Most families have an inbred advantage not immediately available in the workplace of providers and planners…there is already an established level of trust. Family members have been vulnerable with each other, and everyone is aware of their failures, frustrations and fears. Correcting dysfunctional training can’t succeed without first establishing trust.

Yet trust is all about being vulnerable, able to admit to one another our faults, failures, frustrations and difficulties. Trust is rare because of the human desire for self-preservation. The mantra of “if you’re going to do it at all, do it right the first time,” prevents us from asking for help and creates fear and paralysis that can permeate everyone in the industry.

Families have the advantage of knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Letting people know that you’re not perfect is the right place to start. This should include prospects, clients, fellow MPI members, and all providers and suppliers…everyone! When you are able to communicate this, transparency increases and trust builds.

Although some level of conflict eventually permeates every relationship, many families are dysfunctional due to their inability to discuss issues. Yet dealing with conflict in a positive way is essential for your business health. Conflict arises because people have different ideas, often better ideas. When trust exists, respectful conflict takes place and innovative solutions can flourish.

Family members dealing with conflicts learn how to gently push one another and grow outside their comfort zone. In the workplace, as in the family, healthy conflict resolution builds commitment to each other and ultimately strengthens both the individuals involved and the organization.

Commitment rapidly grows strong in organizations trained to resolve conflict, because everyone’s views have been respectfully heard which enables people to discuss personal ambiguities and give genuine emotional support. Commitment is not consensus which can be a recipe for mediocrity, delay, and frustration.

The commitment of a successful “Meeting Planning Team” always starts with the needs of the client or prospect as has been determined by the salesperson. The success of the event always depends on many other players including the meeting facility, food service, accommodations, transportation, entertainment, audio visual, and speakers to mention just a few. Particularly challenging to the Meeting Planning Professional is the fact that most of the players on “the team” change with each transaction.

Overcoming disfunctionality in the marketplace also mandates accountability which is visible when people freely remind one another that they’re not living up to the agreed to standards. Above all…accountability must be demonstrated by you, the leader. You must walk your talk and do everything you said you would and even more. The compensation structure, where everyone gets what they want only at the completion of a successful event, can be a powerful motivator and is OK for you to point out in order to encourage peer-to-peer accountability.

It is sometimes important to remind the client or prospect that it is they who have an event need and not you. You and your organization have the best solution for their needs. Clients and prospects sometimes treat salespeople, suppliers and providers in an inappropriate way and their dysfunctional behavior must be overcome. Everyone should always be treated with respect! An unreturned phone call, no show appointment or failure of the prospect or client to fill commitments they have made are not respectful behaviors.

Although it’s behavior that produces results, most accountability programs focus on results rather than behavior. People have to be willing to call each other on behavioral issues. As a leader you can’t tolerate missed deadlines and other disrespectful behavior even when it comes from companies whose participation is critical to the event. When people aren’t held accountable for behavior, they begin lowering their regard for each other and the entire team suffers. Insist on your team being accountable to each other, or find new players for your team.

The final step in eliminating dysfunctional behavior mandates a focus on achieving specific results such as increasing client satisfaction or sales growth over last year. You and your team must decide exactly what constitutes a successful result and create a real-time scoreboard so everyone can see how both they and the team are doing. The outcome of results based behavior is the timely meeting of the agreed on goals.

For training to eliminate dysfunctional behavior in the workplace, Meeting Planning suppliers and providers must build trust by demonstrating their own vulnerability while encouraging the healthy resolution of conflict and peer-to-peer accountability. Behavior in the organization and of the team must generate the successful result sought and everyone must be able to track progress daily.

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