If the company has been losing money for 3 consecutive months and if most of the employees of this company have an Inward Mindset, how will they think and behave about this matter?
“It’s probably normal. The market may not be good. It may be because the economy is not good.”
“Products are harder to sell because there are more competitors, especially cheap products from China.”
“Salespeople or sales teams may not be really good, so they will find very few jobs for the company.”
“Customers are becoming more demanding every day. They like to use lower prices from competitors to push down our prices. In the end, we can’t compete.”
“Our after-sales service team is still not doing their best, which has led to the loss of many old customers.”
“The back-office team is too easygoing, they only use money and never think about helping each other to make money for the company.”
“Our production costs are very high, making us unable to compete with our competitors.”
“Our competitors have bigger marketing and PR budgets than us. How can we compete with them?”
Here are some examples of reasons employees from various departments gave after learning that the company was experiencing continued losses.
Many people have given their opinions that are more emotional than logical or factual. And if we look deeper into each reason that has been given, they are all reasons that blame others, whether it is the economy, the customers, the sales department, the production department, the service department, the competitors, or other people. Because these reasons are more of an excuse than a solution.
I don’t see anyone blaming themselves for being part of the problem.
There is no suggestion that can lead to any improvement or solution to the situation where the company is continuously losing money.
Which is certain that this company will continue to lose money in the 4th, 5th, 6th month. There is hope that employees will be laid off for sure and the company may not survive in the end.
Where is the problem? Can’t you see the real problem?
It might be true, because whenever we are in a meeting, each party says that their part of the work is excellent, with no problems.
Oh, then why is the company still incurring losses?
Or is it that the leaders don’t really understand the problem?
How can we understand when each side hides the problem because they don’t want anyone to know that their department or themselves have a problem?
Part of them may be afraid that if they tell about their problems, they will not receive any help or support from the management and other agencies (fear that no one will help).
And another part of them might be afraid that the management will see them as bad, not capable, not capable, which might affect their job security (fear of losing their job).
That’s the main reason why they choose to keep quiet.
Silence is just one way to hide the problem, but it doesn’t make it go away.
The problem that caused the story to escalate was that all parties, when faced with problems or obstacles, did not open up and talk to each other from the beginning (hiding the problem, waiting for the day it exploded).
And what’s worse, they all see their own importance as the greatest, seeing other people and other organizations as the problem, seeing the problem as coming from other people, and themselves as the victims who are affected by these things.
Almost all employees ignore the problem because they think that the problem is not their fault. That means they do not need to solve it or help solve it.
This company is having problems, and the real problem is that most people have an Inward Mindset , which is an attitude where people tend to prioritize themselves over others, see others as the problem, tend to think that they are in the right, tend to act defensively, or speak badly of others, shift blame or problems to others, etc.
“Big problems in organizations often start with small problems between a few people.”
When one person starts with an action that comes from an Inward Mindset, for example, when a sales person is unable to make a sale, they blame the service department for not taking good care of the customers, so the customers don’t buy. When the service department hears this, and also has an Inward Mindset, they respond by blaming the sales department for not being capable, not having the skills, etc., creating a cycle of blaming each other. The more it happens, the more severe it becomes, and it may escalate to a bigger point, because each party may find people to support their own idea so that they are in the right.
The result is that there will be divisions in the organization (avoiding work, avoiding responsibility, pushing problems away from oneself), and bad relationships will arise (from small work-related problems that escalate into personal bias). Each side will behave badly towards each other, becoming a cycle of collusion ( Collusion: each side finds allies and reasons to support themselves in order to refute the opposite side).
Ultimately, organizations or companies like this will eventually suffer, just like this company, whose sales have been continuously declining for about half a year, but have resulted in the company actually continuously making losses at present.
“This is the destructive power that comes from having an Inward Mindset.”
Many people often forget that “the people we meet or work with, they respond to the feelings we give them, not the behaviors we show them.”
When we have an Inward Mindset, it clearly shows how we view others. The person opposite us can immediately know whether we are blaming them or not giving them importance.
If we want to be successful, we must be able to work with others and achieve the results that we both want.
It is therefore important to adjust our own perspective and attitude by changing from an Inward Mindset to an Outward Mindset.
An easy way to start is to open your mind and understand others more. First, look for the good in others (whenever we see others as important or more important than us, we will automatically open our mind and understand them more).
Listen with an open mind, without reacting, and adjust your methods and processes to help others achieve results (of course, we also benefit from the results).
This is a process that looks very easy, but is difficult to actually do if our minds are mixed with a strong Inward Mindset. However, everything has a solution.
If we don’t try, we won’t know. But one thing is for sure, the current method doesn’t work. Let’s try a new method.
Back to the original company… The situation has completely changed now.
6 months later, after the entire team of leaders and executives attended the Outward Mindset Workshop, the results were that sales had rebounded and doubled.
The problem of factionalism has largely disappeared because everyone understands and values their colleagues, bosses, and subordinates more than before. As a result, the Employee Engagement evaluation results have surprisingly increased. Importantly, in the fifth month after the Outward Mindset Workshop, the company returned to profitability.
Because success is a matter of people and attitude.
There are many examples that prove that having an Outward Mindset is an important quality for employees and leaders in this era.
Outward Mindset is not only applicable to work, but also to personal life and family.
I have tried it myself. My work life is much happier. For example, working with people who I used to think were difficult or would be difficult to work with, I can now do it easily after adjusting my thinking and attitude to an Outward Mindset. In addition, an Outward Mindset also makes the family relationship stronger.
At this point, I would like to suggest that if you want to understand more, try to find and buy Thai books called How to Get Yourself Out of the Small Box (Leadership and Self Deception) and Stay in the Box, What Will You See (The Anatomy of Peace) to read and understand these things first.
But the real highlight is this book, The Outward Mindset: Seeing Beyond Ourselves. It’s only available in English right now, but I highly recommend it. It’s really good. I’ve been able to change my perspective from bad things to good things in many ways because of this book.
Try looking for it at leading bookstores.
For more articles about Outward Mindset, please visit:
The beginning of a bad relationship
A boss who is nagging, a boss who complains, a boss who is always finding fault
Source:
https://arbingerinstitute.com/Landing/TheOutwardMindset.htmlg/TheOutwardMindset.html
