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  1. Leading a Multigenerational Workplace

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    By Ross E. Rutman, Assistant Vice President – Habitational

    What can we expect from the American generations currently in the US workforce? There is a serious problem in the workplace and it has nothing to do with the typical issues such as competition. In fact, the problem at hand is managing the different generations on your team. In order for a business to maximize effectiveness and efficiency, a strong leader should take the time to understand generational characteristics and learn how to implement his or her findings.

    There have been a number of terms used to name the American generations over the years. Every time we blink, there seems to be a new term describing the younger generations. And you may have the four latest generations in your workplace: the Baby Boomers, Generation X (Gen X), Generation Y (Gen Y, also known as Millennials), and Generation Z (Gen Z). In addition to these four generations, we now have Generation C (Gen C) which is not actually an age group—it’s a mindset! Gen C is a new force in consumer culture. They are people who care deeply about creation, curation, connection, and community.

    These generations have different views on many facets of life: core values, work ethics, families, education, money, and especially how they communicate.

    Each generation has its own attributes and, of course, ISSUES! Don’t we all? No one is perfect. There once was a time when one generation led the other. Welcome to 2017, a new era, where the generations work alongside each other and work towards the same goals.

    I know, I know. You’re asking yourself, how can we all work together when we are all so different? Especially when we know how some, if not all, of the generations struggle to even live with one another! The world we live in has drastically changed over the past several years and who knows what to expect as we move forward. In my opinion, as time goes on, more of the population will transition to Gen C. The next generation is on its way!

    Let’s “combine forces” and “bridge the gap”!

    How do we do that? Suppose we look at this from a new perspective: all American generations can be better together!

    Step one in this vital journey is cracking the code of how you and your team operate. Are you a Gen X communicator while your right-hand colleague tends to hide behind his or her keyboard? In that case, a tool such as collaborative intra-office software may be the key to progress. If you are a Baby Boomer stuffed full of moral fiber and grit who has to show a team of Gen Y Millennials what work really looks like, then maybe out-of-office, team-building days are your best approach. Maybe you’re a Gen Y leader with a team full of Baby Boomers, and you are the one bringing technology and training in as a solution.

    All of this is to say that without truly taking the time to understand the multiple generations on your team, you can’t develop strategies for them to work most efficiently. Be a leader and use your multigenerational team to your advantage! Collaborate with, and obtain a consensus from, your team. The resulting different ideas and skill sets can become a productive combination in ANY industry. Great business is based on the understanding of others.

     

  2. JGS Insurance Selected as a Finalist for NJBIZ 2017 Business of the Year Award

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    JGS Insurance, a market leading New Jersey insurance agency, announced today that it has been named a Top 100 Property/Casualty Agency by Insurance Journal. The Top 100 list is ranked by total property/casualty agency revenue for 2016.

    JGS Insurance is honored to announce their place as a finalist for the NJBIZ 2017 “Business of the Year” award in the 51-100 employee category.

    The Business of the Year awards program celebrates New Jersey’s most dynamic businesses and business leaders who share a commitment to professional excellence, business growth and the community. Finalists were selected in six categories: Business of the Year (1-50 Employees), Business of the Year (51-100 Employees), Business of the Year (101+ Employees), Corporate Citizen of the Year, and Emerging Business of the Year.

    Finalists were chosen by an independent panel of judges including: Mary Ann Christopher, Vice President of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, Larry Samilow, Chief Customer Officer of Update Legal & Discovery, and Mike Triosi, former Vice President & General Counsel of Haier America Company. The winner will be announced during an awards ceremony in December.

    “I feel incredibly proud of our organization for being recognized as a finalist for this esteemed award as we approach our 100-year anniversary,” says Vinnie Hager, President of JGS Insurance. “This award exemplifies where we have come, where we are today and what we see in store for the future of our company. Thank you to our valued staff for their dedication, loyalty, hard work and commitment. Thank you to NJBIZ and the community for acknowledging JGS and congratulations to our fellow finalists.”

  3. JGS’ New Location at Bell Works

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    By Ken Hager, COO

    In August of 1969, our family moved to Holmdel and set up roots that went deep into our hearts and souls.

