Introduction
The new perspective that we've developed makes it possible to wind up with wholehearted agreement with decisions and solutions, where it wasn't possible before.

Now that this perspective has been developed, a compromise solution is no longer the best option we have when people's viewpoints are diverse. Wholehearted agreement is.

The success stories included on this web site were chosen because they clearly illustrate this.


Bill – The perspective smooths the way
Bill is the Executive Vice President of Guaranty National Title Company. In Why it Works, his story illustrates how the perspective has made it possible for him to have much more success coordinating difficult commercial property transactions.

The most powerful feature of the perspective is that it makes it possible to bring to mind solutions that everyone involved can wholeheartedly agree with, even when they are not like-minded. With this ability, Bill has been able to bring the parties to these commercial property transactions together — even parties who have had a history of negativity — and solve complex issues to everyone's satisfaction.

In this section, Bill's story is a good vehicle for illustrating two other abilities this perspective produces. Together, these abilities ensure that a person has all the information they need to create an effective solution.

First, when a person communicates with this perspective, it naturally encourages a free flow of information among the people they're impacting. This ability has been particularly valuable to Bill because of the complex nature of the transactions he coordinates, and because the parties can be contentious in the pursuit of their interests.

For example, in a twenty million dollar transaction, the parties had a history of negativity and their dislike for one another was making it impossible to solve the issues in the transaction effectively. With the perspective, Bill knew exactly what to say. And that led to a much more open discussion of the issues.

As a result, important information came to light that made it possible for Bill to offer an alternative structure for insuring the title. Without this alternative structure, the parties would not have been able to meet a requirement of a key lender in the transaction.

Also, because of the open and productive conversation the parties were having, all of the issues wound up on the table. Because all of the issues were known, each of them could be effectively addressed, which led to an exceptionally good outcome.

Bill's client and the other parties were very satisfied. One of the parties, a substantial developer, afterward transferred its business to Bill's company, and has been a loyal client since then.

In addition to promoting a free flow of information, this perspective also gives a person an enhanced ability to be aware of the assumptions they or other people are making. It enables them to recognize when conclusions or information are not accurate, and it enables them to see when more information is needed for an effective solution.

In Bill's case, this ability has increased the accuracy of the information in these difficult transactions, making it possible to formulate much better solutions.

It's reduced the parties' risk of loss from inadvertently relying on an assumption during a transaction, and it's made it possible for Bill to structure the title insurance more accurately, protecting the parties and protecting his company from claims.

As Bill's experience illustrates, this perspective gives a person the ability to create the most effective and efficient solutions, even in the most difficult situations.

In Bill's words,

This perspective enables me to successfully facilitate complex transactions with very diverse agendas to a point that everyone is satisfied.

Before The Key to Winning Program, I had 30 years experience in the title insurance industry, and I never would have thought an outcome this successful could be possible in these difficult transactions.

I feel much more in control, and I am much more relaxed. I can satisfy the respective parties and I can do it without creating undo risks to my company.

I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in The Key to Winning Program. It's made it possible for me to save valuable transactions I wouldn't have been able to save before. And it's made coordinating these difficult transactions much more enjoyable.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Ten-Year Case Study
When we taught the perspective to Jean Harris, Vice President of Operations, and her managers, they were not an integrated group. There was defensiveness among some of the persons in the group, and some of them were managing their departments autocratically. At the time, there were 700 employees in their division.

By the end of the program, this group of intelligent people, with a diversity of viewpoints and very strong individual attitudes, had become integrated into a true team.

They were functioning much more successfully as a team, and much more successfully with their departments and other teams. And they were enjoying the results they were getting immensely.

Also, they were using the perspective in their personal lives. And several people in the group reported having very positive experiences with members of their family that they deeply appreciated.

For the next ten years, the group's meetings were much shorter. Problem solving was much easier. Solutions were more effective. And individually they had much more time for other tasks.

At their annual strategic planning retreat, after the program, they completed the planning successfully in half a day instead of the two days they had scheduled.

After their program, they began formulating new policies and procedures with this perspective which were much more of a fit for the employees and customers they impacted.

