Setting Effective Career Goals

For as long as I can remember, at different junctions of my childhood, I’ve been asked, “What is your ambition?” “What do you want to be when you grow up”. Strangely enough, the answer is always different. At the age of 5, I wanted to be a singer because I was belted out a pretty good rendition of “My Boone”. At the age of 13 years old, I wanted to be a dancer and a gymnast because I was fascinated with that form of art and gymnastics was another form of sporty art to me. I spent the rest of my years in secondary school participating in school concerts, talent quests and became the school’s gymnastics captain and loved every minute of school

Then at 15 years old, I spent a period of recuperation in the local hospital and it was then that I realised my dream career - to be a nurse so that I can give back to others what the nurses gave me then. I studied harder in the last year of school than I did in the previous three years – just so that I could achieve the correct numbers of GCE “O” Level to get myself into nursing school. I started my “dream career” with the fighting spirit of a sportsman to win that GOLD!.- But that dream was short-lived when I developed a condition that forced me to make a decision to leave the profession just after a year into nursing school.

It is said that we spent most of our waking hours of our life working. We go through school preparing ourselves for the workforce. But when crunch time came, we are stumped! Questions like “Can we spend our time doing the things we love most? Will we truly feel happiness and fulfillment in our careers? Will I realize my dream career? How do I get there?” cross our minds and we begin to wonder.

Topics like goal setting for your career and work life balance are not usually taught in school, yet if we don't write goals and plan the steps we need to take to get there, there is every chance we'll end up somewhere completely different. Like personal goal setting, setting career goal charts out a focused plan in the direction of that dream career. Setting a career goal is a powerful process for thinking about your ideal career, and for motivating yourself to turn this vision of the career into reality!

If you set clearly defined short term and long term goals you will be able to measure your progress and eventually achieve personal satisfaction in all areas of your life. As you move towards your goals, your self-confidence will also improve as you see the progress you are making - progress which would be hard to measure if you have not formulated your goals properly and written them down. You will also find that with progress you become more aware of your abilities, skills and knowledge, which in turn will also boost your self-esteem.


Before setting specific goals for your career, whether for finding a new job or advancing in your current company, you should spend some time to ensure that you are clear about what you really want in your career. Think about the considerations:

1. Self discovery – Reflect on the discovering your purpose in life. This helps to give clarity about what you want to do as a career. As questions like “Why are you here? What do you want your life to be like?” The best way to achieve accomplishments and fulfillment is to ensure that your career choices are reflects your purpose in life.

2. Consider your Talents, Interest and Passions:a. Identify your Talents and Abilities – Start with listing your skills inventory. Include all the things that you are good at, or that come easily to you. Also, think about any specialised knowledge that you possess. Do you hold a degree in a certain are? Are you an expert on a particular topic or field?

b. Identify your Interests – Next make a list of your Interests. Ask questions like, “What sparks your curiosity? What subject do you find fascinating? What areas of knowledge would you like to explore? Why stop at one, choose two or even three areas of expertise you could develop

c. Identify your Passions - The last step is to make a list of all your passions. What do you really enjoy doing? What gets you excited? What do you feel strongly or passionately about? What really gets your juices flowing? What have you always wanted to try but never attempted?

3. Identify your driving values - Your driving values determine the aspects of a job or career that provide the most motivation and fulfillment. Understanding your driving values can help you make the best career and a work choice based on what is right for you. List and prioritise the values. Use this list to help you make future decisions about your career so that they are based on what is most important for you.

4. Strategic Career PlanA strategic career plan is a document that combines all the elements of your career goal. It includes:

• Your purpose statement
• Your vision for the next 3-5 years
• Your values
• Your guiding principles

Article Contribued by Tina Melati, Senior Consultant of Training Edge International
Email : tina.melati@trainingedgeasia.com
Website : www.trainingedgeasia.com

Moving Ahead & Staying Ahead Of the Competitors

In today’s highly competitive markets, increasing numbers of companies realize that, building strong relationships with key customers is crucial to their success. It’s the quality of relationship that guarantees consistent and predictable business from any customer. Company executives today need to learn, how to make the account strategies work. Here are few areas to explore and stay ahead of competitors.

