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In today’s hyper-competitive market, a burning question for most companies is: “How can we achieve a significant and sustainable competitive advantage in order to retain our customers?” After all, keeping existing customers is five times less expensive than finding new ones. That’s good business in anyone’s book.
Consider this: About 70% of customers’ buying decisions are based on positive human interactions with sales staff. Add to this the fact that 83% of the U.S. gross domestic product comes from services and information which are created and delivered by people. The bottom line is that people buy from people, not companies. So, your people – and the performance they deliver – are the defining competitive advantage for your organization.
Passionate Performance
When you discover how to actively engage your people to deliver Passionate Performance, you start a powerful and self-reinforcing cycle that builds value for your organization. This creates a unique, sustainable competitive advantage.
Given enough time and resources, your competitors can replicate your products, distribution channels and technology. However, Passionate Performance cannot be easily duplicated by your competition and creates a rock-solid wall of differentiation between you and the rest of the pack.
Passionate Performance is achieved when employees are fully engaged – when they demonstrate a strong, sustained intellectual and emotional attachment to their work. You will know when employees are demonstrating Passionate Performance because you will feel the enthusiasm and see the results. Your team will have more fun creating better outcomes. They will be fully present at work, in the moment, in the flow.
The key to Passionate Performance is found within the minds and hearts of employees where basic human needs are fulfilled. It’s a simple but powerful formula: When my needs are fulfilled, I am engaged and I perform at my peak ability. When my needs are met, I’m motivated to help those who meet my needs. When my needs are not met, I’m frustrated, out of control, unfocused, and disconnected – in a word, disengaged.
We all have these basic human needs, and they have remained the same amidst the tornado of external change. Times have changed, and our world has certainly changed, but people have not.
To meet these needs, leaders must view their employees as people and not just workers. If you look at your employees as people, you can identify these six basic needs – three intellectual and three emotional.
When it comes to Passionate Performance, the mind and the heart go hand in hand. Engaged minds build your employees’ performance and engaged hearts ignite their passion. Performance without passion tends to falter during tough times or in the face of challenges that require sacrifice, significant extra effort or unusually creative solutions. On the other hand, passion without performance results in diffused, unfocused efforts.
Join us for a free webinar to learn more about this leadership engagement model that has been translated into 9 languages, applied worldwide and featured in the best-selling book Engaging the Hearts and Minds of All Your Employees.