It’s Metaphor Monday!
This is a hot button with me. In our fast paced world of increasingly tighter deadlines, higher Customer expectations, and constantly evolving standards for correspondence, there is one trait that trumps all others if you truly want to succeed… communication!
In talking with vendors, contractors, support staff, or employees, I am pretty patient with someone being behind schedule, with a delivery problem, or someone having an occasional personal issue, as long as they talk to me. Not doing so, is simply not an option if you aspire to higher levels.
When establishing rules of engagement between team members, or customers, in today’s world of multimedia, always ask, “How do you prefer that I communicate with you?”. Those nine words will save you countless hours of needless frustration.
Here’s Ken’s Metaphor for Success #4:
My maternal Grandfather Wycoff was a School Administrator and an English Teacher. One of his prized sayings was “there are numerous reasons in our world to be poor, however there is absolutely no reason to sound that way”. I believe it wholeheartedly. Much of my success can be attributed to effective correspondence, whether speaking to groups, or writing letters and memos, no question. Prompt return correspondence is the remaining piece of the Communication puzzle. People gradually lose respect for those that don’t communicate well. Extraordinary communicators usually go on to do great things.