Building Long-Term Relationships

Most businesses sustain because of their key customers; they bring the stability to the business. These customers are aware of their contribution to your revenues and how their decision affects your bottom-line. Pareto analysis could be the simplest way to segment your key accounts, which also links your business risk to the quality of relationships with them.

Most companies have portfolio of regular customers, but few truly understand why they regularly come back. Quality, Service, Flexibility, Delivery and Cost (QSFDC) could be few fundamental factors to explain it. However, you cannot rely only on these factors to retain a customer in the future because competitors are driving equally aggressive and innovative strategies to break into your key accounts.

Your key accounts are venerable to competition so take responsibility to provide them the service they need. In managing these relationships effectively, it is important to take a long-term strategic approach, than focus on short-term gains. Key accounts management is a relationship-building process, and not just another sale.

Listen and Speak the Customers Language
It is imperative to listen and speak your customers’ language and provide more support than just a product. It’s your liability if the goods are accumulating in a distributor’s warehouse instead of being consumed by the market.

You need to gain in-depth information about your customers’ business, their market trends, their competition, their business model, their concerns, their strategy and their view of you as a supplier. You have to use their lens and see what is important for them. Spend significant time, and effort to manage and enhance these relationships systematically. Work closely with your key accounts to build trust and confidence, also ensure to resolve problems without damaging the relationship.


Bring the right team together
It is vital to keep the customer updated at all levels by communicating effectively and efficiently with them. Identify a cross functional team that interacts with the customers’ organization, most commonly finance, logistics and customer services interactions are quiet frequent. Leverage it to gain better understanding of the customer. Information gain from various sources would be critical in identifying potential business opportunities.

The team (depending on your business) would by represented by these departments: Sr. Management, Account Manager, Customer Service, Logistics, Finance, Sales & Marketing and Technical Support. A well-balanced team can support customer demands and provide excellent service. It is also important to have single point of contact for the key account, usually a key account manager, who is supported and kept up to date by this team.

Equally important is to identify the characteristics of the customer’s team, which helps in forming your customer strategy and relationship building too:
Sponsor: This could be a sr. executive and key decision maker, who has influence, authority & power to sign and approve your strategy. He may not be technically inclined & may rely on his experts for recommendation.

Anti Sponsor: Like the Sponsor, this executive will also have high levels of authority and/or influence in the organisation and will not support you and your strategy. In fact they may try to directly oppose it.

Partner/Coach: One of the most important players in your account strategy, this person has credibility with other senior executives throughout your customer’s organisation and is willing to support and promote you.

Key Players These Executives may not directly be involved approving your deal but they do have credibility, authority and/or influence and therefore are important to your overall customer

Establish KAM Process
A systematic approach to account planning is vital in analyzing information and creating business opportunities. Keep the account management process simple and pragmatic. Follow the four basic steps to manage account planning process.

Step 1: Analyze your current situation
Gain market intelligence. Include competitors’ strategies, market share & biz environment. Note your performance and competitors’ performance in the key account. Identify your team & relationship index on a sale of 1 to 5 with the customer.

Step 2: Analyze Customers Current Situation
Details of the customers’ team, their buying segment & your share in it, competition, strategy, market trend and concerns. Collate all this information in a simple template for reference.

Step 3: Where can you add value?
Several issues would uncover during the analysis, identify issues where your expertise would be most valuable to the customer. Solutions selling & new opportunity identification is the net result. It helps in preparing the action plan and positioning yourself better.

Step 4: Share it with your Customer
Share the account plan with your customer, their views are critical to your success. Modify plans accordingly and share it regularly to meet the market demands.

