Laura Wolfe Coaching LLC

Supporting the Evolution of Careers, Leaders,

& Climate Consciousness

No Time to Write

By

whoosh - it's gone

whoosh – it’s gone

Whoosh. Another week gone and no time to write. So instead of my thoughts, I’m sharing the thoughts of others that have stayed with me. Hope something from this list makes you think too.

Would love to hear what you think about any of these.

Lessons Along the Road

By

road and horizonA favorite question of my mentor Michele Woodward is Why did you draw this experience to you?

A client of mine is a great example and here is his story. Hal did sales for 10 years at a company with a co-worker who was described by people as a ‘pompous, arrogant, condescending, know-it-all, blow-hard’.

Hal moved on to another opportunity and quickly made a big sale to a fast growing business and then in succession made several more. One of the owners told him they had purchased the same and similar products from another company in the past but really couldn’t stand doing business with that organization because of an extremely arrogant sales person.

Why did Hal draw 10 years of working with his former colleague? Because he needed to really understand what arrogance looks and acts like.

Why did you draw this experience to you? is such a revealing question.

Unfortunately, some lessons take a long time. If pain and frustration are involved, even a brief period seems like forever.

And about the bad stuff – it’s not a failure but a lesson on the road to figuring things out. I believe I heard Tom Peters explain that in Silicon Valley having worked for failed start-ups is a positive because so much is learned from those experiences.

Would love to hear what you are thinking.

That Very Moment

By

Lucky

escapee #1

My heart is still pounding. I just drove past my sister’s house on the way home from Wal-Mart. Her dogs had escaped the yard and were running down the very busy street. I stopped, ran, grabbed and returned them to inside the fence. She was not home

This right place, right time situation happened because while at the store I decided to slow down, to not rush through like a maniac, to smile at people and endeavor to have a pleasant grocery shopping experience. I even chatted with the cashier for an extra minute because no one was in line.

That’s why I was there at that very moment. If I had passed by 30 seconds before or 30 seconds after I would not have seen nor saved the pups because those two are very fast.

Rose bud

escapee #2

Sometimes when you focus on making the most of things, even a mundane task, you end up where you need to be at the exact right time.

Whew.

 

Have you ever had a right place/right time experience?

Understanding

By

old phoneGee whiz, communicating with people is so complex nowadays. I can think of more than half-a-dozen channels right off the bat: phone, e-mail, direct message, fb, twitter, linkedin, text and the US Mail.

I am no communication expert but want to share my thoughts anyway.

You have to understand all these channels if you want to effectively communicate across the spectrum. Communication preference may be the newest facet of diversity.

Businesses should communicate with customers in the customer’s preferred mode, especially if it’s about a problem they are having with your service or product. If your customer fb messages you, reply via fb message. If they e-mail you, reply by e-mail. If they call you, call them back. I spend a lot of time on the phone while working so my preference is to deal with other matters by e-mail.

I’ve never seen this one written up but often hear people voice frustration because of it. Contact someone once and then wait for their response. Unless it is a real emergency, multiple messages can be very annoying.

The complexity is driven by technology and technology is constantly changing. You know the drill – be nimble, adaptable, flexible, and open to change.

 

As always, I’d love to hear what your thinking on this is.