Back

Business success sensitivity

04 April 2009

As a business coach and mentor working in the Midlands and London, my business owner clients are always looking for what business success behaviours are the ones that succeed. Therefore I am always looking to see what their business behaviours are and how sensitive they are when I meet a prospective client for the first time. This article provides some information for sensitive business people, who are running their own companies. This aspect about core inherited traits can be crucial during tough economic downturns. My previous article on the subject deals with other advantages that sensitivity brings to creative and entrepreneurial people – see http://www.coachinginsight.co.uk/content/view/312/46/

After reading this article you will:

have a good idea of the sort of behaviours that are both strengths and weaknesses
know about those areas in business that need special attention
understand that sensitivity is very good for creativity and ideas but in negotiation and pricing it needs to be understood
recognise the different behaviours need for different business processes
be able to recruit people who fill in those behaviours you don’t have

Business success and Sensitivity

Once you have read my first article you will know that sensitive people are invariably kinaesthetic and pick up signals very easily. These signals have a huge effect on them, far more than on the average person. Any criticism will make them feel bad and depressed, any positive affirmation will either embarrass them, leading to blushing, or might even start them off into some “OTT” (over the top) euphoric behaviour.

Decisions based on gut feeling – SP’s are susceptible to making rapid decisions because they will often have no processes to follow as they always go with their gut reaction or emotional instinct as they way forward. The challenge with this is that the decision will not have rigorous facts, data or statistics to back it up. This in turn will create more problems downstream when more decisions, often far more difficult than the original decision, will have to be made. Often the worry between the “simple” difficult decision and the “harder” difficult decision will create lots of stress and ill health
Have difficulty saying NO – SP’s have problems with saying “NO” which leads to a very full plate of responsibility and a huge work load. The reason for not saying “NO” is they do not want to upset others nor be upset by having to deal with drawn out discussions, arguments and potential bad feeling. In this particular case the “feedback sandwich” is an important tool for them to learn – see http://www.coachinginsight.co.uk/content/view/245/43/
Weak negotiators – SP’s tend to be weak negotiators, as they cannot stand the pressure that the other party puts them under. The result of this is they give in on price, delivery or payment terms so as not to upset the other person. Also they have difficulty in asking awkward questions, using silence as a tool or making strong comments which might upset others as it will invariably make them feel bad
Give in to “blackmail” – SP’s give in to emotional blackmail from staff, clients and family. This emotional blackmail can seem to be pretty innocuous to the outsider but invariably for the protagonists involved there are “big” things at stake. Things like sensitive feelings for one person, which will make them stressed and feel bad against the other person who is intent on getting their way
Weak sales prices – set weak prices and giving value away, which does not help the bottom line for the business and tends to remove well earned reward for all concerned in the business, as customers don’t pay full price. The latter is a major “profit hole”
Labour turnover – SP’s can also cause high labour turnover because profit disappears due to low pricing. As a result staff have to work harder than normal to make up for what has been lost on weak pricing. This means that the staff work longer hours, evenings and weekends, which can lead to a disgruntled workforce, upset families and partners, who complain about being alone, and high labour turnover. The normal response to comments about low prices is that this is what the market is like and nothing can be done. The fact is that lots can be done and the main one is to be harder and more assertive with the pricing policy. This can sometimes mean a change in sales staff as sensitive people can find it very difficult to be hard
Ill health – SP’s can be more ill and have more days off than the average person. Because of the effects of stress caused by worry. As mentioned in my article on Stress in the workplace – see http://www.coachinginsight.co.uk/content/view/81/45/ stress induces Adrenalin and part of Adrenalin is chortisol which erodes and degrades human tissue. As SP’s suffer more from stress than the average they are ill more and more days off. If they don’t have days off they tend to be difficult to work with and fly off the handle more, leading to difficult relationships and labour turnover

Hopefully this will give you some clues about yourself and an idea of what to expect from other sensitive people who you might employ or maybe a sensitive person who employs you. If you have any queries please get in touch with me.