Challenges: Rarely a day goes by that I don’t hear some mention of “occupancy”.  As a whole, we’ve stepped up our marketing efforts and we’re looking for any stone yet unturned.  The networking meetings are bursting at the seams - everyone feels a sense of urgency.  And for good reason.  The economy has presented us with a variety of challenges.

Statistics are staggering…  Adult children have lost jobs and many are currently “underemployed”.  Adult children and seniors have lost value in their retirement assets and their homes.  Mortgages are “upside down” - that is if you still have a mortgage and haven’t lost your home.  We all know that adult children are shouldering the burden of care and stress levels are high.

Expectations:  With this have come some shifts in perspective.  Expectations are high and consumers are evaluating every purchase decision very carefully.  I’m sure you’ve noticed this.  I’m sure you’ve noticed that it’s taking longer to get a commitment, that people are comparison shopping more now than before, and that the competition is formidable!  Add to that technology.  We now live in an age where the first step in the process is likely to be the internet.  Today’s consumers are savvy, they’ve done their homework and they are now  looking for the relationship.  They most likely have a good idea of your features and benefits…but can they trust you?

New Paradigm: Research is showing that one of the strongest differentiators comes from the “soft side”.  This is not necessarily congruent with traditional wisdom.  And this is not necessarily in your budget - at least not anymore!  How prepared are you to meet the challenge of “soft” skills?  First, let’s talk about what I mean by that.

What would you look for if you needed to place your spouse or your parent?  Once you made the placement decision, what would be important to you?  Here is a list of things you might look for:

• Staff knows how to do their job
• You feel your loved one is safe
• The community is clean
• The food is good
• The staff is courteous and polite
• The staff greets you with a smile
• The care team knows the preferences of your loved one and honors them
• The care team and management team knows your preferences for your loved one and honors them
• Your loved one gets personal attention from the care team
• The staff responds positively in even challenges circumstances
• You’ve come to know, like and trust the team members who care for your loved one
• You feel confident that if something went wrong, it would be handled immediately, appropriately and with personalized attention to the matter.
• You are amazing at the level of compassion and empathy of the team members
• You feel at peace.

You probably want all these things, don’t you?

The 3 C’s of Customer Loyalty/Devotion: Research shows that there are three components necessary to build customer loyalty… or what I like to call “customer devotion”.  Those three components are, Competence, Courtesy and Compassion.

Compassion vs. Efficiency:  In healthcare and senior living, compassion is more important to building loyalty of residents and families than efficiency.  This creates a major challenge for us!  We must carefully balance our demands, as it’s easy to put efficiency ahead of compassion.  And, many times we choose efficiency.  Let’s look at why we need to balance that with compassion.

Resident/Family Loyalty Survey Scores: If we look at resident/family loyalty survey scores, we can see quite clearly, what is truly important.  We’re going to match up the three competencies (Competence, Courtesy, Compassion) against the scores we see on the Resident/Family Loyalty survey.

Competence: We hire and fire based on competence.  We train our staff so we can maintain and improve the level of competence.  So, we can agree it is essential to have a competent staff.  And if we do, but we stop there, our residents will give us a score of 3 (Neutral) on the 5-point scale.  If they perceive us as lacking competency, they will rank us a 1 or a 2.  The conclusion we can draw from this is that competence does not create satisfaction or loyalty.  It is expected.  Therefore, we must do more.

Courtesy: Let’s add Courtesy.  We don’t necessarily hire or fire based on courtesy- but we can try.  If you are an organization focused on resident and family loyalty, you will probably start to stress it in orientation and train the skills and competencies necessary to demonstrate courtesy consistently.  You may include it in hiring criteria and performance coaching.  It is very possible to create a culture where courtesy is a standard.  If you master competence and courtesy, your residents and families will give you a 4 “Satisfied” on the 5-point scale.

Now isn’t this fantastic!  No.  It’s good, but not fantastic.

