is not about the generations, it is not about front-line instead of middle-management, it is about people, all people. Certainly, some people are more risk adverse than others, but change makes most people a little nervous.

Of course, the scale of change and the reasons for it play a role. Regardless, at some level most people think twice about change.

Buy-in is a commonplace term used to describe an action or recommended behavioral pattern for change.

We need buy-in for this change.

Go work with your teams to create buy-in.

Your department doesn’t appear bought-in for this change.

Buy-in is not created through fear or the authoritarian approach. Buy-in is created when there is a compelling reason to get committed.

Change Dynamics

An approach of, “My way or the highway.” will certainly make many people go through the motions. Fear springs people to action. People in motion may be accomplishing something, yet they may not be bought-in.

The conditions, reasons, and circumstances for change will have much to do with what happens next.

When leaders make a compelling case for the need to change, people will choose a path. Change for people is a change about choice.

Choice is the key, and for the leader change is about pull, it is not about push or shove.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

27
Aug 18
-

Pull Customer Service Matters More

Tags : #Custserv customer service motivation pull push

Get the work done. Push it out the door. Sell more, ship more, and grow the business. These all matter but are they push or pull? Pull customer service may be what makes a bigger difference.

What Is Your Plan?

Plenty of businesses and organizations have a decent plan. Plenty of them execute according to the plan and have some success.

It certainly is not always about reinventing the wheel. Sometimes it is about how we care for the wheel.

If you are already bought-in that care is important, especially for the customer experience, does your culture push or pull?

We often talk about push. Push through the day. Push through the comfort zone. Make greater things happen even in the face of adversity.

Have grit, grind through the emotional labor.

These concepts are not necessarily bad, but they are all about the push. And yes, the push can be motivational.

Plan to Pull

What about pull though? What about having a culture of customer service that is so strong the organizational culture creates a pull?

Imagine the outcomes when the service experience is so good that internal and external customers are pulled in. Imagine they are so attracted to the good vibes that they simply want more.

Organizations with pull customer service are not bickering over who does the work. You don’t hear, “That’s not my job.”

Pull Customer Service

In a pull culture, growth begets growth. It is attraction that builds community. Community builds connection. Connections build more pull. Nobody internal or external feels pushed. Push isn’t a motivator, it is all pull.

They sell more, ship more, and grow more without pushing.

The grind isn’t really a grind because it pulls people in. Sure, there may be moments here and there, but the overall feeling is pull.

Wouldn’t it be nice to push less?

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

23
Aug 18
-

Project Management Done For Us Not To Us

Tags : leadership motivation project management pull

Many professionals can cite project management on their resume or curriculum vitae. It is often what people do, work together for a common goal. What are your experiences with project management?

Some people want off the committee, they grow tired of the project, the team, the conflict, debates, arguments, and turmoil. It may feel like little is being accomplished and no one knows the goal.

The truth is that project management can be done to us, or for us. How are you managing or leading projects?

To Us or For Us?

When the project is done to us it feels forced. The project is rooted in demand and command, not opportunity. This sometimes works. It is a push style. The authoritarian approach. Today, many would label this old school.

There is a different approach. It is a pull style. It is what draws people in, what inspires them, motivates them, and makes the project a delight.

The project feels like it is for us. The project is an inspiration. Engaged contributors want to start early, work long, and stay late.

Meetings are short and focused, people can’t stand to be away from the work at hand. Not because they hate the meeting, but because they can’t wait to get started.

Vision is shared, contributors are happy, the talk is of success and accomplishment.

Project Management

Does project management appear on your resume? What is your approach to projects?

Considering there are five generations active in our workforce today leading projects can be complex. Getting people on board, bought in, and motivated is critical.

Our highest job satisfaction often develops from respect. Pushed people don’t feel respected. Push implies forced. Push implies done to us, not for us.

Pull on the other hand can be a delight. It feels like it is there for us.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

06
Oct 16
-

3 Tips to Pull You Towards Your Goal

Tags : goals pull push roadblocks win

Push or pull, which is the best? Recently I wrote about the concept of push or pull and decided it may be important to explore several tips for how to create less push and more pull when moving towards your goals.