Execute…
Successful execution of the plan builds customers’ confidence in your organization. It helps in securing a sustainable and predictable business resulting in better planning and future growth.

Contributed by Training Edge Editorial Team

Building a World-Class HR team

Buzzwords regularly come and go in HR; but one term that is never far from the thoughts of HR practitioners is team-building. And the reason is simple: you can have the best people, and give them the best training possible; but if they don’t interact effectively together, that group of individuals will never achieve their full potential.

Why do teams exist?
Sport is a great analogy for the success (or otherwise) of business teams. As the old saying goes, “a champion team will always beat a team of champions”. Something magical happens when you unite individual, disparate parts into a collective whole; if done well, the whole can achieve far greater outcomes than the individuals could on their own. And being social creatures, people are naturally happier and more engaged if they feel a part of a team of like-minded colleagues.

The ultimate team-building aim of a team leader or manager is to get all team members working towards a common objective. Having a clear sense of purpose helps motivate the team to continually strive to improve. It helps the team focus on the most important activities. It helps team members appreciate the importance of their role – and each others’ – in the team achieving that objective. All of which builds team unity.

Throughout my career as a business improvement consultant, entrepreneur and business owner, I’ve explored ways to improve team performance. The recent spate of neuroscience breakthroughs has provided a fascinating insight into how individuals can improve their effectiveness in developing new skills. The two are closely linked – if your team is going to continually improve, individual members need to build skills; this is far easier to achieve (and, importantly, embed into changed behaviour in the workplace) if done within a supportive team environment.

Simple systems work
To help others benefit from my leadership and team-building experience and learnings, I then set about condensing the concepts into a set of practical, repeatable steps that was broad enough to serve the needs of as many people as possible. The result is my new book: ‘Scores on the BoardTM – the 5-Part System for Building Skills, Teams and Businesses.’

There is a close correlation between the steps individuals should follow in order to develop a skill, and the steps a team should take to improve its performance. In fact, these steps can be applied to just about anything. When such a system is used at all levels of the organisation – from front line employees through to the CEO – amazing things can be achieved.

I’ve refined the process into a simple 5-Part system:

1. Vision
2. Goals
3. Feedback
4. Gap analysis
5. Actions

The system can be implemented in different ways depending on whether you are building a skill, a team or a business. (The book goes into greater detail about each step, and provides specific examples to help you implement the system as part of a team-building program.)

Let’s look at each of the five parts when the system is used to increase team performance.

Vision
High-performing teams need a common vision – a compelling picture of the future that the team can work towards. It should be short and emotionally meaningful to the team members. Visions are aspirational; they represent a perfect scenario or ‘team utopia’ that will be difficult to reach. Team members should drive the creation of the team vision to enhance the emotional investment each team member has in striving to reach it.

Using the vision as a focus for developing goals and action plans ensures the team remains focused on the activities that are most relevant and important.

Goals
Smaller, short-term goals help teams stay on track to achieving their overall vision. While teams will always have targets thrust upon them, it is more empowering if the team can also set themselves more attainable milestones along the way that help motivate and provide a sense of achievement. Goals also provide clarity about what the team will focus on in the short term. Goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.

Feedback
Feedback is a vital component of the system; it provides external information that enables the team to objectively assess its performance and continue to improve. Get feedback on the team’s performance from both internal and external stakeholders in a regular, systematic fashion. Always ask what could be done to improve the score.

Gap analysis

Periodically, the team should compare where it is now (determined by the feedback received) to where it wants to be (goals). The team then needs to identify the causes of any gap, and determine possible solutions. Separate the causes into two groups: those within the control of the team to fix, and those outside the team’s control. Avoid wasting the team’s energies on things outside your control. Gaps within your control will form the basis of your actions.

Action

Having sought feedback on team performance and identified gaps between current and desired levels of performance, the team can now develop an action plan to tackle the causes of the gaps that are within its control. Typically these action plans are developed, discussed and agreed to as part of a regular team meeting. Action plans should be simple and pragmatic, and designed specifically to bridge the gap between the team’s goals and their current performance.

