Business Fails When We Do Not Talk
You may remember being told as a child, "Keep quiet!""Children should be seen, not heard," and "You talktoo much." You were a "good" kid if you kept quiet.However, being quiet when you are little causes bigproblems later in life.
As an adult, you may have been punished forcommunicating. For example, if you admit you committeda crime and are sorry about it, no one cares. Youstill go to jail. If you honestly tell your spouse youare thinking about an affair, your marriage suffers ifyour spouse is not very understanding. If you tellsomeone you feel a little crazy, who knows what mighthappen. So you learn to keep your mouth shut.
However, businesses fail when managers do not talk toemployees or employees do not talk to customers.Everyone mistakenly believes telepathy is working. "Ithought you knew I was unhappy with your performance.""You should have known I was overworked."
Marriages are ruined by poor communication. Ratherthan openly discuss sex, money, body problems orwhatever, couples hint about their concerns or simplysay nothing. But without support and understandingfrom your primary teammate, you do not go as far. Infact, a bad marriage can ruin everything in your life.Both parties in a successful marriage are able to giveand receive communication from their spouse on anysubject.
Life is miserable if you have no one to openlycommunicate with. Friendships are based oncommunication. The lack of friends or a spouse tocommunicate with often leads to mental problems.
So the first communication skill you need is to getout there and talk.
Unfortunately, on some topics, you've learned to watchwhat you say, to keep it under your hat, to zip it up.
"So that is the basic lesson that anybody learns inthis universe. They learn to keep their mouth shut,and it's the wrong lesson. When in doubt, talk. Whenin doubt, communicate." - L. Ron Hubbard
Whenever you have doubts about something, COMMUNICATE!Talk, talk, talk until the problem resolves. When youfeel stress, disagreement or resistance between youand someone near you, the wrong thing to do is ignorethe problem. Instead, start communicating.
When you know you should say something, say it! Forexample, an employee knows another employee isembezzling money and so says something to the employeeand/or boss. A doctor knows he must talk to a aboutthe patient's rude behavior to the office staff. Anemployer knows she must discuss poor performanceissues with some employees.
Take the bull by the horns. Move ahead in life. Spitit out.
If you're worried about the consequences of sayingsomething, you can ask first. Examples:
"Lisa, I want to say something about your driving tohelp keep you out of accidents, but I don't want toupset you. Can I tell you what I think or should Ikeep my mouth shut?"
"Boss, should I tell you if I think you are giving mebad advice?"
"John, our marriage means so much to me I don't wantto say anything that would jeopardize it. But I havedone something wrong and I'm sorry I did it. I thinkit would be good for our relationship if I told you.Don't you think it's best if we are 100% honest witheach other?"
"Can you listen to something unfortunate I have to sayand remain calm? Are you ready?"
In the long run, you are always better off bycommunicating. Take responsibility and talk. Stayingsilent solves nothing.
Copyright © 2004
Fernando Soave CEO CUTTING EDGE MLMhttp://www.cuttingedgemlm.tk Free Cutting Edge MLMNewsletter. Fernando Soave is the author of "CuttingEdge MLM News." He has been in marketing for 20 yearsand is helping individuals succeed online. Visit hissite to find out how you can get free reports.
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