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What we say can determine our destiny
The future of your job may be in a word
by John Graham
It’s the end of a long flight and an even longer day. You’re
anxious to get home, even though it will be a late dinner. Only two exit
lanes are open at the airport garage and drivers are lined up to pay their
parking fees. As you wait, one line moves faster than the other. One cashier
handles three cars in the time that it takes the other to send one on its
way. Figure it out, one is three times as productive as the other.
The difference doesn’t go unnoticed. A few days later, the slower
of the two employees is gone, replaced by a faster cashier.
While getting the job done right is essential, getting it done efficiently
is just as important. Fail either test, and a new face appears.
There are other clear signs that an employee is on thin ice. They reflect
basic attitudes about work and what’s expected on the job. When you
hear them, you take note because they send the wrong message:
• “But nobody told me…” This is
a classic, with a life of its own as it’s repeated thousands of times
each day.
Call it the “I’m not to blame…because I didn’t know”
excuse. Candidly, this is among the worst. There are many variations. For
example, “Gee, I’m just the receptionist….” Or,
“I don’t know what caused it. I’m just the Saturday serviceman,”
as one elevator repairman said.
In essence, this is the “anti-responsibility affirmation” and
it reveals how certain employees feel about their relationship to their
work.
The “nobody told me” reaches to the heart of what a job is all
about: initiative. Or in this case, a lack of it. Simply put, “Why
not ask?”
• “I didn’t think there was a rush.”
This is one of the more revealing responses. The first three words are the
key: “I didn’t think.” Better yet, “I didn’t
give it any thought at all.”
There are variations to this particular theme. For example, “I didn’t
know you wanted it done now.” Once again, what must seem like a perfectly
valid excuse for a lack of performance by the person saying it, comes across
to the supervisor or customer quite differently, as someone who doesn’t
think about what they are doing.
• “They haven’t gotten back to me.”
Whenever this is used, you can almost always be sure the individual is disorganized.
It’s the “I forgot to follow up” excuse. Or just as likely,
it applies to the person who just realized that the meeting is either tomorrow
morning or a half-hour from now and dashes off an email or picks up the
phone and leaves a hurried message.
“How else have you attempted to make contact? Mail? Email? A personal
visit? Have you been as persistent on this task as you would be in getting
scarce concert tickets?”
Let’s get real! “They haven’t gotten back to me”
is a lame excuse because it’s simply attempting to blame someone else
for your lack of effort.
• “I left messages…” This, of course,
is the other side of the same coin as “They haven’t gotten back
to me.”
Translated, “I left messages” says, “I honestly believe
that my responsibility begins and ends with leaving a message. What else
can you expect?”
Let’s get through this quickly: Leaving messages doesn’t
count. It’s nothing. Zero. It’s worthless. Only connecting
counts. “I left a message” is an attempt to pass the blame to
someone else for your failure to get the job done. It’s like saying,
“That naughty old person didn’t get back me.”
• “I haven’t heard back from my email….”
This is heard so often, it no longer makes much, if anything, of an impression.
Because it’s taken for granted, it continues to be used. “OK,
you haven’t heard. How long are you going to wait? What other steps
might be taken to complete the communication?
It seems that behind many of the excuse phrases is a failure to understand
the nature of work. “In the coming era, jobs will be tasks you do,
not something you have,” wrote Price Pritchett, Ph.D. That
era is here; we live in a tasks-completed world.
A word to the awake: If you don’t figure out how to get the needed
results, you may not be around to check your email.
• “How can anyone expect us to….”
The demands are increasing. No doubt about it. And they aren’t about
to go away. But if we don’t turn it around for the customer, either
internal or external, someone else will––and there goes the
business.
Many times, the demands seem ridiculous and you wonder how anyone can make
such unrealistic requests so casually. It wasn’t so long ago that
someone would preface such a request with something like, “I’m
really sorry to put the pressure on you, but I really need this….”
That’s all gone. It’s now just cut to the chase.
