day 512: Those That Really Help

I work with a CEO who is a great person but doesn't have much of a soft side. This CEO can be known to get right to the point and sometimes to be a little fast in cutting to the chaste. This puts off other people and it can confuse them about the intention and the meaning behind the words. What is meant in all sincerity and caring can come across as dictatorial or worse yet as insensitive and uncaring. It's the difference between a few words and how the words are delivered. Since I know the person well, I also know that there is a lot of caring, empathy and appreciation inside, it just doesn't come out right. As we know, communication is a skill that must be honed and developed over time and it is also a skill that must always be evaluated and improved. This CEO is fortunate in that there are others around the team who can "interpret" for others the real message. After a message is delivered there are others who the team go to to get the reassurance they need and in some cases, some healing and understanding words. This is by no means the best case scenario, but fortunately as the CEO is developing and getting better at communicating, there are others to help. Someday those training wheels of other people having to be the ones who intercede will go away. And if he doesn't improve, then the CEO won't be CEO for long. Communication and words are that vital and that important. What anyone of us who are in leadership positions, or even as teammates, need to recognize is what Solomon tells us in Proverbs; "Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing." It's time that we each begin to take accountability and responsibility for our words and be sure that while we are in this pressure-cooked time of business and work, that we check our cutting remarks and we ensure that we are balanced with words of understanding and healing. Our people, our co-workers and our friends are depending on us and if not us, who?

Reference: Proverbs 12:18 (New Living Testament)

day 370: Making The Cut

The last few years have seen company after company making cuts in spending, investments and headcount. Some companies made deep cuts once. Others made a series of smaller cuts. Either way the cuts made affected the morale of people and their feelings about the organization and senior management. As people we do not respond well to activities or words that cut and tear down anything and especially when we feel cut at personally or torn down by others. Yet, at work it is easy to cut down people and then just go about our business, without much regard to the long-term effect those words have on others. With the smallest of words we can tear down another person and unfortunately it happens all the time. Sometimes you just wish you could reach out and take the cutting words and turn them around on the people that delivered those words. I worked with a person who thought that the best way to motivate others was to constantly be cutting at them and tearing them down to build them back up. If work was like being Jillian or Bob on NBC's Biggest Loser, then that might be a good strategy, but that is not the way it is in the office. On the job we can't just cut people down and expect that they are going to follow, trust or want to work with us. We read in Proverbs 12:18 that those who make cutting remarks are not those who are considered wise; "Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing." Today when the opportunity comes to either make the cutting remark, tear down, demean or make fun of another person, think twice and see if there aren't other words can't be chosen. See if today you can keep from making the cut.

Proverbs 12:18 (New Living Testament)