🙏 The need to believe

One of the things many smart people struggle with is the belief that being right matters.

People often realise how little being right matters when they get into a serious relationship like a marriage. Sometimes it doesn’t matter what is factually correct - something else in the moment may matter more, or it matters more how the information is delivered, or how it feels.

While we learn the lesson personally, often with a child or spouse, few people take it a step further to effectively apply the lesson to other important relationships in their life.

As a business person, particularly if you provide a service, it doesn't matter if what you suggest is effective. The person needs to feel that it is effective.

Your customers need to see, and more importantly understand, the results you provide. You need to make the transformation obvious. Overcommunicate the change.

People gravitate towards strategies that feel effective in the moment, strategies that show progress with immediate feedback and that don't feel difficult. Working on social media as a new small business owner is a great example of this - it feels effective because you see follower numbers increase or you get immediate feedback in terms of likes, it is relatively easy, but it rarely truly moves you or your business forward at any real speed. Social media is what is called a ‘kind learning environment’. Unfortunately, social media is a relatively long-term game, you often need to post consistently for years before you reap any real rewards. Yet people do it because they believe it makes a real difference.

Whether you sell a product or provide a service, it is your job to make sure your customers understand that they have achieved a positive change in circumstances. This is one reason why post-purchase systems are so important, such as automated email campaigns. It doesn’t matter if what you sold helped if the person doesn’t believe it helped, they will still ask for a refund or refuse to recommend you.

You need to help you clients see how effective what you do is. Give them immediate feedback. Prove it works.

Sometimes you need to provide this feedback and instill this belief multiple times throughout the process, particularly if you are providing a service. To use personal training as an example, imagine a friend who wants to do lots of pushups. You go to their house and see they're doing pushups on their knees. They would likely get more benefit from doing harder tasks like plyometric push ups or those explosive clap pushups, but those are much more difficult. Humans are predisposed to choose what seems to be an easier option, even if it turns out to be less effective. Your friend tells you they tried explosive push ups, but it was hard, so they do lots of knee pushup because look how many they can do, surely that will help.

Your clients do the same thing. You suggest or sell something that will truly help, they may try it, but they will usually opt for what seems like an easier option. You need to keep your clients on course. You need to keep them believing that what you suggested will make a difference. You need to make what you do easier and a kinder learning environment. You need to constantly give feedback, show results, and instill the belief that they are doing the right thing.

How to make your feedback effective and create kind learning environments:

1. Make sure feedback is given in real-time (instant)

2. Make sure feedback is ongoing - Continuous feedback complements continuous learning, but 28% of employees report that feedback is not frequent enough to help them understand how to improve.

3. Make it relevant - Feedback should always relate to the material a learner is dealing with in the moment, otherwise it runs the risk of being non-specific, vague and ineffective - it loses its power in embedding knowledge.

4. Complement it with positive reinforcement - Make sure feedback you provide is encouraging, constructive and positively reinforces people, so that learners are motivated to try again and keep going, rather than giving up in frustration.

5. Structure feedback well - Before learning is delivered, make the desired outcome clear at the start (set expectations and objectives). Receivers of feedback decide to adjust their behavior by comparing it to a goal. Make feedback regular and create repeating patterns.

6. Make feedback two-way - This improves your own understanding and your learning material you learn how to improve your content.

The legendary cellist Pablo Casals was asked why he continued to practise at age 90 "because I think I'm making progress" he replied.

What can you do today to help your clients believe?

I shared this in my Work Smart Wednesday newsletter. Want the full set of related insights? You can read them here: https://worksmartwednesday.substack.com/p/work-smart-wednesday-september-27

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