by T.K. Maloy, UPI Deputy Business Editor
Subject: Politics can flare at the watercooler
Date: Monday, October 04, 2004 4:34:30 PM EST

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (UPI) — With Election Day only four weeks away, the races are heating up to the point where many normally affable colleagues find themselves arguing in the office place and creating a hostile political battleground.

Workplace experts warn, watch out for too much politics at work.

“What we have is a polarized electorate, and this stark contrast in beliefs has spilled over into the workplace. At one point, office debates had cooled somewhat as people had tired of arguing with their coworkers. However, with the start of the presidential debates, people are fired up again to discuss their differences,” said Rich Chaifetz, chief executive officer of Chicago-based ComPsych, a large provider of employee assistance programs.

Chaifetz added, “Often, tolerant companies see diversity of views as enriching. But office debates can also be patently counterproductive, not just in terms of time wasted, but in terms of employee morale. At its worst, differences in political ideology can be used to intimidate workers who are seen as ‘dissenters.’ At its best, finding out that a work friend has completely opposing views from you can put a strain on the work relationship.”
Ashley Kaplan, an employment law attorney with Sunrise, Fla.-based G.Neil Corp, a human resource consulting firm, notes that as election day gets closer and the political races on all levels get hotter, employers must make sure that rules are clear on office political debate. She warns that otherwise, the ramifications can be costly to the company’s bottom line.

“Allowing your employees to engage in political activities at work can lead to a host of problems,” Kaplan said. “Political disagreements can lead to employee dissention and reduced productivity. And, when a manager or executive brings a candidate into the workplace or visibly endorses an issue, employees may feel pressured or in fear of negative job consequences if they do not have similar views.”

She added, “Employers should be aware that numerous federal, state and local laws protect employees from threats, discipline, retaliation and rewards for their political decisions. But these laws were intended to protect employees’ beliefs, not their actions on the job.”

Kaplan advised that by not having a written policy, employers invite political debates to become too heated.

“Employers should implement rules — preferably in the form of a written policy — setting clear limits on political activities at work,” Kaplan said. “Make sure your policy focuses on employee behavior, conduct that interferes with work, and actions that directly affect the company and other employees.”

According to Kaplan, the specific policy provisions should be tailored to fit the applicable workplace laws in your area.

In general, Kaplan advised the following:

Prohibit employees from using company time, materials, property and other resources for political purposes; prohibit employees from distributing political literature, soliciting contributions, collecting signatures, or performing political work on company premises during work hours; prohibit employees from displaying posters, signs, stickers, buttons, hats, clothing and campaign slogans at work; and do not allow employees from using the company’s name or logo in connection with any political activity.

Kaplan added that as with all other workplace policies, employers must enforce their political activities policy consistently at all times.

“When an employer treats employees differently, even if it’s inadvertent, employees may perceive the treatment as discrimination. You don’t want to give the impression that you have a bias against someone’s cause or candidate, or that different standards apply to different people,” Kaplan advised

“Exceptions should not be made for anyone, senior management, even the owner of the business, unless there’s a business justification and it’s documented. The policy must be consistent,” she said.

Don Gabor, author of “Words That Win: What to Say to Get What You Want,” said, “If you’re like lots of people these days, you’re talking politics. But are you persuading your coworkers that your favorite candidate is the best choice or are you simply offending — or even worse — making political enemies?”

He suggested several ways to avoid arguments when talking politics, including: Don’t lose your temper, don’t lose your sense of humor, don’t make personal comments about people or politicians with whom you disagree, don’t be disagreeable when you disagree with someone’s opinion, don’t interrupt when someone is making a point, don’t argue one point to death — whether you are right or wrong, don’t expect to get someone to agree with you just because you think you’re right, don’t continue to talk politics if you or the other person is upset.

For some management experts, talking politics at the office can offer a chance for colleagues to exchange views.

Shelle Rose Charvet, a communications management consultant, and the author of “Words That Change Minds: Mastering the Language of Influence,” noted that, “In fact, political discussions, if handled properly by co-workers, can be an opportunity to increase respect in the workplace.”

She said, “When someone makes a statement of a political stance, co-workers can respond by saying: ‘Aren’t we lucky to live in a country where we can hold and discuss different points of view? Your comment makes me be grateful for that. My view on this is different from yours. Can I tell you what I think?'”

Susan Solovic, small business expert and the chief executive officer of St. Louis-based SBTV.com (Small Business Television), said that too much debate can poison the waters both at work and with clients.

“From a small business perspective, I don’t believe that too much exchange is healthy,” she said, adding that things said in the heat of the election can have a hangover “long after the election.”