    Our father, Sam Hager, had been working for JGS Insurance since 1962 (the same year Bell Labs was completed) and felt the time was right for a move. He had a growing family, and he wanted a small rural town to raise his family in. When we first moved here, it was definitely that. Shortly after moving into town, the chief of police personally stopped in to welcome us. I still remember driving past the distinctive “transistor water tower” lit up at night. As we approached the building, it looked to me as though a UFO had just landed, and Dad muttered, “What the heck is that?”Fast forward to 1993 when JGS left Middlesex County for Monmouth County and quite naturally ended up in Holmdel at 960 Holmdel Road. We remained there until August 2017 when we moved into the iconic building now known as Bell Works. That transistor water tower remains where it has always stood, at the entrance to Bell Works, and is the focal point of the breathless view from my office.

    The Bell Works building itself is truly spectacular. It is a 2,000,000-square-foot, mirrored, glass-encased building with a cross-shaped atrium that spans over one hundred feet in width. It is actually four buildings connected by that atrium, two of which were completed in 1962 and then expanded twice (in 1966 and 1982) to its current size.

    The building is set on over four hundred acres of a park-like setting, with two man-made lakes and a larger lake and bird sanctuary located on the other side of the building. Glass walls line the interior walkways allowing visitors a peek into all of the offices operating out of the building, including our very own office.

    JGS worked closely with the architects and engineers at Mancini•Duffy to design a space that wasn’t your typical insurance agency office. We wanted a bright, open space that encouraged collaboration between teams and team members. This will help to assure that our clients benefit from the many services and opportunities available to them from JGS. In our old space, we found ourselves always looking for a place to have a quick huddle to discuss claims issues or the results of loss-control visits from our risk management department.

    At our new space, we incorporated a number of different huddle rooms, conference rooms, and quick collaboration spaces to foster communication. We also added four “phone booth” rooms, small rooms that people can step into for making personal calls or a series of cold calls by our sales teams. We also have a state-of-the-art training center that can be configured into a classroom setting or a large, square-box-like setting. The main wall is “Winked” (as are all of our huddle rooms), which essentially makes the wall a large whiteboard.

    The theme of Bell Works is “Work Inspired.” In keeping up with that theme, we surveyed our employees about some of the features they would want in our new work environment to inspire and motivate them. In trying to make our space up-to-date and “cool,” we asked our employees about stand-up desks and would this be something they could use or benefit from. Surprising to us, almost half of the employees requested stand-up desks, and we supplied them to those that asked. There is a nice mixture of stand-up or standard desks throughout the space that serves to break up the monotony of everything looking the same. Perhaps more surprising to us is the fact that almost everybody that has a stand-up is using it on a daily basis.

    Some of what employees hoped for in a workplace is being provided by the building itself. For example, day care on the premises so that if an issue developed with a child, a quick visit may set both the parent’s and child’s mind at ease. Then there are things coming soon that didn’t even occur to our employees, such as dog care, a walk-in clinic, retail shopping, restaurants, and a huge gym open to the tenants.

    The employees had been talking about starting a JGS “fun” committee to organize and develop fun things to do together. There is a ping-pong table located in the atrium, a foosball table in the café, the different restaurants and bars that will soon be located here, and a five-story rock-climbing wall to top it all off. There are plenty of fun activities to come get excited about, with more being announced quite frequently. There is a lot of buzz and excitement at our new space here at Bell Works. Stop in, say hello, and catch the buzz!

     

  4. Why EPLI is Crucial to Your Business

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    By Meaghan Tyndale-Williams, Vice President – Commercial Lines

    Is your company covered by Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI)?

    If not, you might want to consider it. Over the past twenty years, the number of employment-based lawsuits has increased as employee awareness of fair employment practices has become more widespread. Why you need EPLI insurance will become clear as you consider some of the claims that can be filed against your business.

    Here are just a few examples that may provide the wake-up call you need to see how serious—and commonplace—these exposures can be:

    • An employee vandalizes your bathroom by writing offensive or crude comments on a stall wall and another employee is offended.
    • An employee in the lunchroom tells off-color jokes that offend other employees.
    • You prohibit an employee from returning to work after a medical leave unless the employee has full clearance to perform all job duties.
    • While the most common type of lawsuit results from claims of unfair employment termination, other types of lawsuits are on the rise:
    • Genetic discrimination – for requesting personal or family medical history.
    • Unpaid internships (currently a hot topic on Capitol Hill) – for recruiting workers to perform tasks normally considered part of entry-level employment positions.
    • Gender discrimination – for pay inequities between men and women in the same establishment who perform equivalent tasks under similar working conditions.

