We spend about a third of our lives working in some way, or another. Some of us (mothers and the success driven come to mind) spend far more than a third of our time working. Naturally, the attitude that we bring to work and the way that attitude is received colors the rest of our lives. Not only does it color our lives, but recent studies have proven it affects the happiness of everyone we meet.
We have all had the experience of running into a grouch, a rude person, or an unhappy person at the beginning of our day. Remember how that rolled forward through the rest of your day? Remember how you were just a little shorter fused than usual? You may even remember taking that attitude home with you and spreading a little unhappiness there. Your family (and maybe, even the dog) as soon as they could get away from you went out and shared their feeling with those they met.
Well, it is wonderful news to know that if you run into a happy person at the beginning of your day, it is going to make you happier and you will pass it on! The study has found that there are two to three degrees of influence from an encounter with a happy person. Now, can't you remember a day that started out just sort of OK and then you encountered a really happy person? What happened? Weren't you a little easier to get along with all day? Didn't people react a little differently to you? Didn't you get more done? Didn't you take a little “better attitude” present home with you?
Now, here's the deal. If more than one person is happy in your work arena, the happy effect bounces back and forth. It feeds on itself! The happy effect does not have to laterally. It can move up or down the food chain. It can jump from your workforce to your customers. Are we seeing a little bottom line benefit here? Where would you buy your coffee, hamburger, new coat or automobile, where it came with a smile, where it came with a frown, or where it came with indifference? McDonalds is one of the world's greatest marketers and it is no accident they called their junior meal a”Happy Meal”.
Often our starting point with making things more joyful is working on communications. Why? Well with some of us humans, and I am one of them, it is hard to tell when we are happy. It is also hard to tell when we are not happy. Unfortunately, neutral seems to look, sound and feel more like grumpy than happy. How many of you have not, have not, had the experience of having someone tell you, “It's not what you said, it's how you said it!”
So “how you say it” and “how you hear it” is where we start.
We have so little time and cannot even hold that little bit, cup it in our hand, and save it for when we need it. Our treasure is constantly slipping away into our past. How terribly wasteful is it then to give or receive a “bad”, or false, first impression?
Listening is so important. Margaret Wheatley said, “Listening is such a simple act. It requires us to be present, and that takes practice, but we don't have to do anything else. We don't have to advise, or coach, or sound wise. We just have to be willing to sit there and listen. If we can do that, we create moments in which real healing is available. Whatever life we have experienced, if we can tell our story to someone who listens, we find it easier to deal with our circumstances."
During this presentation I am going to help you speak and listen in tongues. I am going to help you give and receive true first impressions. I am going to help you listen in languages that are strange to you. I will help you bond with prospects, clients, friends and neighbors.
I will cover the styles and the reasons they give other styles false impressions. I will cover the adjustments necessary to communicate with all the styles. I will give everyone attending two take-aways. One will be the ability to quickly adjust their behavioral language to listen and speak to a person within a few seconds of meeting them. The second is a little 3 x 5 card to keep by their phone and use to identify the style of a caller and respond in that callers language.
Nik Nikkel
Nikkel Consulting
303-917-6617
www.benchmarkjobsnotpeople.com
Learn more about this topic and DiSC assessments and applications at Nik Nikkel's website:
www.benchmarkjobsnotpeople.com/disc.html
Or at Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DISC_assessment