Why isn’t this fantastic?  Because research shows that it’s only a score of 5 “Very Satisfied/Loyal” that reflects residents and families that are truly devoted to us.  What does it mean if they are truly devoted to us?  It means we’ve created an emotional connection with that resident /family to us.

“The emotionally loyal resident/family feels an attachment to the organization that transcends functional attributes.  This is a loyalty that is likely to last even in the face of competition that offers a more “functionally-attractive” alternative”.  In other words, there will always be some new, bright shiny object (your competitor)!  You will exhaust yourself and spiral down if your differentiator is based solely on how “functionally-attractive” you are.  Eventually, you will not be!

Compassion: To reach this level of loyalty - or devotion - you must have Compassion.  Compassion, as defined by Wikipedia, is a human emotion prompted by the pain of others.  More vigorous than empathy, the feeling commonly gives rise to an active desire to help.

How do we achieve Compassion?

First, we must create a culture that is supportive and nurturing of compassionate people.  If you do this, you will also see your employee engagement levels increase.  As we all know, this is critically important because high levels of employee engagement increases customer loyalty by 38%, increases productivity by 22%, increases employee retention by 39 % and increases profits by 27%. 

Next, we must provide the resources and training for people to improve the skills and competencies needed to deliver compassionate care.  Research also shows that high self-awareness, high empathy and excellent communication skills (among other competencies) are essential in mastering compassion.

Just as with Courtesy, we can hire for naturally compassionate people, we can make it part of our culture, we can emphasize it in orientation, and we can include it in our performance coaching.  Because it is so essential, we will want to provide the opportunity for our team members to improve in the areas that are foundational to compassion - and we can do that through Emotional Intelligence training.

Research estimates that 80% of career success is attributed to high emotional intelligence.  Providing this for your team will help them achieve their goals both professionally and personally.

Improve your Employee Engagement and improve your Resident/Family Loyalty.  Get started by building the “soft skills” of each member of your team so they may contribute at the very highest level and offer compassion to each resident and family member.

Contact me today to find out how to get started! Sonya@SonyaSullins.com or 877 HUMAN10 or 608-279-0691

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This post is adapted from the transcript of the DVD from a talk developed for VCPI’s Client Connection Technology Symposium.  The audience included c-level, executives and technology specialists serving the senior living industry.

“S.T.E.P. into Success…Customer Devotion in 4 Steps!”

“Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.” ~Don Marquis

And, from Colin Powell:  “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ is the slogan of the complacent, the arrogant or the scared.  It’s an excuse for inaction, a call to non-arms.”

So in talking about procrastination and complacency, I think of one’s personal health as well as one’s organizational health…What do I mean by that?  Just like with our health, our organizations can have symptoms of illness.  However, we might not take immediate action…

Maybe we decide we’ll get the colonoscopy or the mammogram next month, next quarter, or maybe even next year.  Maybe we have a condition that we’ve grown used to having over time - high cholesterol, arthritis, asthma…

If I may, I’d like to share a personal example…

I have asthma - I’ve had it since I was a small child.  Asthma treatment was not as sophisticated or effective back then.  But since I didn’t have a frame of reference, I didn’t feel overly distressed to find out that I was only in the 30th percentile for lung volume…because I didn’t know what it felt like to be at 100%!

Years later, when I was prescribed a steroid inhaler, I was amazed at how well I could breathe, how much more energy I had, and how I could sleep through the night.  It was like a miracle!

Over those years before the effective treatment, I wasn’t lamenting, researching, and taking action to solve my problem.  Why?  Because I had become complacent.  I had no basis of comparison and no reason to think the situation would change.

Status Quo is not where we want to be - with our health or with our organizations.  As summed up by Marshall Goldsmith, “What got you here won’t get you there.”

I know how hard it is to attract and select top people.  I also know how hard it is to motivate and retain the best, all while struggling to keep ahead of customers’ high expectations.

But there are solutions - strategies to help you do just that.  Now, if you are like my clients, and I am sure you are, then you are likely experiencing what is affecting the entire industry - and some of these “symptoms” might sound familiar:

As we go through these, think about how you, or how your management team, might rate each of these “symptoms” on a scale of 1 to 5.  With 1 being “We don’t have this problem at all” to 5 being “We have a serious problem with this.”  Here we go!