While it is often easy to consider strategies and describe tactics that can help you or your team to stay motivated and move closer towards your goal, the biggest challenge comes from the execution. In short, it is easy to talk the talk, but more difficult to walk the walk. Here are three tips to help keep you or your team navigating a path that is less push and more pull:

Count past wins. Too often individuals and teams get caught up in reliving past failures. If you’re taking risks to move forward you’ll most likely encounter some circumstances or situations that could result in failure. Of course the good news is that we can learn from our mistakes or failures and that will better position us for new growth. What is important here is to examine past wins, count those, keep track of them, and relive them. What you focus on is often what you get and the most important tactic will be to keep reliving wins. After all, you are a winner!
Make roadblock images smaller. We all form images in our minds. When we are listening, thinking, and even observing we store images that are connected to our thoughts. Those images can be of success, or they can be of roadblocks, hurdles, or past failures. If all that you think about (or “see” in your mind) is the disastrous and painful disappointments that are unfolding for your future, you’ll have to continue to have more push and less of the more desirable pull. Make any of those unfavorable images smaller or replace them all together with images of goal attainment and success. Athletes sometimes refer to this as visualizing the win, getting the trophy, or having a record breaking performance. The same is true for personal or business goals.
Get excited. When you start focusing on past wins and visualize yourself positioned in future success you’ll be more excited about what is happening. Remember that push is hard and pull is easy. When you allow the excitement to pull you closer to the goal everything will start to click and you’ll have more energy for momentum and less wasted effort (mental or physical, or both) spent on things that don’t really matter.

I often tell people that there is no rocket science involved, but knowing and understanding the concepts is very much different when compared with implementing them. Your challenge is not to know them, that is the easy part, your challenge is to implement them and do it over and over again until you’re completely programmed for pull, instead of push.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and coach that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is the author of the newly released book, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

05
Oct 16
-

Are You Pushing or Being Pulled?

Tags : focus marketing pull push success

There are a lot of people working really hard. There is a good chance you are one of them. There are also a lot of cliché’ phrases, idiom’s, and meme’s floating around social media channels about working smarter and not harder or how if you love what you do you’ll never work another day in your life. There is certainly some value to those, but have you considered the aspect of push or pull? Marketers will quickly associate with the concept of push versus pull marketing, but we’re not talking about marketing here, at least not specifically.

Some time ago, and unfortunately I cannot recall who to credit with this idea, I heard an analogy that really stuck with me related to push or pull.

Imagine a twelve inch long piece of string on a flat open space such as a desktop or table. Now imagine that you want to move that piece of string across this space. If you place your index finger on one end of the string and attempt to push it across the string will likely bunch up, twist up, or otherwise not cooperate. Instead imagine if you place your index finger on one end of the string and pull the string across, the string would likely straighten out and follow the path of your finger pulling it. So what is better, push or pull?

I believe in hard work, I believe it is a testament to achieving something greater, something worthwhile, and something you can be proud to have accomplished. While not everyone agrees with this philosophically, I’m a believer. If you’re with me on this, you’re working hard too, but what about this push or pull concept?

It’s really exciting and quite simple. We may often push so hard that we become frustrated, burnt out, or worse, we start to disengage. We may begin to focus on the short-comings and develop self-limiting beliefs that stifle our opportunities and short change our success. Push often makes you feel tired, worn out, and unexcited. That is why I believe pull is so much better. When you become so compelled, energized, and excited about achieving your next goal, it draws you in and pulls you to your destination.

Both approaches have some value, but most likely one of them has more advantages.

Which approach will you use?

– DEG

Tag Archives: pull

Apr 21

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Project Push and Pull

May 20

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Climate of Leadership

Exercising Control

Aug 19

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Change Through Buy-in

Change Dynamics

Aug 18

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What Is Your Plan?

Plan to Pull

Pull Customer Service

Aug 18

-

To Us or For Us?

Project Management

Oct 16

-

Oct 16

-

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