MAP your BF—at work, at home, even in the bedroom!
by Miki SaxonMAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) is what I coach; BF is short for believability factor and is part of your MAP.
What does it take to be ranked as a good manager today? Not much more than usual, just incite innovation, raise productivity, improve quality and reduce turnover—preferably without spending more money.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was something specific that you could do that would positively affect all of the above, make things better in your personal world and improve your sex life? (Ha, bet that got your attention!) Something that didn’t cost money, was completely within your control and that nobody had to know you were doing—ever?
Yes, there actually is something, not a fix-all silver bullet, but something that offers improvement—the amount depending on where you are now.
It’s not new, not rocket science and you’ve heard part of it time and again: Say what you mean and mean what you say. Actually the full text reads: Say what you mean, mean what you say, then DO what you say. Or, in modern language: Walk your talk.
Your follow-through is the most important. I can’t count the times I’ve heard people at all levels say about their boss some variation of, “S/he really means well, but nothing ever happens.”. If you don’t follow through, then meaning what you say won’t carry much weight with your employees, peers, bosses, and personal-worlders.
The follow-through needs to be 100%, too. A 60% follow-through rate yields a BF of about 40% since perceived results are usually lower than actual results. That disconnect makes it tough to get things done!
Are you disconnected? Easy to know; just count the times (be honest, remember this is between you and you) that you said you were going to do something and didn’t (at least not when you said you would); the times you promised X, but provided Y; the projects started, but not finished; the request for input that was given, but never used.
To find your believability factor assign a number value between one and ten to the said, meant, did, and result, then figure the percentage correlation between said and meant, meant and did, did and result. The results are your internal BF for each part, then add the them together and divide by three for your overall internal BF.
Next, poll the involved people (work or personal-worlders) and ask them to rate you on a scale of one to ten on
- whether you mean what you say;
- how often you do what you say you will do; and
- the frequency of results being what they expected based on what you originally said.
Use these numbers to figure your external BF in each area and for each person.
If you find substantial discrepancies between you and the majority of those polled, it tells you that you need to rethink your self-view. If you find just one or two significantly different from you and the rest, then you could be dealing with a communications problem (but that’s another column).
What’s the BF worth to you? At work you’ll find a direct correlation between your BF and the productivity of those who interface with you, no matter their level—even customers! In your personal world you’ll find the same correlation in your “relationship productivity” whether with your kids, your friends or your softball team. (I’ll let you figure out the application in the bedroom!)
So what do you do about it? First, what you don’t do is make any announcements as to what’s going to change. Change is difficult and serious personal style change is the most difficult because it means censoring yourself, living up to your commitments, learning to say no, not “anal-yzing,” and delegating when possible; in other words, learning that it is more effective to under-promise so that you can (almost) always over-deliver.
Where to start? Take a hint from Nike’s tag line and “just do it.”
