TELL ME WHY!

¡MAS PALABRAS SOBRAN!

¿is there any hope for deep trust?

AT THE SPEED OF TRUST

I attended the Franklin Covey certification in this programme in Argentina last year and found it a very powerful tool for those managers who are really prepared to pay the price to improve their personal levels of trustworthiness in order to impact trust in their organizations. As always it is accompanied by some powerful videos, exercises and tools to reinforce the FC "SEE - DO - GET" personal change process.

However, I have to agree with some of the Amazon reviewers that the book, at 322 pages, is a long read. It ocurred to me that a useful and cheap alternative to get a good feel for the concepts could be the audio download with a total investment of US$7.35 and just 75 minutes... and no long wait for the order to arrive. However, in all my ignorance - I didn't realize I needed a KINDLE for this.... or sign up for a year with Audbible.com... guaranteed to increase the number of books you will read per year!!!!

Anyway.....rather than exposing you to my view of products in which I may be accused of having a vested interest I invite you to read the Amazon Reviews and draw your own conclusions.

Here is the editorial blurb followed by a link to download the condensed audio version of the book:

"A groundbreaking and paradigm-shifting book, The Speed of Trust challenges our age-old assumption that trust is merely a soft, social virtue. Instead, it demonstrates that trust is a hard-edged, economic driver -- a learnable and measurable skill that makes organizations more profitable, people more promotable, and relationships more energizing.

Written from his informed perspective as the former CEO of a $100 million enterprise, Covey draws on his pragmatic experience growing the Covey Leadership Center (founded by his father, Dr. Stephen R. Covey) from a shareholder value of less than $3 million to a value of more than $160 million.

Covey articulates why trust has become the key leadership competency of the new global economy. He eloquently informs readers of how to inspire lasting trust in their personal and professional relationships, and in so doing to create unparalleled success and sustainable prosperity in every dimension of life. He shows business, government, and education leaders how to quickly and permanently gain the trust of clients, coworkers, partners, and constituents. The author convincingly makes the case that trust is a measurable performance accelerator, and that when trust goes up, speed also goes up while cost comes down, producing what Covey calls a "trust dividend".

This powerful new audiobook reveals the 13 behaviors common to high-trust leaders throughout the world and demonstrates actionable insights that will enable you to increase and inspire trust in your important

relationships."©2006 CoveyLink. All rights reserved; (P)2006 Simon and Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

DOWNLOAD HERE: http://www.audible.com/adbl/entry/offers/productPromo2.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&productID=BK_SANS_000779

PREDICTABLE RESULTS IN UNPREDICTABLE TIMES

Aqui va una primicia para todos los fans de Stephen Covey - detalles de su último libro escrito en colaboración con el CEO de FranklinCovey, Bob Whitman, y Brett England, Solutions Architect.

Stephen Covey and Bob Whitman collaborated to write Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times because of the current economic conditions, which are having a negative effect on so many people and organizations all over the world.

Stephen Covey says, “If there’s one thing that’s certain in business, it’s uncertainty. Most organizations can get predictable results in an environment that is predictable. But, there are great organizations that consistently perform with excellence, even in the most unpredictable times, which we are now experiencing. These organizations not only survive the tough times, but they thrive and set themselves ahead of their competitors.”

Covey and Whitman suggest in the book that four hazards raise havoc within organizations in unpredictable times:

Failure to execute: You’ve thought through the crisis. You have your strategy. Now the question is, can the team execute? Will they? Some people in your organization understand it, and they are getting it done. Some aren’t and probably never will. Then there’s the great middle population– how much more could they contribute if they only knew how?

Crisis of trust: Levels of trust are at an all-time low. Securities markets plunge due to a huge crisis of confidence. Too many people see betrayal wherever they look. On an uncertain road full of pitfalls, everyone decelerates: It’s not called a “slow-down” for nothing.

Loss of focus: You have fewer resources, fewer people and more confusion. People try to do two or three jobs at once. A person doing two jobs has half the focus of a person doing one job, and half the likelihood of doing either job well.

Pervasive fear: Economic recession causes psychological recession. People fear losing jobs, retirement savings, even their homes. It’s “piling on.” And it costs you; just when you need people to focus and engage, they lose focus and disengage.

Bob Whitman, FranklinCovey CEO, says, “Long experience with thousands of private and public entities around the globe has taught us some of what it takes to achieve extraordinary performance, not just in this current economy, but always. After studying the team disciplines of more than 300,000 people in 17,000 work units in 1,100 organizations, which provided the foundational research for this book, we gleaned some critical insights about the factors that truly differentiate top performers from lesser performers.”

The authors also suggest four key principles for getting predictable results in unpredictable times:

• Execute Priorities with Excellence: Winning companies have “simple goals” repeatedly revisited, together with clear targets and strong follow-through, including the measurement of results. As with any team, all team members know the goals and their roles in carrying them out. And, they execute precisely.
  
• Move with the Speed of Trust: Low trust slows everything down and raises costs. That’s why the economy, your clients and your cash flow slow down in times of turmoil. But, when trust levels rise, everything speeds up and costs go down. The winning companies are capable of quick action “with the agility to respond ahead of, or at least stay even with, rapid changes in the new economic environment.”
  
• Achieve More with Less: Of course, everyone is trying to do more with less, but the real question is, “More of what?” Shouldn’t it be more of what customers truly value and less of what they don’t want? The winning companies focus totally on value – they are not just cutting back, they are simplifying, reducing complexities that customers don’t value. Instead of having everyone do two or three jobs, they focus on doing the job the customer really wants done.
  
• Transform Fear into Engagement: The root of psychological recession is the sense that people have no control over what happens to them. Winning organizations help people break through that hopelessness and focus on what they can do. Much of the fear is caused by unclear direction, by a less-than-compelling purpose. Entrusted with a mission they can believe in, they channel their anxious energy into results.

“No leader can compute all the uncertainties of the future into a set of certainties,” said Brett England another of the co-authors. “But there are certain changeless principles that leaders and managers can rely on to thrive in volatile times.”

Para más información: http://www.franklincovey.com/tc/solutions/books-and-audio