It's the holy grail of training: training that "sticks for life; that changes people's lives. Training that people tell their friends about, brag about having taken, urge others to take.
"I've got the card right here, says Mike McAlear, President of Progressive Management and Consulting, a property management firm located in Barrie, Ontario. McAlear is referring to a small, laminated cheat-sheet emblazoned with a stop sign and six key points for effective communication. He got it in 1996 at a Witz Training course. When asked about the course, he rummages for maybe six seconds in the top drawer of his desk and comes up with the card Paul Witz gave him a decade ago. The card has stayed with him through two office changes and is always at hand. Just like the training.
Like many of Paul Witz's students, he uses Witz as a verb. "I Witzed the new guy at work, they say, or "I Witz my kids all the time. It's a compassionate verb, because essentially, it means listening to someone and then using effective communication to arrive at a mutually beneficial agreement.
That's what Witz teaches, without pomp or circumstance, arm waving or braggadocio. He trains with substance over style, which is why you may not have heard of his companyand it's why his students remain students for life. For Mike McAlear, the Witz training is now "incorporated into my persona, personal and business. This is not an unusual sentiment for Witz students.
Everyone remembers the first time they met Paul Witz. The moment that stands out in Mike McAlear's mind is when Witz, "established immediate credibility by quickly assessing almost everybody in the room. I know he nailed me to a tee, and he had very little information in order to do that assessment. But it wasn't a swami kind of thing where he's reading your palmyou could see that it was a very mechanical kind of assessment. Very deliberate. And very accurate.
Later, McAlear would put Witz's unerring eye for quick and accurate assessment to his company's advantage by sending him the resumes of people they were looking to hire. Paul Witz would ask a few questions about the job, and then point out why he thought the person might or might not be right for the job. "It seems he has difficulty committing to a project, he would say, or "find out if this job will just be a stop-gap for this person. I suspect that might be the case. In hindsight, those assessments probably saved their company from disaster on more than one occasion, says McAlear.
For Jan Oren, her first Witz moment happened when she was trying to cancel a meeting with him.
The sales training manager for Myron Business Gifts had interviewed many companies, looking for a firm that would help her boost sales productivity. Witz was just one more place she was casting her net, until she found herself in the middle of a family crisis and needed to postpone the meeting. Instead of asking for a new meeting time, Witz focused on her personal crisis. "He was so compassionate, so personable and non-threatening& this guy lives what he's teaching. It's hard to find in the corporate world.
By the time she was able to sit down with Witz, "I was at the end of my rope. I'd interviewed so many companies, one after another and nothing felt right to me& no, we don't need that, we don't need that. They were all so superficial.
As soon as Paul started talking, she said, "I realized these guys go deep. This is serious; they're not just giving me the regular fluff, they're getting into behavioural style. I felt like I had discovered something. It was so far beyond the norm.
When you ask Paul Witz to explain his theory in a nutshell, he says simply, "I can't do that. You can't explain what we do in a one-liner. And that's the secret to his training's longevity. It's not a flashy or surface; as Oren says, Witz "goes deep. By tapping into people's inner dialogue, finding out how they truly communicate rather than how they think they communicate, he is able to make profound changes that stick for life.
And that often translates into serious ROI. Sales people perform better (after Witz, Jan Oren's brand-new sales people where performing at 98% of the performance of the company's veterans). Their personal lives improve, ("I'm Witzing my fianc all the timeand he doesn't even know, says one student.) And when they are faced with a difficult situation, they have the tools and the confidence to find a positive outcome.
Take Jason Woodhams's professional nightmare, for instance. As the sales director for a multinational company, one of his U.S. teams was underperforming, with good reason. Their long-time manager was dealing with the serious crisis in her family. Jason needed to fly to the U.S. and get the team back on track, while respecting not only the sales acuity of the team, some of whose members had been there for 15 years, but also the manager's personal situation. The stakes were high for the team if they couldn't raise their productivity.
"It could have gone horribly wrong, says Woodhams.
Woodhams brought along his Witz stop-card and reviewed the points. By the time he got off the plane, he had a game-plan, structured "in the Witz way. The first day I spent easing myself into the situation, asking questions and getting the manager's and the reps' perspective.
"The outcome was perfect. It went so smoothly. I was able to get everything doneto get the team to perform the way they should be performing. For this team, it meant making better use of computers, reports and other resources to boost their productivity.
"I left with the manager thanking me and hoping I would come down again. It could have gone the other way, he says, "and has in the past in situations like this.
He said Witz's "stop factor caused him to take the time to understand the situation before entering into it, challenging his initial perceptions of what he thought was happening. He said that like most people, he has a habit of thinking he understands a situation before he's done any research or talked to anyone.
One of the things students rave about is that Paul Witz and his team challenge people's sense of their own abilities by encouraging failure during the first part of the training. He encourages you to fall down so he can show you how to get back up, says Tammy Collins, a corporate manager. She says she has seen a "huge impact in her professional and personal life.
For Jan Oren, who found Witz at the end of a long search for sales training, return-on-investment has been huge. Before the training, her objective was to get more sales out of her sales force. Now, she says, she asks the salespeople what they want, what they think the obstacles are, and what they think the solution is.
"We create a strategy together, she says. Now when she approaches a low-performer, instead of getting their back up and putting them on the defensive, the conversation is very positive. Sales people, after all, want to increase their sales. And the Witz carrot works far more effectively than the traditional corporate stick. Witz students find themselves able to sell more, work more productively, and get along better with their families.
Witz's ongoing follow-up, including instructors who receive e-mailed questions from students they trained a decade ago, as well as a dense, up-to-date website with reminders about the training, keeps students on track. And of course, there's that all-important laminated stop-card.
Mike McAlear is right, it's not magic. It's listening, asking questions, knowing what you want the outcome to be and applying potent communication skills.
But sometimes, when you're Witzing someone and it's a very difficult situation, and you end up happy and they end up happyit can feel a bit like magic.
Talk to Paul Witz and his team about their training philosophy, and how it can work for you. Visit www.witzsolutions.com or contact Witz Strategic Management Solutions at 416-444-9480.
Joyce Grant is a freelance writer and editor, who remembers the first time she heard of Paul Witz. It was when her husband came home from a Witz course, raving about the training. She sent Paul an e-mail and has been working with him ever since. Joyce Grant can be contacted through her website, www.writingink.ca.