Clearly denote what the task involves, who is responsible, and by when it is to be completed (be sure to set realistic timeframes). Tasks should be displayed prominently to remind all team members of their obligations.

This simple 5 part system has helped hundreds of teams the world over to achieve great things – such as being named the World’s Best Contact Centre. It works across industries and functions. And it doesn’t incur the expense and lost productivity that team-wide training can. Most importantly, it gives your team a framework on which to develop and reinforce the behaviours that will drive performance to the next level.

Every HR leader wants to instil in the organisation a high-performance and continual learning culture. The first step is to create that culture within your own team. Start by creating a vision of where your team wants to be and what it wants to achieve – and if the team aspires to be world-class, ensure the vision reflects this. Next, set short term goals that keep the team on track; get regular, ongoing feedback on how the team is performing against its goals (and how it can improve); identify the issues preventing the team from achieving its goals; and set action plans to overcome the issues within the team’s control. If these steps are followed regularly and systematically, the team will truly be capable of incredible things.

Article by Bill Lang of Training Edge International
Email: bill@trainingedgeasia.com
Website: www. www.trainingedgeasia.com

A Good Team Needs A Good Leader

If you want to have successful teams in your organisation, make sure you have successful leaders. What do I mean by this you ask? The way a team is led will have a major impact on the success or otherwise of the team.

In fact when I asked team members from within a large financial institution what they wanted from a team leader they identified the following values they would like their leader to hold :-

• Trust
• A commitment to their staff as well as the task
• The willingness to support and serve the team
• Inspirational leadership, combined with energy, enthusiasm and appropriate expertise
• The guts to take responsibility rather then pass the buck
• The glue to make the team come together and operate as a team
• A willingness to have fun!

I’ll explain each of these in more detail.

Trust
Team members want to trust and be trusted. Team members felt it was important to be able to trust their team leader to actually do what they said they were going to do. Of course this works both ways, team members also want to be trusted to uphold their part of the bargain and deliver the goods when asked to do so. Trust is the outcome of kept promises and is something that is earned not bought or obtained easily. Trust was the number one issue raised by team members.

A Commitment to Their Staff As Well As the Task
Following on from the issue of trust most team members were more concerned about relationships within the team before they were concerned about the tasks the team was responsible for. Feeling valued and part of the team is an important component and allowed the team member to contribute as a valued individual.

A switched on team leader will spend time supporting their staff and build a commitment to the team through this support. The team leader must never lose sight of the task, but must also never lose sight of the value of the individuals within the team.

The Willingness to Support and Serve the Team
Team members want strong leadership, people who are willing to lead from the front, take responsibility and make the right decisions. Having said that, the overwhelming response to my survey in the financial institution was also that staff want a leader who is willing to lead from behind. By this I mean a leader who serves the team members, to enable them to get their job done and achieve within the constraints of the organisation.

This can sometimes be a delicate balancing act between getting the job done and catering to the needs of the individuals within the team. A leader who supports their staff by allocating appropriate resources or cutting red tape to achieve an outcome is highly valued by the team. This may at times be at odds with the organisational culture but again brings forward positive results in terms of productivity and loyalty.

Inspirational Leadership, Combined With Energy, Enthusiasm and Appropriate Expertise

Team members want to be inspired and have a leader who takes them to the next level. They want to be motivated and work with a leader who has energy for the task and the team. They want to work with a leader who can do this and has the appropriate knowledge about the task at hand to lead the team to where they want to go.

People recognise that not every leader has all the answers, but they want to know the leader is real and can draw on the knowledge and experience of the other people around them in the team.

The Guts to Take Responsibility Rather Then Pass The Buck
Teams and leaders are often put under a lot of pressure to achieve or perform in organisations. Team members want a leader who will take responsibility and work to quickly fix problems if and when they arise. This process must be one where the team grows as a result of the leader’s actions. This means the leader may have to admit the issue was their fault or a result of their actions.