“It’s not real world,” to expect that everything a worker or boss says during an election-time political argument is chalked up to temporary partisan fervor.

And, Solovic noted, not all workers even want to debate.

“We all have a right to political beliefs, we also have a right to keep our mouths shut,” said Solovic of not being drawn into election battles in the workplace.

If you have any questions please contact us at [email protected]

By Jill Andrew for METRO TORONTO
Published November 20, 2004

Crises are a part of life and the crises in the workplace are no different.

What you define as a crisis, how your company copes while it and the type of mood you set in the office during the storm makes all the difference between whether everyone drowns or lives to learn from and tell others about it.

Shelle Rose Charvet, president of Success Strategies, travels around the world to train and consult organizations on solving difficult communication problems.

“Unless they [companies] learn to balance the need to prevent and solve immediate problems with the need to achieve strategic ‘bigger picture’ long-term goals, they put the entire organization at risk,” says Charvet.

Charvet mentions the way a crisis is defined can also have an impact on a company’s success rate in surviving it.

“Crises should be looked at as … something the company failed to predict this time that needs to be dealt with and incorporated into future planning to make sure to be ready next time,” says Charvet.

Looking at a crisis as an intense teachable moment gives employees the chance to learn from the crisis rather than simply reacting to the fear of the high stress environment a crisis can bring to the company, says Charvet.

“Some employers are crisis-driven meaning that somehow or another this type of employer finds a way to transform everything into a crisis. This essentially is unproductive since you end up creating a reactive rather than active team always on edge,” Charvet says.
The wrong reaction to any crisis, Charvet explains, can make employees lose faith in their manager’s leadership abilities.

“Yelling, blaming others, creating panic and unreasonable demands or deadlines of your employees … focusing on an inevitable disaster about to occur rather than looking at solutions or improvements for next time will only raise the stress barometer. When companies react only to a crisis without the long-term company goal in mind their solutions may in fact be good for the immediate ‘crisis’ but unproductive for the larger picture,” Charvet says.

Charvet encourages a four step plan that teams can use for dealing with ‘constructive’ rather than ‘destructive’ crisis management.

She encourages companies to briefly describe the crisis and determine its importance and urgency, clearly define the company’s immediate and future goals even within the crisis, outline a step process as to how to survive the impending danger and then lastly act on their survival plan and evaluate its effectiveness.

Charvet agrees that “crisis” is a word loosely thrown around in today’s workforce. For this reason, it is essential for businesses to understand how to define real ones and work throughout them towards success while still maintaining focus on the final prize.

“If everyday is a crisis then obviously the team is not learning from previous ones,” Charvet says. “The more you can learn from them the less stressed, more productive, more people friendly your team will be.”

Workplace Crisis

• Make a list of ‘possible crises’ that could occur at the office. Have a contingency plan and practise it every now and then.
• Breath first at the moment of the crisis. It’s often within the first 10 seconds of any crisis that you are most likely to make the biggest irreversible mistakes.
• Be observant. It never hurts to keep mental notes of how other companies/experts deal with certain industry snags along the way.

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by Gloria Galloway
Focus / May 7, 2005 / The Globe and Mail

Ottawa — Stephen Harper’s recent tour of Southwestern Ontario took him to a Wallaceberg children’s rehabilitation centre, where his handlers sat him at a knee-high table to join toddlers as they finger-painted pictures of trees.

With cameras rolling and reporters jostling for the best view of the disconsonant scene, the Conservative leader leaned away from the paint-covered hands of the youngsters and muttered a quick “Don’t touch me.”

He loosened his tie, looking very much like Rodney Dangerfield under pressure.  Then, for five minutes, he sat there tortured for something meaningful to say to his tiny companions.

It wasn’t until the reporters were ushered from the room that he was able to relax and enjoy the staged exercise.

The 46-year-old Mr. Harper has taken baby steps to improve his public persona since he watched his chance to govern slip away during the last federal election.  He makes jokes, some of them funny.  He throws snowballs at reporters when the cameras are not running.  He even smiles occasionally, though certainly not often.

Now, another shot at the nation’s top job is looming.  But has Mr. Harper come far enough to convince voters that he has the human touch needed to be prime minister?
When Canadians are polled, they say they trust Mr. Harper more than Paul Martin.  They say they believe he is more likely to rid Ottawa of corruption.  But when asked who would make the best prime minister, they give Mr. Martin the edge.

This is not lost on the Conservatives who are trying to lay the groundwork for the fast-approaching election campaign.  Their leader is intelligent.  He is perceived as a thinker and someone of integrity.  But they wonder if he will ever be able to kiss babies with credibility.

“What I see is that the general electorate does not like Harper.  And they look for things for him to do or say that justify their gut feeling that they have about him,” one high-placed Tory organizer says.

