Before you even start encouraging your affiliates, who are feeling demoted, you need to be clear yourself about the issue behind your affiliates’ disappointment.
You need to find out the root cause of the issue. Let’s discuss for example the recent SFI announcement about the new Team Leader qualification added.
SFI has announced recently about the additional Team Leader (TL) qualification. Duplication has been given less attention by both new and old Team Leaders and in order to reverse this trend, if one has to become a Bronze TL aside from 3000 VP (SVP + AVP), maintaining Leadership page and minimum 3-star sponsor rating from PSAs (not required if you receive less than 5 ratings), he/she should have at least 1 EA2 of his/her first Generation. The additional qualification for STL is to have at least two first-level BTLs and so on.
The current TL qualification system allows one to become BTL by fulfilling the above mentioned requirement with or without a first-level EA2. By the end of January many affiliates who routinely achieve BTL will be just good for EA2, if they can’t produce at least one first-level EA2. This change might have put many affiliates under pressure. Many believe that the rank title is tied with their reputation and credibility before those they’re leading.
From this point, analyze yourself where you stand about this forthcoming change. You can only encourage your affiliates if you are clear about the change and/or accept it.
So how do you encourage an affiliate to remain active when he/she feels he/she has been demoted?
- Humbly offer your clarification.
You need to remind him/her that SFI is a partner for all affiliates. SFI is always looking for new innovations to help all affiliates have the cutting edge and to stand out from the competitive world of entrepreneurs. Ask him/her to recollect his/her thoughts about his/her goals in joining SFI. One way of clarifying the change is by going through The Plan (https://www.sfimg.com/the_plan). SFI wants every affiliate to be a top earner and to have maximum success as revealed in this section.
- Controlling Emotions.
The feeling of demotion can fuel anger and resentment. Here are some steps to deal with someone’s emotion of feeling demoted effectively:
1. Advise him/her to manage his/her bruised ego.
2. Communicate to him/her that anger is natural but he/she should watch what he/she says to those around him/her especially to the SFI community. Letting out his/her anger uncontrolled at the SFI Forum will adversely affect his/her entire organization and could be easily seen as spreading negativism.
3. Let him/her know that he/she needs time to sort out his/her options. It's likely people will come up to him/her and ask him/her for more details about his/her situation and opinion, but it's best to deflect their remarks with a neutral response. For example, "I really don't know what to think right now...I'm going to assess my options before I make any decisions."
- Stick with SFI.
Encourage him/her to focus on his/her goals and control his/her emotions. Generally people resist change. Ask him/her to find a way to motivate himself/herself each day. Recently SFI introduced the CSA reassignment tool. This provides incentive for many members of a group to both become EAs and maintain EA every month. This could motivate him/her, so be sure to send the details: https://www.sfimg.com/Support/Solution?id=215051&referrer=search.
Ask him/her to stand back and re-assess his/her situation. Encourage him/her to try to understand the reason for such a change, to be patient and let him/her be assured of your support as long as he/she sticks with SFI.
- Remember to apply the manner of effective communication.
Effective communication is not achieved simply by taking turns talking but requires a concerted effort at mutual understanding. A good way to promote understanding about the issue is to take time to restate the other person’s position in your own words then ask him/her to correct or affirm your understanding of his/her thoughts and feelings. If you work on this process of explicit feedback and confirmation until the other person has no doubt that you grasp his/her position, he/she will feel understood, and he/she will then be more open to hearing from you.
The simple failure to acknowledge what the other person says explains much of the friction in our lives. Furthermore, you don’t have to be responsible for someone’s feelings to be aware of them and to acknowledge them. When two people keep restating their own positions without acknowledging what the other is trying to say, the result is dueling points of view.
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