4 Steps to Find Your Unique Selling Proposition

Your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) is the unique thing that you can offer that your competitors cannot. It is your competitive edge and the reason why customers buy from you.

USPs have helped many companies succeed. And they can help you too when you are marketing yourself (when seeking a promotion, finding a new job, asking for a salary raise, or transitioning to a new industry.) If you don’t articulate your USP, you might struggle for survival – that way lies in hard work and little reward.

However, USPs are often difficult to find. And as soon as one candidate establishes a successful USP in a market, competitors rush to copy it.

In this article, we will explore how you can use USP analysis to help you find your competitive edge. Further, we will think about how you will defend it.

1.Understand the Characteristics That Customers Value

First, brainstorm what companies value about your services and those of your competitors. Move beyond the basics common to all suppliers in the industry. Look at the criteria that candidates use to decide which candidates to engage.

As with all brainstorming, by involving knowledgeable people in the process, you will improve the process. So talk to your colleagues in your current company, particularly the top-performing ones, friends in similar industries, search for industry job descriptions online, and the like. Be as creative as you can.

2.Rank Yourself and Your Competitors by These Criteria

Now, identify your top competitors. Being as objective as you can, score yourself and each of your competitors out of 10 for each characteristic. Where possible, base your scores on objective data. Where this is impossible, do your best to see things from a company’s perspective and then make your best guess.

3.Identify Where You Rank Well

Plot these points on a graph. Plotting this will help you spot different competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. From this, develop a simple, easily communicated statement of your USP. A good tool in this is the 30-second elevator speech. An elevator speech simply means if you are in an elevator with someone, and you want to communicate within 30-seconds. In this case, you would communicate your unique selling point identifying how you compete against others within 30-seconds.

4.Preserve Your USP (and use it!)

The final step is to make sure that you can defend your USP. You can be sure that as soon as you start to promote a USP, your competitors will do what they can to do the same. As an example, if you’ve got the best education, certificate, experience, or soft skills, someone would exceed you. It makes sense to invest to keep it. That way, competitors will struggle to keep up: by the time they’ve improved, you’ve already moved on to the next stage. Maintaining your USP means continuous improvement- getting that certificate, enhancing your education, working on more assignments or volunteer opportunities, or training yourself to improve your soft skills.

Furthermore, once you’ve established a USP, communicate it! Promote yourself to companies by applying, networking, sending your CV, or speaking about it to your employer.

Inspired by www.mindtools.com

After a Career Setback: Acknowledge, Learn, Rebound

We all have bad days at work. But some days are much worse than others! If you've received a layoff notice, learned that you've been passed over for a promotion, or been formally reprimanded for your performance, these things go beyond having a rough day at the office. They can be major career setbacks.

When something like this happens to you, it can seem like the end of the world. Will you lose your job? Will you be able to find a new job? Will you ever get the opportunity and recognition you desire?

With worst-case scenarios running through your head, it may be hard to pull yourself together and start planning your next move. But that's exactly what you have to do. You must dig deep, and find the strength to move on.

If you worry and focus on the negatives, you'll miss out on the positives. And developing a positive outlook can help you rebound quickly. In fact, with the right attitude and set of skills, you might emerge from a career setback with a much stronger belief in yourself – and in what you can accomplish.

Getting Past the Impasse

When you encounter a career setback, you have a choice: accept the situation and make positive plans to move forward. Or resist the situation and try to fight the change. Either way, whether you like it or not, things have changed.

Isn't it better to have a say in those changes? After all, most of us will hit what appears to be a brick wall in our lives at some point. This is often what initiates change in the first place. It's best to decide to view the change as a challenge and a growth experience. If you don't, you risk internalizing the situation, thinking that you've done something wrong, or fearing that you're inadequate in some way.

Try to remember that no matter how disappointed, upset, angry, or discouraged you feel right now, it will pass. You're facing a new and different reality. To get through this setback, you need to adjust your perspective to the changes you're experiencing.

These basic guidelines can help you change your outlook and improve your attitude.

Step 1: Acknowledge

Take some time to accept your new reality, and give yourself permission to feel bad. It's important to recognize and admit to your emotions: keeping them inside may only make them seem larger and more overwhelming than they really are.

Take some time to explore unresolved issues that often surface in times of stress and setback. Do you have lingering self-doubts? What does your “inner critic" say to you that makes you feel unworthy? Evaluate thinking patterns that may keep you trapped in a negative cycle.
Seek support and assurance from others. It's really important to have at least one person you can talk to about what's happening. You might need to vent your frustrations, or you might need a sympathetic audience. Often the perspectives of others help you see the situation more clearly.