“This is a guy whose entire life in politics has been based on negativity so far,” the organizer says.  He’s “cold, cold, cold, cold, cold.  He doesn’t seem to like people, he doesn’t seem to like to go out and talk to people.  He’s so weird how he approaches things.”
Barry McLoughlin of McLoughlin Media, a media-consultancy firm in Ottawa, says what Mr. Harper seems to lack is the “HOAG” – hell of a guy – factor.

Mike Harris “had the hell-of-a-guy factor going for him.  Gary Doer in Manitoba, he’s got the hell-of-a-guy factor.  Most successful politicians have got the-hell-of-a-guy factor,” says Mr. McLoughlin, who has coached current party leaders but is emphatic that none used his services before the last election campaign.

“Do we see enough of [Mr. Harper] outside of a suit, outside of the House?  Do we see him in our living rooms in a way that we can relate to him and, more importantly, can he relate to us?”

In fact, Mr. Harper has occasionally worn golf shirts – something that inevitably prompts the media to comment on his middle-aged paunch.  He just looks better in a suit and tie.
He also lacks the physical and verbal mannerisms that put people at ease, says Shelle Rose Charvet, who runs Success Strategies, a firm based in Burlington, Ont., that teaches communication skills.

“He doesn’t respond when other people make gestures.  So you can be talking and he will not move.  It’s like a machine,” Ms. Rose Charvet says.

“You have no idea what’s going on in the black box.  His eyes don’t flicker” – eyes that have been referred to as icy blue so often that the phrase has become a cliché.

Linguistically, she says, he relates to people as things.  He’ll “refer to the electorate, as opposed to people who vote . . . . He uses impersonal nouns to refer to people.  He’ll talk about the group or the population.”

But do Canadians really need a nice guy to lead their country?  Isn’t it enough to have someone who can keep the economy on an even keel, preserve the social fabric and keep us out of hot water internationally?

“They need a nice guy in as much as, at some levels, people want a leader to reflect who they think they are,” Ms. Rose Charvet says.  “And Canadians, as a population, like to think they’re nice – so our leader has to be nice.”

One of the strangest things about Mr. Harper’s icy public persona is that, more than many past prime ministers, he is an everyday kind of guy, Mr. McLoughlin says.

He has a tremendous sense of humour and a deadly accurate ability to impersonate others, but that is rarely seen in public.

He is also a devoted father.  “You see him walking the neighbourhood with his kids to school and back,” he says.  On weekends, he plays road hockey in the driveway.

Compare that with Jean Crétien, a man Mr. McLoughlin says had a large dose of HOAG factor.  “Was he really the hockey-dad kind of dad?  Not really.  But you could easily decode from him that he was not a fancy guy – he was down to earth.”

The bottom line, Mr. McLoughlin says, is that Mr. Harper seems to be uncomfortable playing a role, playing for the cameras.  And “to be a successful politician, you have to be able to play a role,” he says – even when you are up to your elbows in finger paint.

Gloria Galloway is a member of The Globe and Mail’s Ottawa bureau.

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By Shelle Rose Charvet
Motivation, Reinforcement, Support and Accountability

Behavior change is not merely a matter of knowledge or skill. If that were true, then all the information campaigns on how to improve your health would have made behavior-related illnesses a thing of the past. And birth control information would prevent teen pregnancies. Sadly, many people fail to create lasting change in their behavior and will repeat their failures over and over again in their lives. Have you ever tried to break a habit?

Organizations, like people suffer from the same difficulty in shifting their behavior. And it’s not because they do not know HOW to do it. There are innumerable management development books explaining what to do and methodologies for implementing change. Sometimes the methods speak to organization development, sometimes to culture change, but they are really aiming to create change in behavior.

The key to creating and maintaining real behavior change is in getting and staying motivated.  Some people start lifestyle changes that last at best for a few weeks.  Checking the attendance figures in January and February at your local health club will show you the people who began by being very motivated but then lost their passion.  Other people wish they could do something, but never manage to work up the required motivation to get started.

Remember comedian Totie Fields’ famous book; I Think I’ll Start on Monday: The official 8 1/2 oz. mashed potato diet. She also said: “I’ve been on a diet for two weeks and all I’ve lost is two weeks.”

Can Crisis Motivate Change?

Conventional social work theory suggests that the highest potential for change is during a crisis. This seems logical, since during a crisis, nothing is normal; everything is up in the air and as a result there is now the opportunity to make important decisions about the future. Organizations often try to make radical shifts when they are facing financial ruin or other disasters.
*But if crisis really is the highest potential time for change, then why do 90% of coronary bypass patients fail to make long term changes to their behavior after surgery?