• “I thought [insert appropriate person’s name
here] was going to do it.” There it is, again. Someone’s
always thinking. Not working. Thinking. Well, not really thinking. Thinking
that what they’re thinking is thinking isn’t really thinking.
They just think it is.
Thinking involves the processing of information and evaluating it against
objective criteria. So, by anyone’s definition, making an excuse for
yourself by blaming someone else for your lack of thinking isn’t thinking
at all. In fact, it illustrates just the opposite, an inability to think.
And that isn’t a skill that has value on any job.
• “I’ll do it as soon as I can.”
This comment would seem to suggest an interest in responding positively
to a request. Not so. In fact, it’s quite the contrary. Translated,
it might go something like this: “Look, I’m busy. Don’t
bother me now with something else.”
It also represents something of an “It’s all about me”
attitude that’s expressed particularly to co-workers, although it’s
used with external customers.
A more professional approach would be to ask when the person needs the request
completed, the package sent, the letter written, the job printed, project
delivered. And, if necessary, negotiating an agreed-upon time or date.
“I’ll do it as soon as I can” communicates the message
that your priorities may be all that’s important to you.
• “I didn’t have time.” This is
the classic excuse for everything from failing an exam to not having a job
completed by the deadline. How anyone dares to utter the words is beyond
understanding. Why is it no one ever says, “I didn’t make time
to do it”? Why does it seem justifiable to indicate no time was available
for what someone considered important, critical or essential? Why is it
no one seems to recognize that there was time for lunch, for chatting, for
leaving at the end of the day before the job was done? And then in all seriousness
to say, “I didn’t have time.”
Using these words today is entering the danger zone.
• “I’m working on it.” This one
is a step up from “I didn’t have time.” Little translation
is needed for this particular response. It, of course, says, “I haven’t
finished the job.” Or more likely, “I haven’t even thought
about it.” And quite possibly, “I forgot all about it.”
Frankly, “I’m working on it” has come to be synonymous
with “I haven’t even touched it.” Not good.
• “I know there was a deadline, but they held things
up.” This is the old college ploy, proffered to profs. “Can
I have an extension on my term paper? I had to go skiing.” Sound like
nonsense? Not really when you consider that the prof will grant the request!
No one gets points today, keeps a customer or a job by not meeting deadlines.
Period.
• “I got interrupted and didn’t get back to it.”
Same as “I had computer trouble and fell behind.” Or “I
had to attend a meeting that was called on short notice and …..”
The heart of work is managing yourself. This particular excuse lays bare
the fact that the worker is unable to manage tasks effectively. And since
work is totally about tasks today, one’s management skills are a good
indication of an employee’s value.
• “I’ll try.” It’s always
best to leave the best for last. And “I’ll try” is the
very best excuse of all. How anyone who uses these two words could possibly
miss their intent is mystifying to say the least.
Work is about doing––not trying. There are no points for trying.
A similar scenario is the employee who believes that time in grade is, in
itself, justification for a pay increase.
There is no way to avoid the translation of these two words: “I’ll
give it a shot, but don’t fault me if I don’t succeed.”
Believe it or not, we are accountable, not for what we attempt, but for
what we produce.
There they are, a dozen plus one of efficient ways to terminate your employment.
The words we use mean something to us––or we wouldn’t
employ them to express our feelings and attitudes. Words tell us about who
we are and what we believe is important. In a very practical way, words
determine destiny––ours.
© 2004 Graham Communications
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John R. Graham is president of Graham Communications,
a marketing services and sales consulting firm. Mr. Graham is the
author of four books on marketing and sales, including Break the Rules
Selling: Success Strategies that Beat the Competition (Superior Books).
Mr. Graham writes for a variety of marketing and sales columns for
business and trade publications and he presents his Magnet Power presentations
at company and association meetings. He can be contacted at 40 Oval
Rd., Quincy, MA 02170; by telephone at 617-328-0069; by fax at 617-471-1504;
or by email at j_graham@grahamcomm.com. The web site is grahamcomm.com. |
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