1.         Unnecessary turnover

2.         Low morale

3.         Increased resident or family complaints

4.         Bad attitudes and coworker personality conflicts

5.         Gossip, nitpicking or backstabbing

6.         Staff feels more suspicious than trusting of senior management

7.         Call-ins and no-shows

8.         Difficulty attracting top quality candidates into your applicant pool

9.         Challenges in making hiring decisions of only top performers

10.        Costly orientation and training

11.        Low retention of top performers

12.        Quality issues

13.        Stress:  work/life balance issues

14.        Occupancy challenges

15.        Productivity challenges

Well, how did you do?  Any 4’s or 5’s?  My clients find it is helpful to discover exactly what areas you feel need most to be addressed.

I know if you took the time to read this lengthy post, you get it and you care.  You know that you provide a great and absolutely essential service to our seniors…and you know that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

In fact, according to Gallup only 26% of employees are “engaged” in their work at any given time.

Sadly, that leaves 74% who are either indifferent or “actively disengaged”.

Why do we care?

In the words of Lee Colan, Ph.D. as reported in the Assisted Living Executive by ALFA:  “Actively disengaged employees are a “silent killer and a cancer growing under the skin of your team.”

These individuals react as a source of unfulfilled need and feverishly sabotage every possible accomplishment.

How much does this cost an organization:  According to Gallup, disengaged employee’s costs 1/3 of their salary in lost productivity.  That means you’re losing at least $6000 for every disengaged front line employee.

And just a little more bad news, research conducted by Corporate Executive Board as reported by CNBC reveals that 25% of your TOP performing employees are looking for other opportunities - this up from 10% last year.  And 100% are in danger of being swept away by the competition - especially as the economy starts to perk up and people feel safer to make a move.

At this point, you might be wondering if there’s any good news.  And there is!

Research from Gallup, the Coffman Organization and others confirm that highly engaged employees produce great outcomes:

• 38% higher customer loyalty scores
• 22% higher productivity
• 27% higher profits
• 39% higher retention

From my own professional experience, I can tell you that these outcomes are achievable - and you can even do better.

For example, one of my clients was really frustrated because trying to staff in a very small town can feel like you’ve simply run out of candidates.  Nobody wants to just hire a “warm body” - but you also have to fill the shifts.  After this facility got a handle on what there issues were, they were not complacent and they did not procrastinate!  They took immediate action and were able to achieve targeted* retention of 85%, up from a meager 20%.  *Retention of top performers, not just retention of any level performer.

This had a drastic effect on the level of happiness of the residents and level of confidence of the family members.  Not to mention the bottom line…

Sustaining this level has taken effort, but they now enjoy a stellar reputation and are able to attract quality candidates.

Let me ask you, have you, or your managers, ever wondered:

• How do I get the most out of my staff?
• How do I make sure my residents and families are happy and devoted to me?
• How do I get to be the industry leader - or maintain my edge?
• How do I hold on to more of my revenue in a tight margin business?
• How do I make sure I don’t run into occupancy challenges?
• How do I attract private pay residents?

I imagine you have asked these questions, because the environment is getting more competitive and customer demands are higher than ever.  I’m sure you’ve noticed the bar continuously rising when it comes getting the family to make their final placement decision as well as keeping them gloriously satisfied after the placement.  The answer to your questions is to do it one step at time.

And in this article I will share with you a “skim the surface” view about the STEP System for creating Customer Devotion.  Keep checking back for follow up articles or get in touch with me to learn more than we can cover in this one article.

Remember this equation= Devoted Customers = Profitability, Less Stress, Happy Staff

Devoted Customers are so important because 96% of dissatisfied customers will never tell you the real reason they left.

And in the “good ol’ days” they might tell 10 or 12 people why they are unhappy.  Today, that can be thousands, thanks to the internet.

And the most compelling reason….it costs 10 times MORE to replace a customer than it does to keep them.