Breaking a habit requires both short term and long term motivation strategies.  When a crisis is the trigger that gets someone to want to do something differently, it can be effective for the short term.
**This Motivation Trigger is call Away From Motivation because the person or the organization is motivated to move away from a situation they do not want.  A person can’t breathe and feels sick so they decide to quit smoking.  Someone can’t fit into their clothing and goes on a diet.  A company is facing the arrival of a lower cost competitor and starts looking for costs to cut.

Away From motivation can get you started! The problem is that it loses its power once you are on your way. Consider this example: A therapist I know had a client who said his problem was that he had been a millionaire four times. At first glance, the problem isn’t obvious. But if he has been a millionaire four times, that means he lost his millions at least three times.

The therapist found out that he had an extreme Away From pattern about his work. He was motivated to move away from poverty. If he is highly motivated away from poverty, at zero revenue, he is very motivated. But his motivation level declines as his revenue increases. Once poverty was not an issue, he would neglect to finish work on contracts, or he would forget to submit quotes to potential clients, or procrastinate and not follow up. Whereas whenever he is threatened by poverty (whatever that means to him), he is highly motivated to do whatever it takes to generate revenue.

How can you stay on track after the Away From Motivation has waned? There are a couple ways to maintain a high level of motivation if the original trigger to change was Away From. You need a constant reminder that you don’t want be fat, unfit, unhealthy, boring, poor or out of business. This takes a lot work and the effects of maintaining a state of fear or disgust are far from healthy. The other option is to add to the Away From Motivation by also having something to move towards.

Since Away From Motivation is really only effective for short periods of time and most behavior or habit changes take a significant amount of time, you need a mechanism to maintain motivation.  You can do this when you also have a goal that you deeply want to achieve to replace the problem you want to avoid.  This goal represents what we call Toward Motivation. The Away From Motivation can get you started and gives you a push. The Toward Motivation draws you closer and closer to what you want instead. This way you get the benefit from push energy to move away from what you do not want and pull energy which entices you toward what you want.

In my experience, the problem with only having a Toward Motivation Trigger is that if you are beginning far away from your goal, the idea of starting is in itself demotivating. If your goal is to run a marathon and you get out of breath walking briskly around the block, it is easier to put off running until tomorrow. If you only have Toward Motivation, with nothing to kick-start you into action, you may procrastinate.

Reinforcement:  Habits are like water running downhill

But Away From and Toward Motivation are not always enough. Habits, like cactus are hard to kill. They are like water running downhill; it takes no effort to maintain a habit; even a bad one. Habits are typically rituals that you perform without thinking; they are procedures, to which you are psychologically committed. Sometimes they are like stimulus-response Pavlovian formulas. Sit in arm chair in front of TV; feel “hungry”; get food. Sit back in arm chair in front of TV; feel “hungry”; get food (again).

So there’s the secret. A good system is one that is easier to follow than not follow. If you want something to become a habit, put it inside a procedure that you normally do. To remember to take your vitamins, put them in front of your coffee pot, instead of hiding them in the cupboard, hoping you’ll remember to take them out in the morning.

I cannot stress enough the importance of placing your new behavior inside your normal procedure; it builds your commitment right into what you do. When your new behavior is part of a standard procedure that you follow without having to decide each time, you will find that it gets reinforces so that it gradually becomes like that water running down hill.

What you see is what you get

From a research project on quitting smoking, researchers found that people were more successful at becoming non-smokers if they could visualize the state the wanted to move away from and the state they wanted to move towards. Verbal affirmations are rarely compelling enough to trigger and maintain your motivation.

But visualization is nothing new. People have known this since the original Power of Positive Thinking. It’s just that when you can see both what you want and you don’t want it becomes more real than merely telling yourself something. Compare the idea of being at the right weight or fitness. It’s easier to imagine when you can see yourself in your favorite ‘skinny’ outfit or running 3 miles effortlessly.

Support and accountability

***Dr. Dean Ornish put heart patients on a year long holistic health program, including quitting smoking, a vegetarian diet, yoga, mediation, relaxation and aerobic exercise. After three years 77% of the patients had stuck with their lifestyle changes. While the changes were huge, they kept with the program. Why? Ornish provided a twice-weekly support group to help them maintain their motivation.

In my company Success Strategies, we have been considering the problem of maintaining motivation around behavior change for some time. While we used to conduct communication and influencing seminars for our organizational clients, we have now gotten out of that business. People loved our trainings, but rarely did it make a real difference on the job. Most people haven’t got the time to stop what they are doing and integrate a series of new behaviors when they are already struggling just to get everything done. Clearly Dr. Ornish’s idea of providing on-going support was instrumental in getting his patients to maintain the huge change in daily rituals. But in the world of our clients, time is the scarcest resource. There would be a revolt if we proposed that all our participants checked in twice weekly!