This is not about finding a scape goat, it is simply about taking responsibility. Team members value leaders who are willing to admit they made a mistake and support them through the fall out from that mistake.

The Glue to Make the Team Come Together and Operate as a Team
A group of workers becomes a team when there is a synergy between the members of the group. Team members want to feel part of that group and be welcomed by the leader and others in the group as an equal member of the team. The team leader may have to experiment with different styles of leadership to bring the team together. Recognising the strengths and weaknesses of team members, establishing accountability and clear roles are important steps in creating this synergy among team members.

A good team leader will recognise the need to adapt his or her style to fit the needs of the group.

A willingness to have Fun
Finally the team members I surveyed unanimously wanted to have fun at work. Comments abounded about the best team leader was the one who made coming to work fun and working never seemed like a chore because it was so enjoyable. Fun is compulsory in successful teams!

Article Contributed by Lindsay Adams, International Speaker with Training Edge International and President of Global Speakers Federation
Website : www.trainingedgeasia.com
Email : Lindsay.adams@trainingedgeasia.com

Presentations Have Changed – 5 Ways to Engage Today’s Audiences

In the last thirty years, presenting to an audience has changed remarkably. Back then, it was called ‘oratory’ and the aim was to impress your audience to establish authority; whereas today the aim is to engage your audience to establish connection. The trouble is, most of the guidelines for presenting successfully to an audience were written over thirty years ago. So here are five guidelines for today’s audiences.

1. Forget about ‘getting it right’

For most of us, this becomes an obsession. “I mustn’t leave anything out,” becomes our overriding thought. We measure our success by how closely we match our script. We forget that they haven’t seen the script. The danger is that in focussing on getting the words right we turn our delivery into something so boring that nobody wants to listen to it. Have a clear idea of the message you want to leave them with and some notes to refer to if necessary; but don’t worry about what you leave out – they’ll never know!

2. Don’t worry about going blank

They say that the human memory is a marvellous faculty that starts the moment we are born – and only stops when we stand in front of an audience to speak. Everyone goes blank. It’s not the worst thing that can happen. If you lose your way, simply check your notes and refresh your memory. The audience will not think less of you for it. When I admitted to an audience that my mind had gone blank, they told me afterwards that it actually enhanced my credibility. “It made you seem more human,” they said, “and this made your message more relevant.”

3. Prepare more than the words

Many speakers spend all their available preparation time writing their speech, when some research shows that as little as 7% of the message the audience receives comes from these words. Up to 93% of the message – and, certainly, a majority of the audience engagement – comes from the non-verbal component, specifically, the vocal component (the way we say the words) and the visual component (what they see). Write your speech early and spend a majority of your preparation time saying it aloud (paying attention to your pacing, emphasis and pauses) while standing up.

4. Write it ‘back-to-front’

The most important part of the speech is the conclusion. What message do you want to leave them with? Write this first, then decide what’s necessary to lead up to it. Practice similarly, so you know your conclusion better than the opening. Then, in your delivery, you are working toward the part you know best – which will build your confidence.

5. Tell them a story

Audiences love stories. The narrative is inherently engaging. They are also more likely to remember the story than any other part of your presentation. From your perspective, the story is the part of your presentation where you are least likely to lose your way or go blank. Stories are a guaranteed way to engage their imagination and put images in their minds that will stick.

Use these hints and you will become more natural, spontaneous and engaging to an audience.

Article Contributed by Kevin Ryan, an international speaker , workshop leader and author with Training Edge International. He is a business communication expert specialising in the areas of employee and client engagement, sales, humour intelligence and presentation skills.
Email : kevin.ryan@trainingedgeasia.com
Website : www.trainingedgeasia.com

Having been in the business of professional speaking for over two decades, and with the exception of maybe 2 of them, every year has been better than the one before it. I guess you could say that I subscribe to the 25-year plan to overnight success. So, if you are looking for a get rich quick scheme or a short cut to speaking success, you can save yourself the time and effort of reading any further.

