My boss has interrupted one of my PCM's after just getting off the phone with an employee's girlfriend. Evidently, the conversation was not particularly pleasant, as she began screaming at all of my folks with TEARS of RAGE streaming down her face. She was screaming at them that she never wants them to get personal phone calls at work ever again....She was stuttering, blabbering, crying, and basically acting like a fool. The person on the phone apparently got pretty mouthy with her and called her a few choice names. It was quite the scene.
I also chuckle inside when I hear fellow management give these demanding, condescending, accusatory PCM's that never get their points across and end up pissing everyone off. Some people make communication seem so difficult. I have a personal technique that is simple, yet fairly effective. I call it the "We vs You" principles. Not in the "Us vs Them" vein, but the actual words 'we' and 'you'.
If a manager would replace 'you' with 'we' every time they were to say it, the message comes across much differently and more apt to be well received.
Ok folks.....You need to get out there today and do this and that. You need to do it better, or you will have more of this to do. I think you need to rethink how you are doing things so you can improve yourself.
OR
Ok folks.....We need to get out there today and do this and that. We need to do it better or we will have more of this to do. I think we need to rethink how we are doing things so we can improve ourselves.
While the rigid, die hard teamster will be quick to point out that 'we' never includes management, it's a simple psychological mechanism that promotes a 'team' message, and softens the message. When "you" is used, people will subconsciously take things personally. When 'we' is used, it's less infringing on a personal level, and more likely to be well received. I'm sure some chapter in a psychology book touches on this.....
As a side note, my thread "Interesting Call-ins" was no attempt at mockery of bargaining units in general. Management folks and supervisors call-in too....
