As we enter a period of renewal and change, Your Clear Next Step is committed to helping our customers make their businesses and workdays even better. We will be here to walk beside you, to listen, to connect, and to aid in your search for clarity. In doing so, we are offering a free, daily Zoom call, called Daily Connections, at 1:15pm (CDT) every weekday from 3/19/2020-5/1/2020.
These calls are a chance for us to share tips and discussion about relevant topics (working remotely, maintaining consistency in uncertain times, building relationships across geography, staying motivated, staying connected, etc) and network with each other to provide help and support during this time of change.
Thank you to everyone who was able to join us today! The next call will be Thursday, April 23rd at 1:15pm (CDT). Click here to join.
On today's call...
Sinikka talked about three things people need to hear from you.
Really, these are three things we all need to hear. They are things others need to hear from us. They are things we would like to hear from others. These three things will apply to...
- Household members
- Friends/family that do not live in your household
- Team Members/colleagues
- Employees
- Leaders
- Customers
- Vendor Partners
These three messages are really quite simple. The three things people need to hear from us are...
- THAT you are here
- That you are here for them, that you are still okay.
- What your experience is right now, and what you’re feeling,
- What you’re working on, especially if it impacts them in any way.
- THAT you care
- That you are interested in them and where they’re coming from.
- That you would connect with them in their preferred way if you could.
- That what you’re doing impacts them, and how.
- WHAT you need
- What you need them to do
- What you need from someone else
A few thoughts that were shared by the group:
- Listening to you talk I was thinking back to managers and leaders in the past, specifically to the ones who wouldn't do the things that you talked about. I think there really is something about creating an invitation to build a more personal connection, but also when someone responds to your needs, as a leader you need to be prepared to respond and carry out the conversation.
- When I used to teach customer service, one thing we talked about is that when we would engage with customers or staff, we were far too quick to get to business. So, I used to teach people to start with the human, then move to business, then end with the human.
- With the personal or human, it must be genuine. It can’t be connecting about a personal topic because it’s the next thing on your list. It needs to be connecting as a human because you genuinely care.
- Your communication has to be sincere, especially because you can often tell when people are faking it. Not rushing through the personal conversations are important too.
- I learned that when I learned to slow down a little bit to make time for more genuine conversations, we were still able to get through all the business, and we built a stronger relationship.
- Focusing on the third one, what we need, I think we can all be all over the board on this one. There are some really needy people out there who communicate their needs really easily and plentifully. But there are a lot of other people who have a really hard time communicating their needs.
- There are a lot of people out there who want to help, who draw their energy and joy from serving others. And if we don’t express what we need, we are depriving them of the opportunity to serve.
- It’s not just sharing what you need, and that you're there, and that you care, but it’s following up with them to check on what they need. This will also help show how much you care too.
- There are also a lot of people who don’t readily come forward and offer up their needs. Sometimes you then have ask them what they need.
- Another way thing to try is to tell them that you are going to help them – either through prayer or in action – and ask them very specifically “what are 1-2 things I can help you with”
