0
comment(s)
Sincere Interest
Why I enjoy working
In every person’s life there are a huge number of external factors which constantly direct us. Surely we have all experienced a situation in life when they completed something and hit the ‘ceiling,’ as if seemingly nothing more can be done and it’s time to change something. Many people, under the influence of external factors, collapse at this crossroads and choose a new activity, a new partner in life, change work, take up sport, friends, etc. Meanwhile at each of these crossroads there is the possibility of a choice – to make an effort or to give up. In this context ‘effort’ will be the transition to a new level – it is as if you reach the next level without collapsing or leaving the building and don’t set off on the quest for something new. As a rule, people start convincing themselves that it’s necessary, that they are sick of the old, that they can’t be bothered to anything extra, when it is already clear... This happens, but more often than not this is a trick of our mind. In order to understand it, you have to try and think of all the events in your life which have been done without the influence of other people or unexpected events. It’s great if you find a partnership, the rest will simply be the convergence of circumstance.
I am quoting a couple of examples to make it simpler:
- You’re just about to buy something, a new sofa for example. You go into the shop, haven’t chatted to the shop assistants and chosen the one that’s most ”for you” when at the last moment someone comes to you by chance and says that this sofa is not so good, the springs are flimsy and bla-bla-bla... Certainly you have nearly been ”tricked,” you start to doubt and buy another one so at least it will be a proper sofa and not a rollaway bed.
- or, you’re driving a car, and you think about a beloved girlfriend on the new sofa..., when suddenly a boy-racer cuts you up... Nine out of ten people react to this with an attack of indignation and offence and will probably forget about the sofa and the girlfriend instantly.
The situations described are mere trifles that happen every day in real life.
Interest - is something more constant, something on which we focus our attention and maintain it for a long time. Attention is the tool that feeds our interest. The result is the end of the road, our visualisation of what we aim to achieve. The effort that needs to be applied at the crossroads, which I wrote about earlier, is the act of attention focused on a result. If this act doesn’t happen, external factors bear down from above and we can forget about the aims, results and reasons that convinced us to start one thing or another. It has often been the cast that people close to me, friends and other ‘chance’ acquaintances have turned me onto the wrong course. I consider these things a big success and a valuable lesson.
So why is work interesting for me?
Work is the process of searching for those same perspectives from which I can make a step forward in development. Unfortunately I never use the opportunities presented by life to the maximum. I never pay enough attention. Nevertheless, when this happens somehow or other, it is an extremely stimulating and motivating therapy which provides a lot of new experience and opportunity.
Treat the Client, as if it were You
It has always happened to me that, in any activity, whether it’s personal life, work or relaxation, that there is a time and place when I can see myself from the sidelines. It happens that I can feel myself in a crowd of people or in discussion, or simply just walking down the road, I start hearing my own words and almost feel outside my body, as if inside me there’s another person in charge.
These moments can be very useful, e.g. they enable me to see and hear what is frequently concealed by the succession of events that follow one after the other throughout the day. They enable me to step aside from the habitual style of work developed over the years, stop at some moment and say to yourself: ”Stop! Now you can do it a different way.”
One would ask how is this connected to management and working with clients?
In particular, this helped me to make a number of useful observations.
One would ask how is this connected to management and working with clients?
In particular, this helped me to make a number of useful observations.