Our strategy is certainly to provide support, but more importantly, once everyone is motivated we want them to feel accountable for implementing their behavior changes. We teach people some of the influencing skills they need for their work and then they report back in small groups on the results they have achieved. The group approach helps keep people motivated to follow through partly because they don’t want to look bad in front of their colleagues. We meet in person or on the phone in short bursts to reinforce motivation and to deepen and continue the learning.

****Beliefs, values and who you are

If you don’t believe it’s possible to change a habit, none of the motivation strategies listed above will work. Look for an example where you have already made a significant change somewhere in your life. Notice that probably all or most of the motivation strategies were present. If you can do that, isn’t it possible that you could do this? There is only one way to find out, isn’t there?

How important is the change to you? If it’s not frequently on your radar screen, perhaps you don’t really care enough about it to make the shift. Why is changing this habit important to you? And why is that important?

What kind of person believes this change you desire is worthwhile pursuing? Is this the kind of person you wish to be? How are you already like this?

When you have identified the beliefs, values and identity that will enable you to imagine this behavior change is really possible, hold them inside your heart and allow them to take their place from there, spreading throughout your physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual self.  Repeat this morning and night, as part of your morning and evening rituals until it feels natural.

Miracle Cures are not the motivation

Real behavior change is possible when you have the strategies to start and maintain your motivation, when you can see what you want, have placed the new behavior inside a ritual you already do, belief it’s possible, value the new behavior and think you are the sort of person who does that.

No wonder miracles cures don’t last.

*********
Insert: Your Motivation Inventory
Do you have a behavior change project that is important to you?
Here is checklist with a fill in the blank to make sure you have all your Motivation Triggers in place.

Away From: I do not want ________________________________________.

Toward: What I want instead is ____________________________________.

Negative Consequences: If I don’t succeed, what will happen that I don’t want? ________________________________________________________.

Positive Consequences: When I do succeed what will happen that I want? __________________________________________________________

I can see in my mind’s eye an example of each of the above.
I have put this new habit inside this procedure that I already do naturally. __________________________________________________________

I am regularly accountable to _______________ for completing my goal.

I believe it is possible to do this because: __________________________________________________________.

I have already succeeded at something like this in my life when I __________________________________________________________.

This is important to me because ________________________________.

The kind of person who does this is __________________________________________________________.

I am that kind of person because _______________________________.

*Quoted from Dr. Edward Miller, Dean of Medicine at John Hopkins University
**Motivation Triggers are fully discussed in my book Words That Change Minds: Mastering the Language of Influence, 2nd edition revised, 1997 Kendall / Hunt Publishing Company
***Dr. Dean Ornish, Professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco and founder of the Preventative Medicine Research Institute, quoted in “Change or Die” by Alan Deutschman, Fast Company Issue 94, May 2005
****Robert Dilts elaborated the Neuro-logical Levels which serve to indicate where a person is operating. The levels are environment, behavior, capability, beliefs and values, identity and spiritual connection.

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by Shelle Rose Charvet

The news is bad. Few are the days when any positive announcements are made. Job losses are announced by the thousands in many countries.  Even if you turn the news off, the negativity still confronts you from everywhere. Many people are walking around with high levels of fear, anxiety and panic. Perhaps you or a family member has lost their job, or maybe you are just waiting for your job to be cut. It’s very hard not to feel hopeless and despairing. Even if you pride yourself on making up your own mind about what is real or not real, the negative messaging gets to you in the end. And there is nothing you can do about the situation. Nothing.

Nothing!?

This has to stop. How does it help you to live according to media dictates? Most purveyors of news no longer even pretend they are being objective, so there is no guarantee that you are even receiving the truth. When you think about it, the fact that you personally can do nothing about the external economic crisis means that you are free to do whatever you choose. While many people are suffering, wringing their hands and worrying, you will notice that there are people who have taken advantage of the collective mental hibernation to retool, rethink and restart.

The opportunity is here for you to clarify and create what you want. Why not? There are certainly no guarantees from employers, so waiting and hoping your job will not be eliminated will not help you if your job does get cut. When you think about it, you would be much better off to design the future you want, rather than wait and hope somehow it happens for you.

This is where psychology can help. There is a psycho-linguistic tool called the Language and Behavior Profile (LAB Profile), which shows how different people operate from different Motivation Triggers and Thinking Patterns. It is used in by marketers to understand and motivate large groups as well as organizations for hiring, managing employees.

