AGENCY GROWTH Creating Value that Drives Sustainable Growth

The Trusted Way: Creating Value that Drives Sustainable Growth

By: Patrick Galvin

Chief Galvanizer

What constitutes ethical business behavior? What does it mean to do the right thing? In a world that regularly stretches the limits of truth and fairness, the answers to these questions hold the key to personal and professional success.

I will examine these questions during a Big I Oregon Panel on October 13th. As a member of the audience, you will learn how to: • Evaluate the impact of your thoughts, words, and deeds toward others • Apply The Four-Way Test to your decision making • Develop and nurture strong relationships grounded in trust • Establish and maintain credibility as a trusted advisor • Make the workplace—and the world—a better place

I’ll also talk about what it means to “add value” to your personal and professional relationships. The strongest relationships are built on trust, and one of the best ways to earn trust is to provide value first, without consideration for how you will benefit. But what constitutes value? Value exists in many forms. It may be a book, an article, an industry study, or a web link that you share with a colleague, customer or prospect because you think it will help them in their career.

Value may be a strategic business introduction or a personalized card or letter for someone going through a difficult time. It may be as simple as having a heartfelt conversation or lending a sympathetic ear.

Clearly, value means different things to different people. Understanding what someone really wants or needs requires paying close attention to their words and actions. When it comes to delivering value to others, rather than simply following the “Golden Rule” (“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”), the “Platinum Rule,” which Dr. Tony Alessandra defined as “Do unto others as they would like done unto them,” can prove far more effective. What are other ways of building trust and adding value to your relationships? Here are three simple yet effective techniques:

1. Listen Carefully. One of the most valuable gifts you can give someone is your full and undivided attention. Unlike hearing, which doesn’t require extra effort, listening involves paying close attention to what someone says and how they say it. In the process, you gain valuable knowledge that you can use to provide them with the information and tools they need to succeed.

The best relationship builders are active and appreciative listeners who genuinely want to know about others. How can you improve your listening skills to focus better on others?

2. Share Freely. Adding value and being of service means identifying the knowledge, skills, and gifts that are unique to you and which can be used to help others advance their goals. In the words of Zig Ziglar, American author, salesman, and motivational speaker: “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

What unique knowledge, skills, and gifts do you have? How can you use them to help other people prosper?

3. Build the Behavior. Great connectors connect to give, not to get. Relationship building—or connecting—is a mindset where the focus is on adding value whenever possible. Many will fail to add value to their connections because they don’t allocate strategics block(s) of time every week to consider how they can add value and follow through. Think about a time you added value and helped someone without thinking about your own benefit. How did it make you feel? How can you ensure that When you use your talents and abilities to add value and serve others, you build trusted relationships that benefit all areas of your life.

Patrick Galvin is the president of The Galvanizing Group (https://thegalvanizinggroup.com), a Portland, Oregon-based learning and development company that coaches high-performance companies and teams to grow bottom line results through better internal and external trust-based relationships. Patrick is also a TEDx speaker and author whose latest book is The Trusted Way: A Story About Building a Life and Business of Character. His previous book The Connector’s Way: A Story About Building Business One Relationship at a Time is the only business parable with an independent insurance agency owner as the principal character. Patrick is collaborating with Big I Oregon and its partners to give agency members exclusive access to the curriculum and materials of The Connector’s Way in 2021 (see https://www.theconnectorsway.com/ bigioregon).

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