Loyalty

Welcome to the Loyalty Factor Information Exchange, a bi-weekly service providing summaries of major publications and books on various management and customer relationship topics. 

 Loyalty Factor has been instrumental in helping companies:

• Increase Customer Satisfaction by 20 – 33%
• Increase Revenues by 50% in 18 months
• Increase Manufacturing Production by 200% in 18 months
• Simplifying mergers and acquisitions

Our information exchange this week highlights the book, “The Power of Professionalism: The Seven Mind-Sets That Drive Performance and Build Trust” by Bill Wierma.

The Power of Professionalism

When only 17 percent of employees believe their leaders have the organization’s best interests at heart… When only 18 percent of Americans trust lawyers completely … When the Google search “Has U.S. business lost its way?” yields 159 million hits … Something is very, very wrong. Is it any wonder that cynicism is at an all-time high and trust at an all-time low?

The solution according to the authors is professionalism. They state professional ideals build trust. And trust is the foundation for both personal and organizational success. With trust, people tend to be more confident, proactive and hopeful. Without trust, people tend to be more skeptical, withdrawn and pessimistic.

In The Power of Professionalism, Wiersma outlines the seven mind-sets of trusted professionals.

1. Deliver results. Equal importance should be given to delivering the right results in the right way AND to sustainable outcomes.

2. Realize (and act like) they’re part of something bigger than themselvesmeaning they put the interests of the organization (a client) ahead of their own.

3. Know things get better when they get better. The result they are continually learning and growing personally and professionally.

4. Hold themselves to exacting standards:

• Have a personalized core set of values
• Do what’s right over what’s expedient
• Stay focused and avoid pointless drama

 5. Practice Personal Integrity:

• Authenticity and honesty
• Delivering on one’s commitments (both explicit and implicit)
• Refusing to violate the trust others have extended to them

 6. Aspire to Emotional Consistency.

• Respect when it’s difficult to be respectful.
• Maintain objectivity.
• Manage their egos.

 7. Reveal value in others meaning being comfortable in one’s own skin and not threatened by others.

Understanding the importance of trust is one thing: building it is quite another.

Professionals build trust!