The “STEP” system of Customer Devotion is an acronym for the steps.

1.         S is for Service

2.         T is for Trust

3.         E is for Education

4.         P is for People

Customer Devotion is more than policy and procedure - it takes creating a positive emotion in connection with you - with your product/service.  How do you create a positive emotional connection?

It comes from people.  People create the emotion.  In order to make your customers “fall in love” with you, you have to create an experience that they want to replicate, that they want others to experience, that they feel sure nobody else can provide.

Let’s look a little more closely at the STEP System:

Service :  What is it and Why you need to know what to do when things go wrong

Trust:  Creating a Culture of Trust means having both “Character” and “Competence”

Education:   People need to know the “Why” behind the “How”

People:  The Key to it All:  Understanding the driving force behind Customer Devotion

To stay within the scope of this one article, we’re going to have to skip past the first three steps, Service, Trust and Education because I want to make sure you get the information you need on the critically important step, People.  Only highly engaged and committed employees will have the ability to create or evoke positive emotions in your customers.  Of course, they need training - but you can’t train engagement, you can’t train caring, and you can’t train the desire to WOW the resident and family.

It has to come from within.  So, how do we do that?

There are six essential KEYS to the PEOPLE part of the STEP System:

1.  Select

2.  Engage

3.  Communicate

4.  Act

5.  Recognize

6.  Focus on Outcomes

1.  Let’s start with Selection (hiring) of the best:  Building the Foundation

Once you can start to attract top performers, it gets a whole lot easier to hire the best.  Highly engaged teams create your internal marketing system.  You will soon find that your reputation in the community sets you apart from the others.  Lesser-qualified candidates will assume they will not be hired by you.  Highly qualified candidates will seek you out.  Here’s your “sweet spot”!

Evaluate the ease of entry for the applicant.

• Do you have on online application?
• Do you have an email responder so they know they’re not lost in cyberspace? (Remember, we’re also marketing ourselves to those top candidates!)

Evaluate how you select.  Do you use any type of skills assessment?

• How about a personality or character-based assessment?
• Are you evaluating based on role and core competencies?
• Are you struggling with incomplete or useless reference checks?

Here’s a tip:  Implement the TORC system:  Threat of Reference Check!  or TORC!

How is it different?

Set the stage at the time of the phone interview.  Let the candidate know that THEY will need to set up phone calls for you with the references you wish to speak with - should you be ready of offer the job.

This should include coworkers, supervisors, direct reports and past residents or family members if at all possible.  This process will eliminate the frustrating non-answers that one usually gets - simply verifying dates of employment is not that useful!

The biggest challenge to being successful with TORC is the follow through…it’s easy to think, “It takes to much time”.  Let me ask you, how much time and money is currently wasted on mis-hires?

How many times do you hear “They aren’t at all on the job like they seemed like they were in the interview”?  It’s a proven Top Grading method and you just might want to try TORC!

Here’s another tip:

Best hiring practices include measuring the percentage of hires whose performance would be described as an “A” player once on board.  I don’t have to tell you that if you are hiring poor performers, it is costing you hugely.  Make a note to yourself now if you are not currently measuring and managing your outcomes in this area.  It’s a huge area of opportunity that only about 2% my clients were leveraging.

2.  Create an Engaged Workforce:  Retain the best.

Now that you’ve built the foundation and hired the best - you’ve got to have your “house in order” so that top talent will stay and thrive in the environment.  Toxic environments will quickly distract or destroy the shining star.  Maybe they’ll leave - or worse, they’ll stay and be unproductive and disengaged.

How do we get there?  First, we measure those things that are truly important in achieving results through a Survey.

Why survey?

We need a survey because it is an instrument or a way to measure employee engagement.  This is essential because it is a leading indicator about the value of our organization going forward.

The survey is like a blood pressure cuff.  One cannot manage their high blood pressure simply by taking their reading multiple times a day.  Nor will one know if their diet, exercise and medication management is effective if they don’t check back in and measure the results.

