Saturday, June 25, 2011

Listen...

Most times, we are all caught up with wanting to talk and push information out in order to get onto the next call or the next job.  In order to learn and succeed, we need to stop and listen.

Listen to what the customer, driver or your fellow employee is saying.  Most times, if you listen, they will always help you with what needs to get done.  You may need to reshuffle the deck or put a little more thought into it, but if you do, everyone will be happier for it.

Too often, we enter a conversation with a preset agenda and mostly the agenda will circle around what we think is best.  By being flexible and working with the other person, we can accomplish the same goals, but we encourage them to be part of the process.  Therefore, they are more of a partner then just someone that you are dictating to.

This is true in any relationship, personal or work.

For Operations, in order to do this, you need to always be ahead of the situation.  You need to anticipate possible situations and be prepared for them.  Understand that the driver or the agent wants to do a good job and they too want to have advanced notice of what they need to do in order to have a job run smoothly.

You may have something in mind, but when you run it by them, they may have a better idea or see something that you did not see before.  By being ahead of things and listening, you will catch many possible problems BEFORE they become problems.

Sometimes you need to lose in order to win.  In other words, there will be times that you may need to compromise and it may create more work for you.  However, in the long run, you win because the person you are working with or speaking to understands that you are with them and that you want to do your best to help them.  You may actually see within that same conversation that they start to help find the neutral ground that you are looking for...just listen.

Quiet your mind.  If you're too busy talking, you're not busy listening.  Click the link below and give it a listen...

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