Applications of Directive Communication™ in creating a High Performance Organization

Do you feel good going to work?

Recent surveys have shown that four out of every five people dislike going to work. That's not because they hate their jobs. In fact some love what they do, but there is something else about their work or environment that they feel bad about.

The premise for creating a revolution within an organization is that if we feel good about work, if our needs go beyond their requirement for security and open doors to perceive "work" as a fulfilling part of our lives, then we will be more enthusiastic, more willing to go the extra mile, and more innovative and productive. A revolution is the tool to positively influence the corporate cultures we exist in.

Can five days make a difference in a company's culture? According to Arthur F. Carmazzi, the principal founder of the science of Directive Communication™ (DC), it can. And in a challenging economy, it can even be done with minor policy change and expense.

DC is a foundation for relationship enrichment and how it relates to productivity, leadership, sales/marketing, and customer service. It is the combination of weapons that we need to revolutionize ourselves. The approach uses combinations of persuasive psychology, verbal / nonverbal and internal communication techniques, and strategies from US Special Forces PSYOPS to create a chain reaction change within an organization.

Currently most companies will train skills without the psychological foundations for their employees to excel in those skills, and thus most employees have little long-term retention with only about 14% of what they learned ever applied… or less!

Teaching skills without psychology is like baking a cake in a cold oven. If you imagine skills as ingredients, whipped together to create batter. The ingredients do not transform to the finished product until the psychology is primed, or the oven is heated.

To create change in attitudes in your organization, you have to begin by shifting the personal beliefs of the core group in the organization. This starts with awareness. By becoming aware of what triggers our nonproductive emotional patterns like frustration, anger, dissent, or helplessness, and by reflecting upon what our strengths and weaknesses are, we have a good foundation to maximize our human potential at work and at home.

But for revolutionizing an organization, the individual is only the beginning. That individual must be able to communicate and influence others within the organization. The number one reasons for lack of productivity are the lack of communication between departments, and the frustration when dealing with individuals who have a different "Mental Language" than we do. The fact that the same words or actions can have completely different meanings to each person is usually overlooked.

The way we think is represented by colored glasses that we wear. Imagine if yours were tinted green. As you look at everyone else, their glasses would also appear to be a shade of green regardless of what color they're wearing. So, if you were able to remove your glasses, and see the different ways that others think while knowing your own style, your ability to interact with and influence others would be dramatically impacted.

Through awareness, we reduce the giving and receiving of frustration and stress, allowing us to think and act more clearly and effectively. And, if we were to combine the four primary thinking styles in a team that used the technology to communicate well, we would be creating what is called "whole brain thinking" and the ultimate problem solving squad.

But if we are to enroll others to our cause, we must also understand how to motivate them. Then and only then can we build the army that will revolutionize our organization. And the heart of any motivation, of any action or lack of action is the meaning we associate to our eight basic human needs.

The eight human needs are in essence emotional triggers. What we do and enjoy in life is the result of one or more of these needs being fulfilled. Any one of these needs can give us a certain amount of motivation, but the more needs that a particular task fulfills, the more motivated we are to take action.

Imagine the management of how we perceive these eight needs as the hero for our success. This hero's ability to overcome our villains (fear of failure and complacency) is dependent on how we look at any situation in accordance with these needs. The better our ability to manage perception, the stronger the hero. Our villains also have power and relate strongly to our need for control and security. The more value we place on this need, the stronger our villains become. If our hero is to conquer them, he must change the meaning of what security means, and he must associate taking action (and calculated risk) as having even more value in relation to the other needs.

Replication is the essence the revolution and can take place when a core group has internalized "Directive Communication" and recognizes the psychological weapons of influence.

The key influencers (core group) within the organization would then be trained in the US Special Forces "Force Multiplication" tactics. This has allowed A-teams to go into countries, find those who are dissatisfied with the current system, get them passionate about a cause, train them in psychological and guerrilla warfare, and create a revolution from within the country itself. The corporate revolution follows the same premise to create a more productive, more fulfilling workplace. From the core group, individuals create "Whole Brain" A-teams incorporating different organizational hierarchies (i.e. management, supervisors, front line, and support). This team will find better solutions to productivity obstructions and cross relate to most people in the organization. The teams then becomes the strike force that ignites the revolution from within, they are the force for the good of the organization. They gain a strong sense of purpose because they are fighting to fulfill their own needs, not just doing the job. They are armed with the psychological weapons of progress and their own emotional levers that can give strength and fortitude whenever needed. They are able to fulfill all of the eight human needs, and that detonates their internal motivation.

A senior manager in a Singaporean organization composed the following personal new associations to the eight human needs after a Directive Communication® course.

o Control over the change process gives a deeper sense of security instead of sitting back and waiting to see what happens.

o Belonging is found in groups and their support, and in my own efforts to make a difference in the lives of others.

o Recognition may not always come from superiors but from those inside and outside the group for my efforts to work with everyone well and the results we achieve as a team.

o Advancement comes from creating an attitude to make a difference and make a new environment for me and others around me

o Achievement comes from the results of progress and the personal success of moving forward. Every problem is an opportunity to achieve.

o Challenge comes from the ability to do something meaningful that makes me grow personally

o Excellence comes from proving a point that I can do it, that I can take control

o Responsibility comes from helping others in the organization to get a better life at work.

These personal reflections are much like the revolutionary that seeks to create change from within so as to affect what happens externally. The revolutionaries then create cells of their own across different hierarchies of the organization; they are the leaders that will help others to lead. The revolution then spreads at multiple levels of the organization, not just from the top (a common mistake because of the difficulties in Buy-in), and the ownership of change is spread throughout the people. When there is ownership, there is long-term commitment, when there is commitment there is enthusiasm, when there is enthusiasm, there is a sense of fulfillment in what we do, and when we are fulfilled, we are more innovative and productive. We are then, living and performing at our peak.

To create change remember that every revolution starts from the People.