    According to statistics on trustedchoice.com, the average court costs and legal fees for claims that are dismissed can top out at $15,000 or more. Cases that are settled out-of-court can set you back $75,000, while those that go to trial can carry a whopping $300,000 price tag or more. It’s enough to bankrupt a company.

    Harassment cases are particularly challenging. Cases often devolve into “he said, she said” scenarios that are virtually impossible to prove. So even if no harassment has occurred, it’s often easier to settle the claim than to fight these lawsuits. In a recent case I have witnessed firsthand, a litigious plaintiff was awarded a sizable $75,000 in damages—even though it was her sixth such claim.

    Your company can follow some simple, common-sense practices to help avoid these lawsuits. The practices shown below are fairly simple and inexpensive to implement:

    • Develop job descriptions for every position so employee expectations and responsibilities are clear.
    • Create an employee handbook that spells out company procedures and conduct policies including specific detail about what constitutes “harassment.”
    • Offer mandatory training sessions to review policies in person and provide an opportunity for Q&A.

    Of course, the best way to safeguard your business is by purchasing EPLI insurance. While workers’ compensation and general liability insurance are mandatory, EPLI is optional, so many business owners are not even aware of its existence. Some agencies do not offer EPLI coverage or offer simple policies from a limited number of carriers. An experienced broker will not only recommend this type of coverage but also present you with a range of options. Premiums will depend on the size of your workforce, the amount of coverage, the number (if any) of prior allegations, and whether your company has anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies in place.

    The plain truth is that there is no possible way to monitor all of your employees’ actions at all times. You have too much to do already, and at a certain point, preparation and trust will need to kick in. To really secure your company’s future in this regard, talk to your JGS agent about EPLI insurance—and seriously consider this important investment.

     

  5. Peace of Mind Is Priceless

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    By Bernie Cosentino, Vice President – Habitational

    Insuring Your Condominium Or Co-op Apartment

    When it comes to insuring your condominium unit or co-op apartment, just having a “piece of the rock” may not be enough. It’s the peace of mind of knowing you are insured correctly in conjunction with your association’s insurance coverage that will allow you to sleep soundly at night.

    Every homeowners’ association, condominium or cooperative has governing documents including insurance bylaws dictating how the buildings should be insured. Unfortunately, there is quite often ambiguity as it relates to how the building should be insured from the perspective of the association’s insurance policy and what the unit owner or shareholder is expected to insure within their home.

    In an effort to clarify this confusing subject, here are some useful guidelines you can use as a starting point to communicate how your buildings are to be insured and what residents should include in their individual HO6 policies.

    Let’s start by reviewing the three ways documents may mandate how the community is to be insured. They are (1) Bare Walls, (2) Single Entity, and (3) All-In coverage.

    Should the bylaws read that the association is insuring the buildings on a Bare Walls basis in the event of a loss, the building’s insurance policy would cover the damage from the studs out to the exterior of the building. Therefore, the resident’s HO6 would need to cover everything from the studs into the unit, which includes sheet rock, paint, flooring, fixtures and the like.

    If the bylaws call for Single Entity coverage, also known as “original specifications,” this would mean that a covered claim would be the responsibility of the building association from the exterior into the units including walls, flooring, fixtures, and the like as delivered at the time of conveyance by the builder. The resident’s HO6 would need to cover any upgrades, additions, alterations or betterments that the unit owner had put in after delivery by the builder.

    Lastly, All-In coverage has the community’s policy provide coverage for everything mentioned in Single Entity coverage as well as upgrades, additions, alterations or betterments. This is not seen as often in condominium documents as it is in co-op documents. In this case, unit owners or shareholders would not have to carry very much property coverage on their HO6 as it would be provided under the building’s insurance policy.

    In the event of a loss to a unit, replacing the resident’s personal belongings are never the responsibility of the association or co-op. It is essential that unit owners inventory their personal belongings and make sure they have adequate coverage in their individual policies. I have always been an advocate of taking a video of the entire unit, cataloging all of the personal items that may be lost in a fire or other covered-peril loss.

