Meerkat Prompts: Profound Advice
I don’t know if it’s the most profound piece of advice I’ve ever been given, but I remember a former manager of mine advising me on my first steps into management. His words stuck with me, and I have tried to keep to this philosophy ever since.
Basically, if you find yourself in a position where you have to raise your voice, you have already failed. You’ve managed that situation poorly, and missed a number of off-ramps to get away from it. If you manage people and situations calmly but firmly, you won’t need to end up shouting, which tends to make you look full of bluster and little else.
I’ve tried to apply this practice to other aspects of my life. Shouting and screaming and snapping rarely accomplishes anything. I am not inclined to respect people to take to such feats in a bid to coerce or manipulate me. I won’t do it to others because it serves no purpose other than to make me look like a foaming-at-the-mouth idiot. A cool head will achieve more than an angry one.
Unfortunately, some people cave into angry and harsh words. A prime example would be when customer services of any given company give into an aggressive customer’s demands, thus undermining the store team. It’s demoralising, but sadly there are moments when being sharp and snarkly pays off, and so it happens again, and again, though occasionally such customers do get rebuked, and that is very satisfying to see.
In short, the advice is about staying calm and measured, and about being calm and measured from the word go. Life is easier and smoother if we’re not biting each other’s heads off, least of all as a first resort.
‘Kat Comments