Encountering a career setback does not mean that you've failed or that you're unsuccessful or unworthy. The reality you're facing is not a reflection of your value as a person or as a team member.

Learn from this experience. Don't focus exclusively on the negatives. Rather than view your setback as a problem to surmount, focus on the future opportunities that will open up for you.
Put the setback into the right perspective. This is only one incident in your career. Don't make it into a catastrophic event that will mark you forever.
Avoid failure terminology. Say instead, “I tried, and it didn't work out this time." This will help keep your viewpoint positive.

Step 2: Learn

Use this as an opportunity. Do you need to upgrade your skills to get a promotion or new job? Do you need to develop new skills to take your career in a new direction? This is the perfect time to start.

Discover your passion. What is it that really excites and inspires you?
Determine what your core skills are, and build your career goals around them. These don't necessarily have to be technical skills. Find out which competencies have been most instrumental in your success so far.

You need to be mentally tough and able to maintain your professionalism – even when things aren't going so well. Resilience is essential. It allows people who have it to be much more successful than they would otherwise be. A resilient person will probably bounce back from a hardship much more quickly and easily than someone who is more rigid and “thin-skinned."

Here are some key characteristics of resiliency that you can develop in yourself:

High self-efficacy – put yourself in a position to capitalize on the opportunities you've been given.

Introspection – ask yourself what's working and what isn't. Understand that success requires flexibility, and constantly look for ways to do things better and improve yourself.
Focus on controllable things – if you can't change it or control it, then your energy is wasted when you dwell on it. When you feel in control and focus on things that you can influence, you'll also reduce much of the stress and pressure that you're feeling. Keep making decisions and solving problems, even when you doubt yourself and feel less than confident.

Step 3: Rebound

Your own role in the setback will vary from situation to situation. A company-wide layoff is probably beyond your control, whereas being terminated or reprimanded for performance issues is something for which you can take more responsibility. Regardless, it's important that you make a thorough assessment of the situation to maximize your learning and correct any wrongs.

Identify the aspects of the setback that were and were not in your control. Was (or is) the job a good fit for your skills? Do you have what it takes to be successful in the position – or do you need more training, experience, or other development? Did the organization's leaders simply make a staffing decision based on economics?
Determine what you need to do to make sure that you learn from your mistakes and never repeat them. What would you do differently next time? What behaviors or decisions contributed to the setback you're experiencing?
Where possible, correct your mistakes and reduce the damage as much as you can. This is especially important if your actions had consequences for others on your team.
Avoid blaming others, because this only keeps you focused on the negative aspects of the situation. It's not a constructive use of your energy. It also keeps you from improving yourself.

When you know what factors contributed to the setback, develop an action plan that will help you get your career back on track.

Create a strategy for your career. You have a new perspective and a new set of circumstances. What you used to believe, and the direction in which you were heading, may no longer apply. Assess all of your options, and determine which options provide the greatest potential. Brainstorm ideas, and talk to your network to develop a broad range of ideas and opportunities.
Break down your strategy into a detailed career plan. Identify manageable pieces, and develop goals for yourself.
Using what you've learned about yourself and what you need to improve, determine what you now need to accomplish – and by when. The more specific your goals, the more likely you'll be to follow them through to completion.
As you accomplish your smaller goals, your confidence will increase, and you'll be motivated to keep moving forward.

Look to the future. Maintain your positive outlook, and don't look back. Every experience provides value. Use everything you've learned about yourself to develop yourself. And remember that what happened didn’t kill you. Instead, it can make you stronger.

Encourage your team to fly high

Your people may have all the expertise in the world, but if they're not motivated, it's unlikely that they'll achieve their true potential.

On the other hand, work seems easy when people are motivated.

Motivated people have a positive outlook, they're excited about what they're doing, and they know that they're investing their time in something that's truly worthwhile. In short, motivated people enjoy their jobs and perform well.

All effective leaders want their organizations to be filled with people in this state of mind. That's why it's vital that you, as a leader and manager, keep your team feeling motivated and inspired. But of course, this can be easier said than done!

In this article, we'll go over the types of motivation, strategies, and tools that you can use to help your people stay enthusiastic about their work.

Types of Motivation

There are two main types of motivation – extrinsic and intrinsic.

Extrinsic motivation is when you use external factors to encourage your team to do what you want. Pay raises, time off, bonus checks, and the threat of job loss are all extrinsic motivators – some positive, some less so.

