We all know how it feels to have our time wasted.
Have you ever been in a meeting/presentation/conference call that seemed to have no purpose? Or where the speaker could not get to the point? Or where you wondered why you were even there?
[Pause for you to nod in agreement…]
Have you ever listened to someone and felt they were completely wasting your time? Have you ever listened to someone and thought to yourself, “This person needs to be better at presenting”?
[Pause for more agreement…]
Now, think about this… Have you ever considered whether people feel this way when they listen to you?
[Pause… just pause…]
That is the harder question. We tend to tolerate in ourselves behaviors that we will not tolerate from others. This happens all the time, in a variety of ways. We, as humans, tend to get indignant when others act in a certain way, but then tolerate (or perhaps are simply unaware of) similar or identical behavior in ourselves. Sometimes we justify why the behavior is OK in our case, because the situation is “different.” Other times we are simply unaware of the double standard we are allowing ourselves to live in. But regardless of the “why,” many of us are susceptible to this.
So, I encourage you to spend a few minutes and consider your own skills. Are you able to clearly articulate the point? Are you able to get to the point, with clarity and brevity? Can you create context and relevance? Do you communicate value? Do you make it easy for people to remember what you say? Think about the communication behaviors in others that drive you crazy… and then ask yourself (or even better, ask someone else) if you do the same thing.
Are you a good caretaker of other people’s time? The first step in solving any problem is realizing there is one. Is there a problem here?
Think about it. Competitive advantage awaits you.
Have a great day.
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