OTs listen with their ears, eyes and hearts!
Hello everyone! I hope you are well and practicing "Carpe Diem!" I am making every attempt to do so today after yesterday! Did I hear you say, "What happened yesterday?" I thought so. Okay, let me explain and give you all the gory details.
My husband's winter, spring, summer and fall project has been to add a second bathroom to our basement. And he is doing an awesome job! We special-ordered a magnificent door with a window that gives the impression that you are entering a spa. (This makes quite a statement considering that the bathroom is 24 square feet!) We bought the door at a local, independent lumber yard that we are simply in love with...they have everything you could imagine for home improvements...and they are now opening this terrific Main Street with model kitchens and baths. Well, we picked out the door, the window, and...now remember this part...the stain we wanted. Ta Da...we are all excited and badabing...the order goes in. Seven weeks later, I called and baboom...the door is in and they deliver it. Fizzle...it is the correct door and window but it is unfinished! So, I dig out my order receipt and place that fateful call to the lumber yard. I say fateful because the lines of communication were apparently down that day!
Did you ever hear the funny saying, "The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone to blame it on (Robert Bloch")? Well, that gentleman was on the other end of the phone line that day. When I called and explained my concern that we had purchased (and paid for) a finished door, he explained to me that I was responsible for ensuring that his employee had, indeed, ordered a finished door. Okay, okay, you're thinking, like I did, "Well, the customer does bear some of the responsibility for the correctness of the order." So, I read over the copy of my order and it's written in "lumberyard-ese." I had no way of deciphering if the stain was ordered or not. Anyway, at this point, I'm a little hot under the collar (my husband would question the "little" part) because I JUST KNEW that the gentleman on the other end of the line was "smiling"! Well, not 30 minutes later, the employee that prepared the order called to tell me that my door was in and wanted to set up delivery!!! Huh? (What's that expression about the left and right hand?) Well, I explained the situation to her and asked about the stain. She, in a calm and direct voice informed me that "You couldn't have ordered a door with stain because special order doors do not come finished." Now, remember the part above where I indicated that we "picked out the stain we wanted?" Silly me, I assumed that meant that we were ordering a finished door! To make a long, long story finally come to an end, my point is that I felt not only foolish and confused but a little bit like the fall guy.
Last week, I was reading a terrific blog site, http://writingroads.com/blog/, where Julie Roads writes about her experience with a cable repair guy. It's titled, "Oh, you wanted me to thank you for being decent?" I couldn't help but reflect back on that blog when I was attempting to communicate my confusion to the lumberyard employees. It seemed that no matter which direction I came from, their answers were basically the same. There was no mention of my feelings nor any attempts to reflect back upon the order to determine where things went awry. I wasn't asking for blame to be placed; I simply wanted to figure out how I could have been so confused about picking out a stain that didn't exist. Frankly, I would not have purchased a door that needed to be stained (because my hubby has this idea that I love to stain furniture and would have expected me to dig right in!).
So where am I headed here? It's all about connecting with the people you interact with each day. The word, "connect", as I defined in my first blog, is derived from the Latin words ‘com' and ‘nectere' meaning ‘to bind'." As we travel through each day, we are building relationships with others on many different levels. Dr. Stephen Covey, an internationally respected leadership authority, writes that the most important principle for building interpersonal relationships is "Seek first to understand, then to be understood (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)." He prescribes the use of "empathic listening", a combination of communication skills and awareness, as we connect with the people in our lives. As OTs, we use our eyes, our ears and our hearts to listen. We strive to be vigilant in observing our clients' body language, as well as their skill levels to determine their needs. We recognize the importance of stepping back from the conversation to truly listen and hear our clients' words. And, we are cognizant of the significance of therapeutic use of self to connect with them. Achieving a high level of customer satisfaction is the rule versus the exception with us. And blame shifting is not accepted.
True, we are not perfect (we aren't?), and there are days when our inner lines of communication are down. But for the most part, we go to our workplaces feeling like we will do good things that day. Some of my recent experiences as a consumer have been less than satisfying, however. I find myself wanting to hug people that actually smile when I walk into their place of business. Why should I be so excited over a simple smile? I think it's because I feel that these people like their jobs and want me to be happy with the way they perform that job. Homer Simpson (don't pretend you don't know who he is) commented: "If you don't like your job, don't strike! You just go in every day and do a really half-hearted job! That's the American Way!" Holy cow, Homer, I sure hope you are wrong.
Okay, now it's your turn! I would enjoy hearing about the ways that you have connected with people in your lives. What techniques do you use to make people feel important and heard? What makes you feel listened to? Food for thought....until next time -
Stay connected!
Katherine