Intrinsic motivation is internal. It's about having a personal desire to overcome a challenge, to produce high-quality work, or to interact with team members you like and trust. Intrinsically motivated people get a great deal of satisfaction and enjoyment from what they do.

Every team member is different, and will likely have different motivators. So, it's important to get to know your people, discover what motivates them, and find a good mixture of extrinsic and intrinsic motivators, so that you can motivate them successfully.

Motivation in the Workplace

You can't directly control a person's interest in his or her job. Of course, an individual does have some responsibility for motivating himself, but you can encourage that process by creating an environment that helps him to become more intrinsically motivated. Individuals, teams, and even whole organizations can reap the rewards.

Motivated people are highly adaptable, particularly when it comes to change, and they have a positive attitude at work. They help to spread an organization's good reputation, reduce rates of absenteeism, and improve performance and profit. They also work hard to achieve their goals, and with a greater sense of urgency than unmotivated people.

Motivation in Management

As a manager, you can use the following steps and strategies to create a motivating environment for your team.

Step 1: Check Your Assumptions

You may not realize it, but your management style is strongly influenced by what you believe about your people.

For example, do you think your team members dislike working, and need continuous supervision? Or, do you believe that they're happy to do their jobs, and are likely to enjoy greater responsibility and freedom?

These two fundamental beliefs form the backbone of the team motivation concept Theory X and Theory Y.

Theory X managers are authoritarian, and assume that they need to supervise people constantly. They believe that their team members don't want or need responsibility, and that they have to motivate people extrinsically to produce results.

Theory Y managers believe that their team members want more responsibility and should help make decisions. They assume that everyone has something valuable to offer.

In short, your beliefs about your team members' motivation affect the way you behave toward them. So, it's important to think carefully about how you view your people, and to explore what you believe truly motivates them. (It can help to think about it from your own perspective – would you prefer your own boss to manage you using Theory X or Theory Y? And how long would you stay working for a Theory X manager?)

Step 2: Eliminate Dissatisfaction and Create Satisfaction

Psychologist Fredrick Herzberg said that you can motivate your team by eliminating elements of job dissatisfaction, and then creating conditions for job satisfaction.

In his Motivation-Hygiene Theory, he noted how causes of dissatisfaction often arise from irritating company policies, intrusive supervision, or lack of job security, among others. If you don't address these issues, people won't be satisfied at work, and motivating them will prove difficult, if not impossible.

Once you've removed the elements of job dissatisfaction, you can look at providing satisfaction. Sources of job satisfaction include clear opportunities for advancement/promotion, an increased sense of responsibility, ongoing training and development programs, or simply a feeling of working with a purpose.

Step 3: Personalize Your Motivational Approach

Remember, your team is made up of individuals who have their own unique circumstances, backgrounds and experiences. Consequently, each person may be driven by different motivating factors, and be more or less adept at self-motivation. When you make an effort to understand each team member, you can help them stay motivated.

There are a number of tools and strategies that you can use to tailor your approach to motivation – and not all are completely consistent with one another. However, it's important to remember that every individual and situation is different, so make sure that you choose the theory or model that best fits your circumstances.

Let's explore these in more detail:

· Sirota’s Three-Factor Theory argues that there are three crucial factors that motivate your people. These are Equity/Fairness, Achievement and Camaraderie. You can help to ensure that your team members remain motivated and positive by incorporating each of these factors into their work.

· McClelland’s Human Motivation Theory is subtly different. McClelland believed that we all have three different drivers, the need for Achievement, Affiliation and Power, with one of them being dominant. If you structure your motivators and leadership style around a team member's dominant driver, your efforts should produce good results.

· Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs identifies five needs that we all have, from the most basic to the most complex. These are physiological/bodily, safety, love/belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization (the sense of doing what you were born to do). Maslow's Hierarchy is usually presented in a pyramid – you place the basic needs at the bottom, because you need to meet these before you can address any of the more complex ones. According to this approach, you can motivate your team by addressing all of the levels.

· Amabile and Kramer’s Progress Theory highlights how progressing and achieving small “wins" can be motivating. It suggests six things you can provide – clear goals and objectives, autonomy, resources, time, support, and the ability to learn from failure – that give people the best chance of making recognizable and meaningful progress at work.

· You can also use Expectancy Theory to create a strong, motivating work environment where high performance is standard. It clarifies the relationship between effort and outcome, and you can use it to tailor motivational rewards to individuals' preferences.

· According to the Pygmalion Effect, your expectations can affect your team members' performance. For example, when you doubt that someone will succeed, you can make her feel undervalued and you undermine her confidence. The Pygmalion Effect is useful because it reinforces the idea that you can encourage people to perform better at work by having and communicating high expectations of them.