For example, some people are only motivated when they get to take the initiative. This is the LAB Profile Motivation Trigger called Proactive. They love being active and getting out and making it happen. Right now they are really frustrated because they are being told everything is out of their control. When these people are unable to take initiative they become de-motivated and depressed quite quickly. To get out of their negative space they need to proactively create a new reality for themselves. The easiest way for them to do this is to go for a walk and ask themselves some important questions and creates compelling images for the answer to these questions. Here are some of the questions a proactive person needs to ask to get out of their own economic crisis:

• What do I really want in my life, or in my work?
• Why is that important to me?
• What are the steps I need to take right now to make this happen?
• What possible obstacles do I need to prevent now?
• What is the first step I can do today?

These questions are oriented towards action. A Proactive  needs to act now and have something specific to do. These questions allow that person to get into action immediately and start getting results.

But this will not work for someone who prefers to think things through slowly and carefully. This person has a Reactive Motivation Trigger and really needs to thoroughly understand what they are going to do. Here are some questions a Reactive person can ask themselves to consider how to get out of their mental hibernation:

• What is important to me in my life or in my work?
• Why is that important?
• What steps will need to be in place to have this happen?
• What could be the obstacles that I will need to have a solution for?
• What are the solutions to the obstacles?
• What is the first step in my plan I can start today?

These questions allow the Reactive person to think their situation through, without feeling pushed. They need to spend some time creating a vision in their mind and working out the steps towards it.

Some people are only motivated when they have a goal. About 40% of the population has this pattern, the LAB Profile Towards Motivation Trigger. A Towards person will act when they have a goal to move towards, otherwise they can get stuck and not move forward. During a time of economic crisis and stagnation many Towards people panic because they see only problems around them and nothing to move towards. This can be disastrous for them unless they take the initiative to create their own goals. Here are some questions they can ask themselves:

• What do I want in my work and in my life?
• What will that do for me?
• What are the steps I will need to take to achieve my goals?
• What are the obstacles I will need to find a solution for to achieve my goals?
• What is the first step I can do today to move toward my goals?

If only 40% of the population are motivated to achieve goals, what is motivating the others? The other 40% of the population is motivated to act to prevent problem from occurring or to solve one that is already happening. This Motivation Trigger is called Away From because these people are motivated to move away from the things they do not want. In an economic crisis there are many things they could move away from and they run the risk of turning in circles, away from all the bad alternatives. The key for them is to make sure they focus on one issue to move away from and to identify what they want instead. Here are some questions that they can answer to help find their way and not get lost:

• What do I most want to prevent from happening?
• What do I want instead?
• If I do not succeed in that, what will happen?
• If I do succeed, what will I gain?
• What are the steps I need to take to move away from what I don’t want and to achieve what I do want?
• What are the obstacles I will need to overcome?
• What can I start today so that I won’t stay stuck?

The last question in each set is critical because it helps get the person moving and back into action moving towards their goals (or away from their problem).

These are four of the Motivation Triggers from the LAB Profile. You can see that it is important to match a person’s motivation to get out of mental hibernation. Ask the questions in a way that engages your own individual motivation rather than trying the “one size fits all” solution.

The Language and Behavior Profile is composed of six distinct Motivation Triggers categories and eight mental processing categories. Business leaders, marketers, human resource professionals, trainers, consultants and coaches are now using the LAB Profile around the world to understand, predict and motivate people’s behavior.

To find out more about the LAB Profile, please see, Words That Change Minds: Mastering the Language of Influence.
For information on training in the LAB Profile, please go to www.LABProfileCertification.com  or www.WordsThatChangeMinds.com

Shelle Rose Charvet is known internationally for her breakthrough work in understanding predicting and motivating human behavior. Organizations engage her to help solve their most difficult communication and persuasion problems. She is the 2009 president of the Canadian Association of professional speakers, a certified speaking professional and a Certified Trainer of NLP.

The Mac versus PC commercials have been playing on television in North America and elsewhere for quite some time. They are very engaging. Many people stop whatever they are doing to watch them. If you have not seen them, check out Mac versus PC on YouTube. They pose a challenge to Microsoft Windows and merchants of PC technology because they clearly and amusingly demonstrate the drawbacks for using a Windows operating system versus the Mac system. But why are they so powerful? What patterns do they use to get and keep your attention?

The commercials feature two characters. One, the PC, is a man in a beige business suit and tie, wearing glasses and an outdated haircut. He is geeky and basically, uncool. The other character, Mac is a youthful good-looking, friendly, and cool guy. Every 30 second commercial focuses on a problem with the PC operating system highlighted while the Mac character stands by, shrugs because he does not suffer from the same issues.

