Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Try this for one day ....

LISTEN!

Not being heard sets up barriers and kills productivity and relationship-building.

Try one thing tomorrow: EVERY SINGLE person who talks to you - try to listen to them with a curious ear and an attracted body - by that I mean SHOW them with your body posture that you are very interested in what they are saying.

Go for quality over quantity. Have a busy day? Don't have too much time to listen to another person -- go for quality! For example, try something like "I only have 5 minutes but I want to be as attentive as I can be to what you have to say, so let's duck into this office so I can be fully engaged for 5 minutes. Fair enough?"

I promise two things if you do this tomorrow:

You will surprise the heck out of some people.

Your interactions will be significantly more efficient AND you will start building more TRUST.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Want to be a HERO?

One simple idea if you want to be a hero to someone else, maybe a colleague, friend or family member:

Catch them doing something new, something that is an act of GROWTH.

The other day I was leaving a hotel with my wife and we realized after we were home (2 hours away) that I forgot my garment bag in the closet, and it was full of clothes!

Now this kind of thing has happened to me before, and in the past I would have blown a fuse. I didn't this time for some reason. After a few days and calls the hotel found my clothes and shipped them up to our house.

My wife's simple comment: "I was surprised how well you reacted to realizing what happened. You weren't like that before." I loved that comment. People love those kinds of comments because they show someone is:

1.) Aware of changes you want to make in your life.
2.) Watching for those positive changes.
3.) Reminding you of the change, and the GROWTH.

Be that someone. BE A HERO. IT IS NOT HARD. YOU JUST HAVE TO BE A CURIOUS AND WILLING WITNESS.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Tipping is Contagious, so are complements

Have you ever seen a tip jar completely empty? Maybe it is with a sushi chef or a at a pizzeria, deli, or barber shop. (On a side-note has anyone noticed MORE tip jars lately?!)

The question is -- Why are they almost never empty? Is it because they never empty them? I doubt that. The skeptical auditor in me says it is because they are stuffed to attract more tips! So some of them are fake! Now maybe I am wrong, maybe I am right ... but I also reflect back to the times when I have actually dropped a tip in that jar and I bet every time there was already money in the jar ... maybe lots of money.

So, does the perception of "lots of tips" made by others inspire me to tip more? Maybe!

I cannot help but relate this to an average accountants' day. How many complements do you see (and hear of course) others making to your colleagues? Do you think that could be contagious too? So if you hear lots of complements going around the room will that make you want to join in and look for ways to complement others? If you think the answer might be "maybe" ... START the complement "tipping" yourself. Just don't fake it!