So, the survey is like the blood pressure cuff and everything after that is the physician and the patient creating a plan to achieve the intended positive results.

I can tell you with complete certainty and honesty that most professionals at the c-level or executive level of the organization OVERestimate the overall level of morale, productivity and commitment of the workforce.  Human nature dictates that things that don’t impact us personally on a day-to-day basis often are overlooked or not made a priority.

Now, when I talk to the managers, they are feeling the pain and they would love a solution.  They’ve often times become complacent - even apathetic - feeling they must just accept this as status quo.

Others have an idea where they’d like to see the team go, but they procrastinate in getting there.  They need an accountability partner, a mentor a coach to help them achieve their outcomes.

The survey is a great first step - it’s the blood pressure cuff.  Now we need the doctor and the patient to work together to develop a management plan!

3.  Communication:  Communicate the results clearly, simply and in a positive manner.

Don’t just give the information or the scorecard - give the tools.  Communication builds trust and credibility and reduces turnover.

A study by Mercer Consulting revealed that employees who felt that their organization “does a good job of communicating with employees about matters that affect them” were three times LESS likely to leave.

This is an area I see organizations skipping or doing poorly.  To get real results, you must provide the support each manager requires to become successful.  Involve everyone!

For example, during an all staff in-service where I discussed the results of the survey with the team and solicited their input for changes they’d like to see, a CNA spoke out and said that the fact that the company would give a survey, communicate the results, and ask for input from the actual workers all ready made her feel better about her job and about the company.  She said, “Give me another survey to fill out because now I want to say that I strongly agree that my opinions count!”

4.  Take Action!  Knowing isn’t worth much if there’s no doing.

Action is essential to achieving results

Lack of action is the biggest downfall in employee engagement surveys and initiatives.  Again, the survey isn’t the management plan; it’s only the blood pressure cuff!

Of course, the survey will define areas of strength and weakness organizationally.  And, it’s crucially important that you define areas of strength and weakness for each individual manager!  This is where the real variance occurs.  Sure, it takes more time and more effort and more follow through - but it’s the key to achieving real results.

For example, one of my CCRC clients used to survey their employees through a different organization.  And, quite frankly, they weren’t too impressed.  Nothing ever changed as a result of the survey and it seemed like a corporate mandate or a marketing initiative - and a waste of time.

Fortunately, we went ahead and surveyed the employees, and we did all these other steps that often are not part of the strategy.  Suddenly, the process wasn’t about checking something off your to-do list, or submitting something to HR.  Instead, real positive outcomes came about.

The survey results revealed that the Assisted Living manager was not doing performance reviews, did not have staff adequately trained and had restructured assignments unfairly.  These things red flagged us for further discovery.  As it turned out, there were even more issues.  The administrator admitted she’d been on the fence with this employee for four months, but really wanted to give her a fair chance.  The results helped validate for her that her concerns with this under-performing employee were valid.

She replaced that manager and, as a result, the staff morale improved such that turnover was reduced from 100% to 75% within 3 months.  And that’s not all:  We found staffing inefficiencies and the restructure had immediate impact on employee engagement, saving them from losing a valued dining manager. This one client estimates saving over ½ a million dollars - and we’re not done yet

5.  Recognize and Follow Up.

• Celebrate what is great!

If your organization is doing a great job of something, sing it from the rooftop!  If a manager has demonstrated excellence with their team - have a party!  Make sure to make a HUGE deal of everything that is right.  It makes it a lot easier to hear the not-so-good news when you feel recognized and valued for what’s working.

• Reward improvements.  Not everything and everybody will be perfect.

Improvements are valuable, exciting and measurable.  So be sure to recognize the outcomes and efforts of those who have heard where they can improve - and they chose to improve…and not get defensive, stay complacent or procrastinate.

• Have accountabilities for inaction and lack of positive results.

Not everyone will be able to meet your expectations.  Some might be miscast in their roles.  Some might be continue to sit on the fence and wait for this new thing to blow over or die down.  Others will play the blame game.  And, a few will think nothing is wrong in the first place.

