When was the last time you learnt a lesson from not speaking from a clear mind?I heard the saying many years ago ” Clarity leads to power”.Valuing my clear thinking skills has given me much pleasure, money and fun in my life since I heard that saying.
BUT
This week I was to learn another lesson about being clear and precise and even more detailed that I have learnt to be!
3 Lessons I Learnt From a Christmas Street Party
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I’m really clear, usually, in how I describe what we are delivering to an event.
This event was a street christmas party.
We rock up in the van with the gear, unload ready to install with 50 other people installing items for the evening event. Its chaotic! its windy and it’s hot!
Out goes the throne, for Father Christmas , the red carpet, the red swagging, the tree, the decos the list goes on …. “where is the marquee asks the client?”.
Thats when it started.He thought we were supplying the marquee, we thought he was supplying the marquee. He started to blame and justify, he is the client, he can say whatever he wants, he/she is always right..right?
Meanwhile our guys are feeling not supported, silly, not good enough, wanting to punch his lights out, all the stuff we all go into when someone blames us.
The lesson here is when there is a miscommunication, mistake, assumption, an upset…..
Remember what comes out of someones mouth belongs to them NOT YOU!
Some people say nothing then go into vindictiveness or back stabbing comments or a level of manipulation or are just plain unhelpful….. Don’t go there with them…. You have the power if you
Remember LESSON ONE: STAY TRUE TO YOURSELF SPEAK WITH EMPATHY and what comes out of their mouth belongs to them!
The second of the 3 Lessons I Learnt From a Christmas Street Party
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Going on with the story:
I went through my emails to our client, I have to say this client is a really nice guy, but when a marquee doesn’t turn up, thats MAJOR stress on the spot, in a nano second!
It is clearly written in his brief to us what he wanted. The marquee is mentioned in another paragraph as to where it would be located. The marquee is NOT mentioned in the items that he wanted us to supply!
I assumed, and didn’t ask him, if he was supplying the marquee. When we spoke neither of us spoke about the marquee
I wrote it in the quote, and didn’t write “for you to supply”.
We both assumed that the other one was supplying this marquee.
Get a solution to the problem at hand, rather than stay in the blame or react to the blame. This is lesson two.
Keep the show on the road, people will arrive for the street party if you get into your stuff or no!
Lesson Two: Get a solution FAST! AND FIRST!
The third lesson of the 3 Lessons I Learnt From a Christmas Street Party
Fortunately there was a marquee supplier, on site, who just happened to have 2 marquees that would solve the problem.
Perfect!
Get on with it, solve the underlying problem after the christmas party.
Both of us, myself and the client, had not worked together before. Even though he spoke to our guys badly on the day. I had to get over it that when we spoke the next day.
We both admitted that we had assumed. We both believed that we spoke about it over the phone, but of course thats not in writing. Get over that one also!
We both admitted that both the original brief and the quote could be read either way, we both took responsibility towards a good outcome.
Look for the big picture, look for the GOOD big picture in every situation and don’t be caught up in past emotional believes or hurts. This was not my mum or dad blaming me. This was a conversation I was having with a client NOW not when I was two and I wanted a GOOD outcome now.
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Lesson Three: Look for the GOOD big picture and take your GOOD BIG PICTURE energy in to look for that GOOD BIG PICTURE OUTCOME!
Read that again to get it!!!!
Look for the GOOD big picture and take your GOOD BIG PICTURE energy in to look for that GOOD BIG PICTURE OUTCOME!
This blog was obviously inspired by me assuming something that I would never assume, I was not clear at the time, I had to get clear and do it the best way I knew how.
Its simply being better today than yesterday!