In the early commercials the Mac got to hold the hand of the Sony girl with all of the beautiful accessories while the PC didn’t speak her language. When Microsoft introduced Vista another character appeared. It was Vista security system personified by a menacing man resembling the stereotypical CIA agent who interrupted to ask “confirm or deny” to each statement or action the PC character wanted to make. A more recent one ridicules the introduction of Windows 7 by doing a flashback in time to all the promises to fix problems that PC made with each new version of Windows.

The obvious appeal to the commercials is their whack at Microsoft. Who doesn’t like seeing a giant fall off the beanstalk (unless you are underneath it!)? But there is more to their success at a deeper, below conscious level. If we examine them using psycho-linguistics, the commercials contain language and visual patterns which trigger the motivation of most viewers and this is why they are so successful.

The Language and Behavior Profile (LAB Profile) can explain exactly what attracts so many people to the commercials. My first book, Words That Change Minds describes this tool. The LAB Profile enables you to understand language and visual patterns that affect how people get motivated and what makes them take action. Most people are unaware of these patterns as they operate at a below-conscious level. When a communication such as a television commercial, matches the key patterns of particular target groups, they can have a huge impact on motivating and getting people to do things.

Here are the LAB Profile Patterns at play in the Mac versus PC commercials:

Away From: Language and images used to indicate a problem or situation to be avoided, fixed or solved. Anything that shows something that you want not want is “Away From”. The language and images move away from something. The PC character represents the things people detest about the PC; problems to be avoided!

Options: Any language and images promoting choice, variety, alternatives or breaking the rules. The Mac character represents a “better choice” than the problem-ridden PC and appeals to people who like alternatives.

Procedures: A step by step approach with a clear beginning, middle and end. These commercials are procedural since they have a clear story with this structure. Each one has characters and a plot.

Internal: Internals are people who want to make up their own mind and are difficult to influence.

External: When people become External, outside factors and people have a big impact. They care about what others think of them and may follow the crowd.

Thing: Language and images referring to objects ideas, data… things.

Person: Language and images about people, relationships using their names.

Since these LAB Profile Patterns operate outside normal awareness, they have the power to influence how we think and what we do. The LAB Profile can help you convince people in one-on-one communication and help you reach large groups in mass communication.

In the Mac versus PC commercials the use, (intentional or unintentional) of the above Patterns motivate very distinct groups of people who use computers. Mac users tend to be attracted to the idea that they are different from ordinary mortals. These are the people who like to color outside the lines, and believe they are creative. They want variety and options, alternatives to the plain Jane mainstream technology.

PC users prefer to have a Procedural approach when using their computers. They want a standard step by step procedure when using technology. They want to continue using the procedure they are accustomed to using.(This does not mean that they want this in all areas of their lives, simply when they are using technology.)

Why do the commercials attract both PC and Mac users?

The commercials promote an alternative to the ubiquitous PC, therefore they have an LAB Profile Options quality — attracting people who are likely to already own a Mac (or to have wanted one for a while). This is like speaking to the choir, preaching to the converted. Maybe they will succeed at getting Mac users to buy the latest version. But look at the sales figures. Non Mac users are buying in droves!

According to ResearchCast.com, Mac sales went through the roof in 2008:

•  50% of Macs sold at Apple retail stores are to those who are first time Mac purchasers
• Able to achieve 2007 revenue levels in Q1 08- Q3 08
• Increased US PC share from single digits to 18 percent of unit sales.
• One out of every 3 dollars spent in US retail computer sales is spent on a Mac
• 39 percent notebook share in US higher education (higher than Dell)
• 400,000 visitors a day at Apple retail stores

Techcrunch.com reported in July 2009, 9 out of every 10 personal computers purchased worth over $1000 were Macs.

The secret is partially in the story! Commercials with characters and a plot appeal to the Procedural PC user. When you add in the other elements that make it universal you have the irresistible appeal to action for just about anybody:

Away From: The commercials put a finger on all the issues that drive PC users crazy! Error messages, having to reboot, viruses, unwieldy software….. Yuck!

Person and Thing Patterns: Whether you feel empathy for people or just want the facts; these advertisements are for you.

Internal and External Patterns: The commercials use the “universal close” that makes sales people drool. No one overtly tells you what to do, you draw your own conclusion – that appeals to Internals, and yet it is clear from the commercials that droves of people are converting to Mac, so the Externals are influenced by that.

All this happens in about 30 seconds. Most people are only aware that they just like the ads. And then the sales go up. It is not clear if the creative minds behind the Mac versus PC commercials are knowledgeable about the LAB Profile, but they could be. If you want to find out more about how people get motivated and why they do what they do, check out my books:

Words That Change Minds: Mastering the Language of Influence and my brand new second book:

The Customer is Bothering Me. How to Change Attitudes, Improve Results and Grow the Bottom Line.