True sustainable success, and the ability to build a culture of care, a culture of service, of trust, of engagement, starts at the top.

Don’t procrastinate and don’t become complacent!  If you keep doing what you’ve always been doing yet expect a different result - you’re going to end up very disappointed!

6.  Focus on outcomes not process: Keep your sights set on the goal and not on the process.

Our destination is where we start.  Our destination is to create a dynamic workplace that people will be attracted to, where we will be able to retain the most talented and productive people and have a positive impact upon the residents and families we serve.  The number one predictor of customer engagement is employee retention…and the number one predictor of employee retention is employee engagement…So we can say that…Employee Engagement = Customer Engagement

In summary, we’ve talked in depth about the last step of the STEP system, People, and the six KEYS of People are:

1.  Select

2.  Engage

3.  Communicate

4.  Act

5.  Recognize

6.  Focus on Outcomes

To wrap it up, I think Charlie Bell, the former CEO of McDonald’s makes his point when he said:

“The biggest threat to McDonald’s lies within - and that is us as a company becoming complacent.  There are a lot of companies that get fat, dumb and happy and take their eyes off the ball and forget about providing service to customers.”

The first time I gave this presentation, a member of the audience - a CEO for a national chain of nursing homes, said, “Isn’t it ironic that McDonalds makes its customers fat, dumb and happy, too!”

Priceless!

As stated previously…Just like with our health, our organizations can have symptoms of illness.  Those who achieve sustainable success WILL take immediate action.

Stay tuned for future articles, or contact me, to find out more information on the preceding three steps of the S.T.E.P. System (Service, Trust and Education).

Also, if you’d like more information on this or any other program, or for a complimentary strategy session, please call me at 608-279-0691 or 877-HUMAN10 to address your particular challenges.

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When polled*, 85% of people who were not, nor had ever been, business owners stated they would like to own their own business if “all obstacles were removed”.

“If all obstacles were removed, would you like to own your own business?”

Now, personally I think that number could be closer to 100% if you really stopped to think about if whatever is stopping you from starting a business - whatever that is - didn’t exist, would you at least give it a go?

Would you prefer to work dollars for hours as an employee

or would you rather be an entrepreneur?

So, if more than 200 million Americans want to start their own business but have never even tried it, there must be some pretty compelling reasons why.  I know those reasons!  They are the very same reasons I took into consideration when deciding to launch Human Capital Management Institute in August of 2008.

I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you to learn that that for those polled

- and most likely for the rest of us -

it’s never about preferring to work for someone else’s business,

it’s about the incapacitating fear of starting your own.

What is there to be so afraid of?  The top four fears are:

1.       It takes too much money. Most people don’t have significant working capital at their disposal.  And, most banks aren’t lending.  And family and friends may be unwilling or unable to sponsor your endeavor.

2.      It takes too much time. Have you ever heard it said that most small business owner don’t own their business…their business owns them?  The very reasons we go into business (financial independence, flexibility with our time/schedule, availability to travel, time with friends and family, independence and autonomy) are actually stripped away when you find yourself the marketing person, the accountant, the administrative assistant, the web designer - and without you, there is no business!  So forget about travel and leisure time - you still have to make ends meet!  If you even thought you worked hard for someone else - try making a go of it on your own!

3.      There’s too much risk. Sadly, over 56 percent of all businesses fail in the first two years.  There’s no safety net.  You could go down with a sinking ship, taking your family with you.

4.      I don’t know how. Even if you are an MBA - hand’s on doing is a lot different that succeeding in a world of academia.  And, what if you are not an MBA?  Most of us aren’t.  Most people are good at the thing they are good at.  And now we have to also be good at taxes, accounting, marketing, cold calling, copywriting, public speaking, web designing, risk taking and a whole host of other skills a good entrepreneur must possess.

