I've Been Thinking...

About how all of a sudden, work and life seem to be parallel worlds. With the movement from the industrial age (we made things), to the intellectual age (we provide service), work and life now imitate each other. Both environments are about relationships, emotions, talents and passions. We work well when we are human at work. We live life well when we are fully human at home. The formula for success in one is now the formula for success in the other.

There are many areas that are now important in both life and work but let's focus on two: communication and knowing value. Life and work are about creating the right personalized response; no one wants a "one size fits all" response. Our employees want what they want - so do our customers and so do our families. Our communication must be customized for each person. And we must learn what value is for each person to be able to determine the right response. As we learn these at work, we can apply them at home…and as we learn them at home, we can apply them at work. Our worlds have now provided us with one great learning environment - let's use it to get great in building strong relationships everywhere. Let's review these two areas in greater detail:

Communicate

"You never listen to what I say." This could be a line from a spouse, an employee or a customer. All have critical consequences and the steps to improve them are virtually the same. Learning to ask great questions and then really listen is a millennial skill. Working diligently to be understood and to understand dramatically improves relationships, moves information and drives performance. Thus, learning great communication skills will have specific benefits at work and at home.

Tips:

Get good at listening by not interrupting or finishing the other's sentences.
Learn communication styles - understand yours and start to see with whom it works well and with whom it works poorly. Try to modify your style to match the style of the person you are speaking with.
Be present when communicating; maintain eye contact, nod your head, stay focused.
Clear the distractions and barriers during your conversation. This could be noise, heat, time of day, other people, etc. Distractions shut communication down.

Know value

The best definition of value I have heard is "Value is doing the right thing, for the right person, every day, all the time." In other words, value is about finding out enough information about another person (using great communication skills) and then using the information to create the right response. And as you can imagine, value is personal; value for one is not the same as value for another. And our success in today's business world is to know what each customer wants (and what each employee wants), how they want it and when they want it. When we respond in a way that they see as valuable, we build the relationship.

Now consider this same definition of value at home. If I know what value is for each of my children, and then work to constantly provide it, I have the ability of building trust, showing interest and building a powerful relationship between us. When we spend the time to understand the other (through strong communication skills) we are ready to develop the right response to what they need, feel, want and ultimately value.

Tips:

Consider asking (key) customers what they want, need and value and share this information with your teammates.
Take your spouse, and/or child out for a coffee or dessert and talk about the things that are important to him/her. Use this information to respond or act during each week to show that you listen and care.
Spend time with employees, at least monthly, to find out what they think, whether what they need and value are in place in their roles, and their level of engagement and interest. Relationships are built one coffee at a time.

Practice makes perfect. And today we are fortunate enough to be able to practice great life and work skills at home and in the workplace. Capitalize on your Human EDGE - that ability to connect with other people; it is the source of your powerful performance.

Humanetrics offers education, programs, keynotes and consulting in the area of the Human EDGE. The programs are highly interactive, practical and direct showing the way to shift from industrial age to intellectual age management.

Take Action

This month we focus on work and life parallels - how work and life seem to replicate each other. Talk is cheap…actions count. So now that you know about the work/life parallels, it is time to create a Parallel Plan. Commit today to building a plan and to reviewing it each day to see if the plan needs updating and to stay on track. Consider adding the following to your Parallel Plan:
Read the book "The Color Code" by Dr. Taylor Hartmann or some other communication/personality test to determine your communication style.
Based on your style, practice communicating with others who do not have your style. See how you have to approximate others' styles to be understood. Practice at home and practice at work.
Commit to listening better. Build a plan and practice each day.
Create a value plan for each employee. This plan should identify what employees want, need and value and review it with employees to see if they have what they need in the workplace. Make changes as necessary to show employees that what matters to them, matters to you.
Create a value plan for your spouse and kids. Spend time with them to see what they value, what their talents are and what interests them. Then build a daily plan to do something to address this. It could be a card, a note, a trip to the mall or an afternoon fishing. Learn to use what you know to build the relationship. Show them that what matters to them also matters to you.

Go to our Resources Page and review our articles, reading list and links - all to help you learn about your Human EDGE - and how it drives your success at home and at work.

Your Tools

Humanetrics wants you to think your way to success. To help you with this we introduce BLOGucation (Daily Power Learning), our Success Formula process and worksheet, our programs and our keynotes. Remember that you can also find great resources, articles and links to some of today's best thinking and sites. Use the sources, review the articles... get smart. And when you need some help to raise your performance to a power, contact us and let's get started together. Until then, use what you find on the site to be your best; your employees and your customers need you to be great.

The Humanetrics Mission

We offer practical, dynamic, innovative and customized education and consulting to significantly advance our clients' personal and professional performance.