If, however you plan to be in this, or any business for the long haul, then I’ve got a deal for you! The “best practice” that has given me longevity, two best-selling books and a continual flow of corporate contracts may sound really simple, but trust me, it isn’t! It’s a lifelong process called AIM to be Weird!

The closer you get to the perfect intersection of your Abilities, your Interests and the Market, (i.e., your AIM), the more the concepts of work and life overlap, the lines gray, and they are no longer mutually exclusive. You don’t have to live two lives to cope or be happy. You are “tapping your natural weirdness.” Anything else is merely an avocation, a dream, or just a job.


ABILITIES + INTERESTS = AVOCATION

You can love to do something (Interests), and even be great at it (Abilities), but if no one is willing to pay you for it (Market), it’s just an avocation. For example, I love to eat, and I am really good at it. But so far, I haven’t found anyone willing to pay me for it.

Many people default to this sector as an escape from their real “work.” Let’s say you hate your job, but you love the theater. So, you act in local plays, but it is not a career. It’s an intrinsically rewarding escape (Avocation) where you are able to use both your interests and your abilities. There is nothing wrong with that. But wouldn’t you rather be able to escape into your work? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to get paid for what you love, and also do well?

INTERESTS + MARKET = DREAM
Who hasn’t dreamed of being a movie star, a professional athlete, a musician, or a racecar driver? There are markets for these talents. But probably not for you or me! Sorry to be so blunt, but someone had to tell you! In any event, it’s a dream. Time to wake up!

Sadly, there actually are people who attempt to work in careers (like professional speaking) in which their talents just aren’t suited. That’s painful…for everyone. They can even get by for a while, but it certainly isn’t rewarding for them or their clients, and eventually something has to give. Whether it’s a stress-related ailment, career failure or unhealthy escapes, nothing good can come of it in the long run.

ABILITIES + MARKETS = JOB

So, what’s wrong with that? You’re good at something, and they pay you for it! Without the Interest, motivation and satisfaction will always be lacking. It’s a job. A hard job! And ultimately, if you are not fired with enthusiasm, you will probably be fired, with enthusiasm.

Paychecks don’t drive you out of bed in the morning. Paychecks don’t make you want to stretch and excel every day. Paychecks don’t make you feel centered in life. Just as in the Dream mode (Interests + Market), this will also catch up to you, and in the same way, i.e., stress, job loss, addictions, bitterness, mediocrity, and other negative outcomes.

AIM TO BE WEIRD!
You’re good at something; you love it, and you get paid to do it! It doesn’t get any better than this! These are the people that every employer wants to hire. These are the weirdos in the workplace that are worth their weight in gold. They have tapped their natural weirdness, and life is good. They jump out of bed in the morning, or maybe even in the middle of the night, anxious to take on another day.

There are plenty of historic and modern day examples of people from all walks of life that have tapped their natural weirdness. From Einstein to Edison to Elvis, these are the people who have attained what Maslow called “self-actualization.”

Tapping your natural weirdness means that you have found the purpose for which you were put on this planet. You are fulfilling it and it is fulfilling you. And, it can get weird. Many if not most of those who find their true AIM can appear weird to the rest of the normal world, but that is a subject for another whole book.

Sound idealistic? Maybe. But why not AIM for it? At least you would be heading in the right direction, and who knows, maybe 20 years from now you’ll be a successful weirdo too!
Now, AIM to be Weird!