Would you ever consider going into business for yourself if:

1.       Money: The total start up costs were under $500…

2.      Time: The total time investment could be as little as 5-15 hours a week…

3.      Risk: You could continue to work in your present job until the income from your business was sufficient to earn you at least an equal income…

4.      How: You had numerous resources, other consultant, those who are already experts at running the business, available to train you, advise you, mentor you - without additional cost to you…

You might still be unsure.  So now factor in that there’s going to be another company that will take care of all your research and development, brand recognition, labeling, inventory, shipping, payroll, website and copywriting, various taxes and most legal questions, and so it goes….

And now suppose that this company will do these things for you for a nominal monthly fee for the life of your business…

Right now, you are probably feeling a little uncomfortable -

You don’t get something for nothing, right?

There’s no such thing as a “free lunch”.

“If it sounds too good to be true…”

Am I right?  Or, am I right?!

Well, there is a catch.  It’s called YOU.  If you don’t bring B.A.M to the table - you aren’t going to make it.  What is B.A.M?  Brains, Attitude and Motivation!

B.A.M. = Brains, Attitude and Motivation

Too many “get rich quick” hypesters have soured the image of network marketing over the years.  Network marketing is a serious business, no less so than any other profession.  This is why we are seeing physicians, attorneys, senior level executives, successful entrepreneurs and those successful in traditional offline businesses attracted to and successful in network marketing.  They knew what to do to become a successful professional before - and now they are going to apply that B.A.M. to network marketing.

Does this sound like you?

Would you like to hear my story?  I have a long one and a short one.  You are going to get the short one today.

I have done all the things you are supposed to do.  Get degrees, work very hard, and keep climbing!  There is nothing wrong with that - and I really enjoyed my career.  The thing is…something still felt like it was missing.  I wasn’t using the full scope of my skills and passions.  I didn’t feel free!  I didn’t feel Independent!  I didn’t feel Inspired and Enriched! That is when Human Capital Management was born!

Jonathan and I are both entrepreneur’s at heart and we are a “own-your-own-small-business” family.  Jonathan’s business, Harbor Senior Concepts, was founded in 2000.  We both love what we do AND we both want additional passive streams of income - or residual income.  We’ve talked about it for years - but no action.

After the economic crash last fall and the uncertainty that has followed, we finally decided that knowledge is pretty useless without action!  Heck, this is a concept I teach!  It’s time to walk my talk and pull out the B.A.M.!

If this has piqued your interest at all.  If you feel like you have B.A.M.!  If you want to generate additional income and enjoy the residuals, then you might be interested to learn more about what I’m doing to reach my goals.

You see, the very fact that you are reading this, means that quite likely, these are qualities within you.

And it’s us “B.A.M.er’s” that will make this a tremendous success for all involved.

Here’s the scoop: Dr. Katie Rodan and Dr. Kathy Fields, the doctors that created ProActiv Solution have now done for sun damage, aging, and sensitive skin that they did for acne with Reverse - the #1 clinical skincare brand at Nordstrom’s nationally!  Sun damage alone affects 1 in 3 people worldwide and is the #1 cause of aging.

Just think…if you knew then what you know now, and had been given an opportunity to join Dr. Katie Rodan and Dr. Kathy Fields when they created ProActiv Solution (ProActiv is an $850 million a year company), would you have done it?  I would have, and that’s one reason why I have partnered with the Rodan and Fields, and am inviting you to do the same!

Mark your calendar for Tuesday, December 1^st at 7pm and join us for a fun evening!

Please come and enjoy snacks, beverages, networking, and education.  By the way:  This is NOT a home party plan…this is for professionals who understand the long-term benefits of residual income.

To get a jump start on finding out more about these amazing new products or to learn more about Rodan + Fields and the exciting ground-floor opportunity they are offering visit my website at www.sonyasullinsskincare.myrandf.biz

I look forward to seeing all of you and sharing with you how the doctors are changing skin and changing lives.

P.S. Feel free to invite your friends who have an interest in looking vibrant!

