| How to learn business development skills on the job |
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from page 12
But what about people
who are working in less
well-structured
situations, carving out
a business from a
variety of opportunities
in settings where they
are expected to be
adaptable and flexible?
They can’t rely on the
authority and structure
offered by a large
organisation. They can’t
just plonk a template
based on the last job
they did on the one they
are about to do. They
have to create their own
structure by thinking it
through.
When your supervisor
tells you that you are
giving up too early, it
is not just a question
of blind persistence.
That would be pushing
something onto a client
who doesn’t want it.
What I suspect is
motivating your
supervisor to go the
extra mile is the
potential she can see in
the situation. It’s how
she thinks about it.
Listening to what she
says and how she says it
is one thing;
understanding how she
thinks is quite another.
And that’s what you have
to do. It does not mean
you have to slavishly do
the same, but before you
can make something your
own, you have to | |
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| | understand what it means
to someone else.
All too often,
well-intentioned
supervisors and managers
think their role is to
tell people how to
think. This is a bit
like telling people how
to ride a bike. The
explanation is given as
a series of instructions
that are impossible to
put into practice and
the effect on the
learner of trying to do
so is total
demoralisation.
Try a simple
experiment. Ask someone
what it feels like to
ride a bike. As they
talk, you will probably
find your head begins to
fill with pictures and
feelings. You will get a
sense of what it is like
to ride a bike that
begins to resonate with
your own embedded
experiences, even if you
have never ridden a bike
before.
Your mission is to
find out how your
supervisor was thinking
and feeling about the
opportunities you have
been exploring together.
What did she see and
hear that you didn’t?
What did she see and
hear differently to the
way you saw and heard
it? What did this lead
her to conclude about
the opportunity and what
she should do next? Do | |
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| | your best to get inside
her head and revisit the
situations you have
experienced from her
point of view.
This is the value of
review after a client
meeting in the company
of someone who performs
well. Turn the tables.
Don’t let her focus on
what you saw and put you
right. That just puts
you on the spot and
introduces performance
stress when your
imagination and empathy
needs the freedom to
make new connections.
Focus on what she saw
and heard. As you listen
in a relaxed way, your
brain will start to make
connections between her
narrative and what you
saw and heard. You will
begin to reinterpret the
scene in a different way
to the way you saw it
when you were in the
room. That’s learning.
In all honesty, I
don’t know whether you
will be able to do that.
That’s why I started
with ‘it depends’. Some
people find it easier to
do than others. But if
you have already been a
successful negotiator,
sensitive to the needs
and concerns of others,
there is a good chance
that you will be able to
make sense of what she
is saying and make it
your own. | |
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