Article Contributed by Mr John Putzier, International Speaker and Best Selling Author with Training Edge International. He is the President of Firstep Inc and appears regularly in the media including CNN, NPR, ABCNews, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and many others.
Email : john.putzier@trainingedgeasia.com
Website : www.trainingedgeasia.com

Winning The Battlefield of the Mind: Building Trustworthy Brands

According to the Henley Centre in London and many other research studies, people are very happy to engage with companies and brands when they trust them. Over 80% of people globally say they would recommend a brand to others if they trust it. They also say that if they trust a brand they will be more loyal to it, and even pay more money for the service or products. And that is where every company dreams to be!

So when it comes down to your own company and your own brand, the million dollar question is how can I build a brand that people trust more than the services and products of my competitors? How do I create trust in my brand? What brand qualities drive trust and what inhibits it?

There is a consensus amongst cognitive scientists that up to 95% of all human thought is unconscious. Since traditional marketing is mainly ignoring this fact it is time to bring deeper human insights into the equation. How does the conscious AND unconscious mind build TRUST? This is the key question if you want to know how to market your brand to consumers, customers, employees and investors.

Freud called the human mind the “battlefield” and the latest consumer psychology confirms this by stating all decision-making is based on ‘tensions’.
Each tension balances two opposite but complementary qualities, and we constantly weigh up these qualities when making a decision.
Sometimes we move in one direction and other times we’re more concerned about the other quality. It all depends on the decision that needs to be made in a particular situation.



Academics from the University in Cologne has identified three core tensions in the human mind that are responsible for building trust.


Tension #1: Stability vs. Progress
When your customer is about to decide if he/she wants to trust you, the first and main tension that is considered is between stability and progress.
What are the stabilizing factors of your brand? Where is it rooted and where is it coming from? What are the stabilizing factors that make people believe you know what you’re doing and will still be around next year?
But equally where is your brand progressing to? How did you innovate and progress in the past, and how will you develop in the foreseeable future?
Brands have to determine who they are and where they are coming from in order to give them a base to progress in the future

New online retail businesses often suffer a lack of trust because customers don’t know where they came from, and are concerned that they may not have the skills to deliver the goods promised. For this reason many online retailers set up a physical presence to reassure customers of their retail ‘credentials’, and the founders of the site may embark on personal PR campaigns to ‘put a face’ on the business. Both tactics add stability to the brand and provide balance to their advanced digital business.

So only if you know where you are coming from will you have the base to determine where you can progress in life. And only when you know the direction in which you are going will you be seen as progressive and not stuck in the past.

Tension #2: Relationship vs. Practical value
The second tension that determines trust in a brand is relationship versus practical value. What kind of a relationship does a customer have with a brand?
Is the brand an advisor, or a friend; a helper or simply a connector? Whatever this relationship is, it has to be balanced with the practical value that a customer would see getting out of this relationship.
For example I may be personally liked by a potential client and viewed as a very amiable companion, but if the client doesn’t see me as having the skills to deliver some sort of value to his company he won’t employ me.
Conversely if a potential client sees me as having great value as a skilled advisor, but doesn’t personally like me, he is also unlikely to engage with me.
So getting the balance right between relationship and practical value is a second key tension in developing trust.

Tension #3: Vision vs. Competence
The final tension which builds trust is between vision and competence. A brand has to have a clear long term vision, but it also has to have the competence to achieve this vision.
For example, on a personal basis I may have a vision to eradicate malaria, and you may applaud this worthy vision. But no matter how much you support the vision, you may not feel that I have the actual competence to achieve it. After all I’m just a brand consultant.
But if my name was Bill Gates…..that may convince you that I had the money, contacts and organizational capacity to achieve the vision.
Establishing a clear vision is a key element in building trust, but ensuring that all the pieces are in place to actually deliver the competence to achieve the vision is equally important.

These three tensions balance the six qualities that are critical to brand trust. Some qualities may be more important than others depending on your business model. But getting the balance right will be critical to gaining customer trust, loyalty, and long term engagement.
Once all three tensions are balanced and relevant for a particular market, the company and brand should deliver the growth that every business owner is looking for.

Article Contributed by Laurenz Koehler of
Training Edge International