When: Tuesday, December 1^st at 7pm

Where: Yorktown Estates  @ 251 South Yellowstone Drive, Madison WI 53705

(The event is in the Clubhouse off of Mineral Point Road)

RSVP (please) to me at:   608-279-0691 or sonya@sonyasullins.com

*Poll/Research conducted by MarketWave, Inc., ~ Leonard Clements

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“Emotional Intelligence may be the best predictor of success in life.” ~ Time Magazine

You might care about Emotional Intelligence if you would like to be more effective and have more confidence handling…anyone who is pushing your buttons!

• it might be your kids or your spouse,
• or maybe it’s your boss,
• or it could be someone who reports to you who drives you crazy
• or maybe it’s a difficult resident, or that family member who is never happy
• or maybe it’s your referral source or a hot prospect

There are more buttons to push than we’re even aware of, so today I’m going to talk about techniques to identify our triggers and manage our reactions.

I got interested in Emotional Intelligence about twelve years ago.  With all the emphasis on IQ and academic achievements, I found it fascinating that a very different type of intelligence might be just as important.  And what about achieving high levels of both?  Now, that sounded to me like winning combination!  I love to read, to learn, and to study.  What has come to my attention is that what is really important is what one does with all that information.  I’ve been studying Emotional Intelligence with my end goal of making it teachable and usable.  With that goal in mind, I have developed a series of workshops to help people grow there own emotional intelligence and reach new peaks in both their personal and professional lives.  Welcome to the introductory installment of Emotional Intelligence:  Personal and Professional Transformation!

You might be wondering:   What can improving my Emotional Intelligence do for me?

Among other things, it will help you to :

• be more effective in your professional and in your personal life
• be able to better understand what you are feeling and why
• be able to have more control over what you feel and how you respond, rather than just reacting in the same old patterns
• have more friends or be able to develop better relationships with the friends you have now
• be able to do a better job at setting and achieving your short-and long-term goals
• be able to manage your STRESS

Sound good?  Then keep reading to learn more!

Now, I know that we all have dreams, we have goals, we have things that we want to do or want to have.  So I ask you, why do we care about things like diet and exercise, about our career and about making money, about traveling, about having the house, the car, clothes or jewelry? …and the list goes on and on…

I’m going to suggest that we all want to be “successful”, yet there are many definitions of “success”.  So, perhaps our true underlying driver is simply our desire to be HAPPY.

As I’m going to talk more about later, our brains are programmed to avoid those things that are painful and seek those things that are pleasurable.  Therefore, we seek success - regardless of how you measure it - in order to be HAPPY.

In this first section, we’ll learn what Emotional Intelligence is.  Next, we’ll learn what Emotions are.  We’ll overview the 15 Competencies of Emotional Intelligence and then we will look at the different competencies in more detail.  Through this process, you will learn the power and the value behind developing emotional intelligence and gain a little insight into your own paradigms as well!

What is Emotional Intelligence?

Definition:  One of the clearest definitions I have found is from the guru of Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Goleman…

“Emotional Intelligence is the ability to Identify, Use, Understand and Manage Emotions.”

“Emotional Intelligence is Emotional Management” by Sonya Sullins

Emotional Intelligence can also be described as People Skills PLUS Self-Knowledge.  Researchers in the field say that 80% of Career Success is because of Emotional Intelligence.

Exploring and developing our emotional intelligence not only makes us happier, it makes us able to motivate ourselves, and help us to better manage stress in our lives, and helps us to effectively resolve conflict with others.

It gives us the skills to be able to encourage, comfort, discipline, and appropriately confront different kinds of people in the right way and at the right time in different situations.

And, it determines how well people listen to us and how well we are heard.

How does it do all of these things?  As we talk further, I think you will start to see the depth and breadth of EI.  Stay tuned to learn about our emotions - what they are and where they come from!

“We specialize in selecting, motivating and retaining top talent.  You will be able to enjoy the benefits of highly engaged, productive employees and fiercely loyal, devoted customers.  We take the guesswork out and you will know exactly what to do to gain a leading edge.”

“Our methods are scientifically researched and our solutions are proven to save you money - no more leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more, on the table!”

SonyaSullins@hcmi.info or 877-HUMAN10

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