    Let me reiterate that these are all just starting points. Very rarely do the documents spell out how a community is required to be insured. It is very important that the documents are reviewed by the community’s legal counsel as well as insurance agent when making a determination regarding the insurance requirements. Prior to placing coverage, the agent must inform the carrier of his or her determination of the governing documents so all parties involved are on the same page at the time of a property loss. Not only so the community insuring the property is in compliance with its documents, but so it can also inform the residents as to what they are required to insure in their HO6 policies. If the bylaws are very unclear, it may be a good idea to amend the documents in order to provide more clarity to all parties.

    Once all parties are on the same page with how the buildings should be insured, it is important to communicate this information to the residents.

    JGS Insurance Agency, a leader in residential building insurance, has insured associations and condominiums since the 1970s. We always supply our insureds with a document we call a fact sheet and include it with every policy we deliver to the communities we insure. This fact sheet lays out exactly what the association is responsible for insuring and what the residents should be insuring on their HO6 policies.

    Hopefully, this information will go a long way in identifying how your association is insuring your property and what is expected of the residents, all in order to provide everyone with the Peace of Mind they deserve.

     

  6. Empower Your Passion

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    By Ken Hager, COO

    Preparation, Preparation, Preparation

    Passion is an intense emotion or a very strong feeling about a person or thing or a positive affinity towards a subject. Anyone who knows me knows I have a passion and consider myself blessed because of it. I have a passion for saltwater fishing that has led to a passion for tournament fishing. In tournament fishing, you are putting yourself up against the best-of-the-best of like-minded individuals with the goal of being one of the best that day. While fishing is typically an individual effort, tournament fishing is a team sport where you rely on all team members to do their jobs and “boat the fish.” I typically tournament fish with the same team of 5–7 guys whom I know I can rely on and who have a similar passion as I do.

    We’ve fished a number of tournaments over the years and for many years without much success. I knew we were all good fishermen and didn’t understand the lack of success we were experiencing. We were “weekend warriors,” many times going up against full-time crews, professional mates, and captains with much more time on the water than us. I felt we should be finishing higher or, at the very least, better than other “weekend warriors.” What was it that allowed equally talented people to have greater success than we were having? Was there something they did that we didn’t do, or do as well?

    The answer came to me while walking the docks and watching other crew members getting ready for the next day of tournament fishing. These weren’t guys hanging around shooting the breeze or having a beer and telling jokes. They weren’t treating this like another day out on the water. Fishing, after all, isn’t named catching, is what you often hear. These crews were treating tournament fishing like a professional job and attacking the task with a more logical, professional and dedicated manner than we had been doing. Once I recognized this, I immediately started putting this new philosophy to work. Many times, I found that the answer to our lack of success was preparation, preparation, preparation.

    We usually checked our equipment at the beginning of the season and made changes when something broke or if we noticed something wrong. Now we started checking our lines for nicks or abrasions immediately upon returning to the dock to see what stress, if any, may have occurred in that day’s fishing. Instead of occasionally checking our drags (the amount of pressure you put on a fish when trying to land it), we checked it daily. We made sure all of our connections and knots were properly tied and all of our baits were undamaged and would “swim” like a bait fish once in the water. Preventative maintenance, addressing issues before they became problems, and identifying our team’s strengths and weaknesses would help us towards that winning goal.

    Instead of spending five minutes each day looking at the charts, water temps and currents, we would spend a few days tracking the water currents, movements and temperature changes. We quickly realized that if we saw something at “x” position today that looked favorable, later that day or the next it would most likely have moved to “y” or “z” position. In other words, we started to pay more attention to the details and preparations that would lead us to the outcome we desired. We worked together as a team to do the tedious tasks as well as the exciting part of having a nice fish strike our line and having the real battle begin.

    We find that this is true in our everyday jobs as well. Most people are in their chosen profession because it was something they held an interest in, that they enjoyed doing. Over time, many lose sight of the reason they chose their careers and may become disenchanted. You can coast along and do well, perhaps even getting somewhat ahead and moving up the corporate ladder. But once you rediscover or allow passion and preparation to enter the picture, you will find much more reward and enjoyment in even the dullest aspects of your job.

     

  7. Workers’ Compensation 101

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    By Ryan Hager, Assistant Vice President – Commercial Lines

    The Rates are Not the Rates

    How many times have you heard someone say “workers’ compensation rates are the rates” and you can’t change the pricing? Well, fortunately that is not accurate and there are a variety of ways for you to lower your workers’ compensation premiums.