These new policies and procedures made it possible to reduce staffing by 13 percent, led to very high levels of employee satisfaction, and increased customer satisfaction to 97 percent (in an industry where customer satisfaction was declining).

The group was able to achieve and maintain this level of success even as the number of insureds their division was servicing was growing rapidly.

The group remained together for many years after their Key to Winning Program. But eventually, members of the original group began moving on and were replaced by new managers who had not been taught the perspective.

Even though everyone on the team hadn't learned the perspective, the team was able to maintain the same high level of efficiency and effectiveness. This is because the original members were still bringing to mind solutions that were truly a fit for the people involved. So they continued to have a very positive impact on their team, their division, and the insureds they serviced.


Dixie — Drawing people together
This success story illustrates an important quality of the perspective we've developed. When someone has this perspective, the others involved tend to feel truly valued. It usually has a very positive effect on an outcome.

Dixie was the Human Resources Director of a large midwestern hospital system.

She had completed two days of The Key to Winning Program when she learned that their longtime database manager — the only person who fully understood their database — would be leaving in two weeks for a new job.

His leaving seriously threatened the stability of the hospitals' information systems.

He had been in charge of the database for such a long time, Dixie and others were assuming he would always be there. Now that he was leaving, Dixie realized that there wasn't anyone who knew the database well enough to replace him.

At first, Dixie offered more money, but that didn't work. He had other reasons for leaving. He had been managing their database for many years and wanted to do something that was more challenging.

Faced with what seemed like an insoluble problem, Dixie decided to use the new perspective she was learning. Once she began using the perspective, to her surprise, the database manager changed his mind about when he was going to leave.

Dixie's new perspective was creating a much better dynamic between her and the database manager. This is because Dixie was no longer negotiating with him.

This change in Dixie's perspective led the database manager to realize that he wouldn't feel comfortable leaving the hospital system with a database that could soon become unreliable. So he offered to delay the start of his new job for two months in order to train a replacement and put together a knowledge base for his replacement to refer to.

After he completed the knowledge base and trained the replacement, he began his new job. Soon after, he contacted Dixie and told her he wanted to return to the hospital system.

He told her that the new job was very rewarding, but when Dixie was working things out with him, he had begun to feel especially valued by her. He realized that being part of a group where he was truly valued was more important to him than having a job that was more challenging.

When Dixie reported this to us she was thrilled! The hospital system had their experienced database manager back, a well trained backup and a knowledge base too.


Dave — Agreement where it wasn't possible before
This success story clearly illustrates just how much our perspective can affect the outcome.

Dave was the developer of a very well regarded software product in the hotel voice mail industry. For years he refused to allow anyone else in his company to have access to the code. The software was the company's principal product, and he was genuinely concerned that if other persons had access to the code they would damage it.

To be competitive, hotel voice mail systems had to be very reliable. When a system at a hotel failed, it caused significant problems for many of the hotel's guests. Dave knew that if the software's code was compromised, it would undermine the reliability of his company's systems.

Because Dave was the only person who had access to the code, he was also the only person who completely understood it. So significant amounts of his time were required to provide solutions for the technical support team and for clients in the field.

These demands on his time prevented him from further developing the software, and it was jeopardizing the company's competitive edge in the industry.

Also, his company was gaining a reputation among its distributors for being a "one person" business. Even though they were receiving considerable industry recognition for their voice mail systems, the "one person" reputation was hurting sales.

Over the years, no inducement the company had offered Dave — and several were substantial — could change his mind. He just couldn't see a solution that would also protect the software.

But soon after Dave's Key to Winning Program, he was able to see a solution that both he and his company could truly agree with, ending years of deadlock between them. After years of frustration for Dave and his company, it was truly a win for everyone.

Why couldn't Dave and his company see a solution before he learned this new perspective? Both he and his company were sincerely interested in finding one.

The answer boils down to this: The perspective that he and his company were using beforehand wasn't able to bring to mind a solution that each of them could truly agree with.

Once Dave had the perspective that could bring to mind a solution, a solution could come to mind.

Next >>