Please let me know what you think! [email protected]

Shelle Rose Charvet

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Since 1998 I have been certifying consultants, trainers, coaches and executives from around the world to use the  LAB Profile (Language & Behaviour Profile) in business and other organizations. Highly-skilled people attend this program because they know it will dramatically increase their ability to help clients solve difficult problems as well as create a unique opportunity for their careers.

Learn more about the LAB Profile »

There are now over 300 LAB Profile Consultant/Trainer Certification graduates from around the world. “How strange,” I thought, given that NLP is used so much by trainers, facilitators, consultants and coaches, even if they don’t mention NLP. “Why haven’t more people been using the LAB Profile and contributing to the ever-increasing knowledge base, especially since the LAB Profile has become the accepted way of teaching Meta Programs in many countries?” So I asked some questions and here is an unscientific sample of what I heard on some NLPers’ beliefs about Meta Programs and the LAB Profile:  * Meta Programs are the same thing as the LAB Profile. * I already studied them and know what I need to know. * They are just filters and who needs more filters? * Nice to know but there are no practical uses for them.  What!? I was shocked! And all these years I have been using the LAB Profile along with my NLP skills to create a very lucrative practice helping organizations and people.  Some Examples from my consulting business:   Assisted a manufacturer to avoid a strike and get the first 5 year contract with their union in the history of the company; Decoded specialized LAB Profile market research to develop successful advertising strategies; Transformed entire call centre representative behaviour to stop the bleeding of customers from an insurance company; Helped negotiators to increase revenue by millions of dollars by changing their behaviours with their customers. Appeared on national television using the LAB Profile to decode election strategies for the general public. In short, my NLP and LAB Profile skills have made my fee irrelevant in the market place. My customers are willing to pay whatever it costs to take advantage of the insights and skills afforded them by these skills. Perhaps the information has not been getting across to NLP-based trainers and consultants, so I would like to correct some misunderstandings.

What are the Differences between Meta Programs and the LAB Profile?

Meta Programs, originally developed by Leslie Cameron-Bandler (now Lebeau), describe what information a person takes in or gives out. Are they filtering for information, place, person, thing or activity? Do they notice sameness, similarities or contrasts? And many, many more filters. When I learned these patterns in an NLP Master Practitioner program in Paris in the 1980’s, they are rarely connected to how to detect them and what to do once you know the patterns. I did learn however that some patterns were better than others; it was better to be internal than external, better to approach than avoid etc., a belief I have since rejected. I was fascinated by the information at the time, but also thought there was nothing one could do with the information. In 1984 I translated Rodger Bailey’s LAB Profile manual into French when I working in Paris. I was immediately struck by the differences between his model and the standard NLP Meta Programs. I chose to use and develop the LAB Profile rather than any of the other psycho-metric profiling tools because of its simplicity, accuracy and usefulness. While the LAB Profile was based on the original Meta Programs and Noam Chomsky’s deletions, distortions and generalizations, only the LAB Profile consists of:

1. A reasonable number of patterns to learn,
2. A methodology for detecting the patterns, and
3. A specific set of Influencing Language to match each pattern.

Rodger had also discovered some practical applications. This was something I could actually use. At the time we included the LAB Profile in a program called “Managing High Performance Teams” and I began to explore what else could be done with it.

On top of this several people have used the LAB Profile as a research topic for their Master’s or Ph.D. theses. Several psychological profiling tools have been developed using the LAB Profile to use with individuals and teams. (See Jay Arthur’s NLP Personal Profile, Patrick Merlevede’s IWAM, Arne Maus’ Identity-Compass and Jaap Hollander’s MPA Mind-Sonar) All of this information on what uses trainers, consultants, facilitators and coaches are doing with the LAB Profile is irrelevant if people won’t give it a try for themselves. I wrote the book Words That Change Minds quite a few years ago to describe the Patterns and give information on how to use them for a few practical applications. But that was only the beginning. Since then, we have discovered many more practical applications for consultants and trainers. Imagine being able to understand, and predict people’s behaviour using a rigourous, empirical and scientific method for motivation. The LAB Profile is an exciting alternative to standard problem-solving approaches which our customers have all heard before.

But don’t believe me. Check out my books Words That Change Minds and The Customer is Bothering Me at www.theShellestore.com

or have a look at the LAB Profile Consultant/Trainer Certification Program at www.LABProfileCertification.com

Please email me at [email protected] and visit my website for more information www.WordsThatChangeMinds.com

If you are interested in booking me (Shelle Rose Charvet) for a presentation, keynote or workshop contact me at [email protected].