Treat the Client, as if it were You
The first observation is that my level of communication, the efforts I apply to completing a business task, my haste in solving problems, completely reflects my internal state and relation to myself. I cannot be more than the person I am at that moment. The people I work with can definitely sense this. This can be put into a simple formula: Treat the Client as if it were You.. If you just use this like a teaching formula nothing will happen, what matters is personal engagement and interest in the process. In my opinion in this case interest is some sort of intuitive emotional experience which is experienced from genuine contact with someone else. It’s intuitive because I absolutely know exactly that I am behaving correctly, but emotion is like food - a shot of energy. It doesn’t matter if I write someone a letter, have a chat with him or talk on the phone. I offer him the same solution, product or service that I would use myself, and I’m not indifferent how the client takes it, which impressions and emotions cause the result.The Client is Always Right
The second observation is how I relate to someone’s reaction to an event. If I’m not interested in something I usually don’t pay it any attention, but it could work both ways. Meaning this: if I’ve paid attention, it could be interesting. Interest assumes engagement in a situation, problem, search for a solution – whatever. I take enormous pleasure, for example, when I can offer the person I’m talking to what they need. There is even more pleasure when I can see several steps ahead and can work out the situation in my head, and when I try to think about it I feel as if I wasn’t capable of this. Its about the chance to listen and personal experience to the past. Then the expression “The Client is always Right” acquires a very precise and clear meaning. The Client is actually always right because he’s expressing his opinion, his vision, his perception even if it doesn’t agree with mine, but at this moment in time presents his view of the world. It’s very important. In this situation I have an opportunity to offer the Client what he needs if I listen to him thoroughly. If I don’t hear the client and only listen to myself then nothing will happen. Paying attention is the key to this. It should be paid in two directions – to the other person and your inner self.Cards on the Table
Today the third observation I want to write about is openness. Nothing else quite forces someone to extricate themselves from difficult circumstances in the future than often unfounded attempts to avoid some proposed problems in the past. The most correct decisions are often concealed in simple things. The source of a problem at the end of a project can be traced back to something that was done at the planning stage. This is all “Common Sense” about which much has already been written about and said. It seems something else is important here. An open approach is equally important, as is the sense to say no when necessary and agree at that very moment when you feel that it’s right to advise the Client, to advise of issues when they arise, and offer a solution when inside you’re saying “Yes, yes, this is the moment! Go on, do it!” Yet another essential thing is being able to recognise mistakes. This is also directly linked with openness and sincerity. A mistake, in essence, is a simple event, like success or right choice. If I recognise success I also have a chance to recognise a mistake. There’s no difference between these two things.Some words before...
Money
Everyone really wants it, as well as receiving more and spending less. In the
overwhelming majority of cases money is the main argument for decision making, is
the key factor in any Russian tender, the sharpest item in the financial report, the most sought-after
bonus, which you want to receive together with recognition of your human value.
This is nothing to be surprised about – it’s always been like that and will be
for a long time to come.
The Result
Everyone needs it, everyone talks about it, and even more think about it in
the context of receiving the same money that engenders many well-conceived,
thoughtless and sometimes senseless projects. At times the method of achieving
this result is very cloudy, and the methods applied are not always suited to
the situation. This all blocks the road to the Holy Grail in something
resembling a Brownian motion.
Management
In the majority of cases this results in the transfer of responsibility from one performer to another. As a result of their joint efforts something is created that only barely resembles
what was planned in the beginning. Furthermore this is proudly named The Result
and, they say, just like it was conceived and is good that it turned out just
like that and not worse. For all of this there is a huge number of project management
and personnel management methods, a vast array of books and articles have been
penned about management structures. Just a few of these emphasise the internal
development of ‘the manager.‘
When I first convinced myself of just how stable this model is, in which to a known degree everything is posited from head to toe, and embedded in contemporary business practice, it seemed to me that I could use this as an excellent opportunity for developing and offering my clients management and services of a level quite different to those that they were accustomed to receiving.
Interests
“And when will I be paid?”
Pay day is everyone’s favourite day of the month. This completes the circle
– beginning with money, everything comes down to just that.
When I first convinced myself of just how stable this model is, in which to a known degree everything is posited from head to toe, and embedded in contemporary business practice, it seemed to me that I could use this as an excellent opportunity for developing and offering my clients management and services of a level quite different to those that they were accustomed to receiving.
I needed to turn the page with the heading Interest in the Result. With due
effort interest generates responsibility in a person, forcing them to seek a
solution and forming the required expertise for independent management. In this instance money is not an end to itself,
but an entirely natural reward and the result of applied effort. In this manner
I had the chance to sell not just goods and services for a certain monetary amount,
but a whole process or my own type of management culture, whose result is the
very same product or service, but of an incomparably different character. The difference is, above all, in the impressions and feelings, that the client has
from the Result.
It’s about just these very experiences, management culture and personal responsibility
that I wanted to write about in this blog.