· Of course, money does matter, and Understanding Strategic Compensation can help you structure your team's extrinsic rewards. Whether you reward people with increases in base, performance or group-performance pay, understanding the differences between them, and their inherent benefits can help you structure financial compensation in a more motivating way.

Step 4: Use Transformational Leadership

Motivation is vital in the workplace, but this will only take you so far, and then leadership takes over. Once you've used the motivational approaches we've discussed above, you need to take the next step towards becoming an inspirational, transformational leader.

When you adopt this leadership style, you can motivate and lift your team to new heights, and help it to achieve extraordinary things. Transformational leaders expect great things from their team members, and they spark feelings of trust and loyalty in return.

To become a transformational leader, you need to create an attractive, inspiring vision of a meaningful future, encourage people to buy into this vision, manage its delivery, and continue to build trusting relationships with your team members. Set aside time to develop your own leadership skills, and focus on your own personal development, so that you can become an inspiring role model for your people.

Exercising Empathy in the Workplace

Many people feel uneasy or discomfort when empathy is introduced in a business environment even though this is disappearing with the recent emphasis on emotional intelligence. A formal definition of Empathy is the ability to identify and understand another's situation, feelings, and motives. It's our capacity to recognize the concerns other people have. Empathy means: “putting yourself in the other person's shoes" or “seeing things through someone else's eyes."

Benefits of Empathy

Empathy is the oil that keeps relationships running smoothly. It allows us to create bonds of trust, it gives us insights into what others may be feeling or thinking; it helps us understand how or why others are reacting to situations, it sharpens our “people acumen" and it informs our decisions. Emotional intelligence is associated with the right side of the brain. In studies by Dr Antonio Damasion, as outlined in his book: “Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain,” medical patients who had damage to part of the brain associated with empathy showed significant deficits in relationship skills, even though their reasoning and learning abilities remained intact. It also has business results: empathy is associated with increased sales, with the performance of the best managers, and with enhanced performance in an increasingly diverse workforce, since all these require people skills.

Empathy, then, is an ability that is well worth cultivating. It's a soft, sometimes abstract tool in a leader's toolkit that can lead to hard, tangible results. But where does empathy come from? Is it a process of thinking or of emotion? It is both: we need to use our reasoning ability to understand another person's thoughts, feelings, reactions, concerns, motives. This means truly making an effort to stop and think for a moment about the other person's perspective in order to begin to understand where they are coming from. And then we need the emotional capacity to care for that person's concern. Caring does not mean that we would always agree with the person, that we would change our position, but it does mean that we would be in tune with what that person is going through so that we can respond in a manner that acknowledges their thoughts, feelings or concerns.

Practicing Empathy

So this leads me to a question that I am sometimes asked, “Can you teach someone to be empathetic?" We all know some people who are naturally and consistently empathetic – these are the people who can easily forge positive connections with others. They are people who use empathy to engender trust and build bonds; they are catalysts who are able to create positive communities for the greater good. But even if empathy does not come naturally to some of us, I firmly believe that we can develop this capacity.

Here are a few practical tips, using the Listen, Care, Encourage method you might consider to help you do this:

Listen – truly listen to people. Listen with your ears, eyes, and heart. Pay attention to others' body language, to their tone of voice, to the hidden emotions behind what they are saying to you, and to the context. Don't interrupt people. Don't dismiss their concerns offhand. Don't rush to give advice. Don't change the subject. Allow people their moment. Tune in to non-verbal communication. This is the way that people often communicate what they think or feel, even when their verbal communication says something quite different.
Dare to Care: Take a personal interest in people. Show people that you care, and be genuinely curious about their lives. Ask them questions about their hobbies, their challenges, their families, their aspirations. Most importantly, use people's names. Refer to them by name. Also, be fully present when you are with people. Don't check your email, look at your watch or take phone calls when a direct report drops into your office to talk to you. Put yourself in their shoes. How would you feel if your boss did that to you?
Encourage people, particularly the quiet ones, when they speak up in meetings. A simple thing like an attentive nod can boost people's confidence. Give genuine recognition and praise. Pay attention to what people are doing and catch them doing the right things. When you give praise, spend a little effort to make your genuine words memorable: “You are an asset to this team because…"; “This was a pure genius"; “I would have missed this if you hadn't picked it up."

Empathy is an emotional and thinking muscle that becomes stronger the more we use it. Try some of these suggestions and watch the reactions of those you work with. I believe you will notice some positive results.