Welcome 2019 – Can I Trust you? Can I Respect You?
Hey All,
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2019
Last week, I had a peculiar conversation with one of my friends in the US over WhatsApp. He is leading a big team at an IT blue chip corporation. He ran me through an amazing article by Amy Cuddy, a Harvard Business professor.
The 2 Things People Judge You On Immediately
She then goes on to explain the two questions people ask themselves when they meet you
- Can I trust this person?
- Can I respect this person?
Basically, warmth and competence is what they are trying to figure out. Pretty simple so far? Its gets interesting now.
The sequence is the first aspect. Warmth first, competence next.
We are living in a world where we go crazy showcasing our competence to look smart, intelligent and the boss!
Little do we know that all people are looking for in you initially is your warmth and trustworthiness. Can you be a trusted company is on top of their mind.
Competence follows Trust. Not the other way round (as widely believed).
We decided to investigate this further and ran a small experiment.
- We divided all external communications (existing customers and prospects) into control groups.
- For Group A – our interventions began with genuine “warmth” based interactions followed by the “competence” showcase
- For Group B – this was reversed.
- We started recording these meetings for insights and inputs.
- After 20 such interactions each, we decided to review the entire process.
- We were absolutely stunned to see the results.
- From Group A – we had 15 positive interventions where most customers showed inclination to associate in some form or the other
- From Group B – we had just 3 positive interventions where customers wanted to associate.
- We handpicked 3 from each group and I personally had a session with each one of them to establish reasons.
- Group A members said they felt an instant connect to know more about us because we came across as passionate and eager to help rather than as transactional. Interactions like “Tell me more about this?”, “How can we arrive at a win-win situation?” and “Can you implement this idea for me?” were prevalent here.
- Group B members said they felt awkward taking the discussion forward since it was talking about project goals and milestones. Some of them just snapped up discussions with statements like “We’ll let you know”, “Let me think it over and come back to you”, “Not interested at the moment”
Do you think this is powerful way to connect and engage with people? What has been your experience? Feel free to share your thoughts and inputs.
In this “tech” world, gadgets are already smart enough to take care of most of your things. The standout factor is your value system and we should look to strengthen that to the core in building a cohesive and connected global community.
Does that mean that mediocrity can prevail through warmth or being compassionate?
Absolutely not. Absolutely never. Competence is an absolute must but that alone will not ensure successful collaborations, associations and interventions.
Our message for 2019 – Spread warmth around the community and your competence will naturally shine through!
Happy New Year once again!!
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