    Let’s first talk about how the insurance companies develop their pricing models that determine how much money you have to pull out of your checking account. The first step is to take your estimated annual payroll and break it down by class code. After this is accomplished, you take the set rates published by the state and multiply it by your payroll (divided by 100) for that class. The set rates are based per $100 of payroll. The next step in calculating your manual premium is taking this number:

    [(Payroll/100) x Rate] and multiplying it by your experience modification, also known as your experience mod.

    A company’s experience mod calculation is a very complex formula that incorporates a number of different factors. The primary factors are taking the losses from the three prior years (excluding the most recent year) and the corresponding premiums developed. Like most insurance polices, this is your basic loss ratio. The calculation will then take into account the payroll dollars for your company and benchmark them against the industry standards for that class code, the actual losses versus expected losses, frequency versus severity, and a few additional factors. Each one bears a certain weight on the overall calculation of the final experience mod.

    An experience mod of 1.0 is considered industry average. Anything above or below a mod of 1.0 is a debit/credit that directly affects your premium amount. Let’s suppose that you are an ice manufacturer with $1,000,000 in payroll in the class code of 2150 (manufacturing of ice) and have an experience mod of 1.2. In 2017, the published rate in New Jersey for class code 2150 is $10.19 per $100 of payroll. When you divide your payroll by 100 and multiply the result by the published rate and multiply again by the experience mod, you will discover that your “manual rate” comes out to ($1,000,000/100) x $10.19 (rate) x 1.2 (experience mod) = $122,280. The manual rate excludes any forms of debit/credits and any taxes on the policy.

    If your company were proactively managing its workers’ compensation claims and had an experience mod of 1.0, you would only be paying $101,900 in manual premiums [(1,000,000/100) x 10.19 x 1.0]. If your management of these factors and your claims experience is less than the industry average, you can earn a credit modification of up to 40 percent which will reduce your manual rates. A credit modification (a factor less than 1.0) means that your company would be paying up to 40% less than a similar competitor with a higher modification, allowing you to price your products more competitively and gain an advantage over similar companies.

    In addition to proactively managing your losses through various techniques such as return-to-work programs and formalized safety programs, you can achieve lower premiums by having your account properly marketed to various insurance carriers. In the great state of New Jersey, carriers are able to take the manual premium and add (debits) or subtract (credits) up to 25% on top of your manual rates.

    Some workers’ compensation insurers are very hesitant to offer credits to a policy, even when they are warranted. When marketing your account, not only does JGS Insurance have the possibility of finding a company willing to offer you a more competitive price but also one that may be willing to offer you a dividend. With a dividend on your workers’ compensation program, you have the opportunity to earn back a portion of your premium based on your actual losses. The few carriers in the state who offer this solution will provide you with a dividend table, and depending on your loss ratio (total incurred losses/total premium), the table will show what percentage of your total premium you can earn back.

    So while “The rates may be the rates,” not all insurance companies workers’ compensation programs are the same. It is essential that you become proactive in the management of your workers’ compensation exposures, claims, and risk management so that you can best position your insurance program to be offered the most competitive rates, credits, and possibly dividends available in the marketplace.

     

  8. Does YOUR Website Impact YOUR Insurability?

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    By Meaghan Tyndale-Williams, Vice President – Commercial Lines

    In today’s business world, your website is your calling card. Your customers depend on it to inform themselves about your business and make the critical decision of whether or not to pursue your services. But it is important to keep in mind that your customers are not the only ones evaluating your website on a regular basis. Your underwriter is too, and what your website is saying to customers is very different from what it is saying to your insurance company.

    So what does this mean in terms of maintaining a website that will not only encourage customers to buy your goods or services but also appeal to underwriters who provide the critical support you need to insure your business?

    In short, a challenge. You want to ensure your website is appealing to viewers while also highlighting your business as a low-hazard, safety-conscious operation because the first place an underwriter goes when evaluating a business is its company website.

    Much like a customer, an underwriter is looking at websites to learn about a business. Underwriters will look through company photos, see how long the company has been in business, look at what operations it is involved in, and investigate the geographic areas where it operates, to name a few.

    Your insurance company will be looking to make an educated judgment as to whether it’s worth the risk to insure you, and, of course, for how much. Underwriters have their own point-of-view when reviewing your website, and it is important to understand what they are looking for.

    Do you clearly describe the geographic areas where you do business?

    This is important because some insurance carriers have restrictions on where they can write business. New York, for example, is an undesirable underwriting area for many insurance companies. To avoid having coverage declined, it is smart to list only the areas where your company is currently doing business.

    Are the photos on your website representative of the true nature of your operations?

    Many times, companies will have photos on their websites of discontinued operations. If an underwriter sees photos of certain operations on your website, they will want to underwrite (i.e., charge money) for these operations. You may also get declined because underwriters do not like the operations they see. It is smart to keep your company website current and have the website reflect what your company is doing today.

    Do your photos showcase safe jobsites, clean work environments, well-maintained facilities and products that don’t “scare” an underwriter away?


    Does your company project an air of professionalism and competence?


    From a risk management standpoint, does the website speak to your company culture in terms of employee and jobsite safety, pre-employee screening and employee retention?

    Your underwriter needs to fully understand your business to provide your company with the appropriate coverage. It’s important to remove discontinued operations from your website to avoid being charged additional premiums or declined coverage based on exposures you no longer have. If your website promotes high-risk operations or projects outside of your primary operations, be aware that your insurance company will need specific details about these involvements, which can negatively impact your ability to get coverage. Reviewing and updating your website a few months prior to your insurance renewal date can save you from having to answer a lot of irrelevant questions, deal with price increases, and contend with potential declination’s of coverage.

    If you have questions about your website, your JGS Insurance professional is always ready and able to help you review your website, discuss how it may affect your insurance coverage, and answer any questions.

     

  9. Meeting People Where They Need To Be Met

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    By Ryan Fleming, Director – Habitational Group

    Now I’m not here to beat anyone over the head with the Bible, but there is a verse that is stuck in the foundation of who I am. I’ve found it to be the answer to almost all things “rapport:”

    I have become all things to all men [people], that I might by all means save some. —I Corinthians 9:22 (NKJV)

    What this verse is basically saying is that in order to properly cultivate relationships, you need to meet people where they are as opposed as to where you want them to be. Let’s let that sink in. This applies to all relationships including with a spouse, child, employee, employer, prospect and client.

    Every one of us has an agenda or to-do list at any given time. That agenda or to-do list may include certain things that need to be accomplished at certain times in order for us to reach whatever goal we have set for ourselves. That being said, too many times we focus intently on the individual items and try to force them to fit into the timeline in front of us. We end up forging through our lists, trying to push the people around us to provide what it is that we need from them in order to complete the task at hand. We find frustration when they don’t react with the level of importance we believe they should be reacting with. We get impatient when they don’t respond to us in a timely manner, and, most importantly, if they don’t agree with the point of view or belief that we are presenting them with (read: trying to shove down their throats).

    This is where a change in perspective can be revolutionary. Understand that people have things they need to accomplish and a timeline in which to accomplish them. Our own to-do list doesn’t necessarily fall into their timeline, especially if we approach them with our own agenda in mind. It’s like trying to jump onto a moving train while walking alongside the tracks. The same disconnect happens if you try to jump off. If you don’t understand the pace of the person you are trying to communicate with, it can be a constant struggle trying to slow them down while you are trying to speed up, or vice versa.

    “Being all things to all people” basically means that in order to be a successful communicator, one must meet people in their “state,” that is, where they are in their day, week and life. Find out what state you need to be in to meet them. Do you need to approach them in a relaxed, worry-free state or do you need to hit them with energy and excitement? Meeting people in their state builds instant rapport and allows communication to flow. If you are able to match their pace, needs can be met and you both may be able to accomplish your collective goals. The technique is called “pacing.” I could go on for days about the intricacies involved, but I will save that for another day.

    I find myself sounding like a broken record whenever I tell my kids, “Other people’s feelings first!” It’s to the point where all I say is “Other…” and they finish the sentence for me. Now, I’m not telling them that their own feelings don’t matter or that they need to be the best doormats they can be as they grow up. I’m simply trying to explain to them that if they consider other people’s feelings before they act, they are more likely to get where they need to go.

    It seems like something we’ve all heard before, but how many of us are actually practicing it with each interaction? How many of us are actually looking to find out what state others are in before we hit them with what we need from them? Taking just a few moments to meet people where they are and match their pace is truly the key to building rapport. Now to take it one step further, imagine how effective this becomes when you make your actual goal meeting people where they are.