Phil Gerbyshak extended me a kind and generous offer: To guest blog over at his place, Make It Great!
I invite you to check out my post Shift Your Thinking About Conflict. Here’s a taste:
“Genuine dialogue isn’t about talking. Though we tend to think of dialogue as the act of conversing, it’s not.
“Genuine dialogue is about learning. It’s about inviting your curiosity to the table instead of your tongue. It’s not possible to talk and learn much at the same time.”
While you’re there, I hope you’ll spend some time checking out Phil’s site and all it has to offer. If you ever have the chance to hear one of Phil speeches, it’s well worth it. He’s an inspiration.
Thanks, Phil!
Copyright © 2007 by Tammy Lenski. All rights reserved.
Tammy – your article was brilliant, and I’m glad you’re sharing it back with your readers. It’s one that made me stand up and take notice, and it reminded me of how simple dialogue can be, and yet how complicated we (okay, I) can make it.
I’m going to shut up now and learn something. Thank you!
Hey there, Phil! Nicely said…good dialogue is elegantly simple with the right mindframe and we sure can complexify it!
Great article. I am going to remember those 3 magic questions at the end. Very powerful.
You bring out all the quotes from my grandfather Tammy. Are you sure you didn’t know him? Another of his saying was:
“God gave you 2 ears and 1 mouth so you would listen twice as much as you talk.”
Anthony Russo
Conferencing Consultant
Great America Networks Conferencing
arusso@ganconference.com
http://www.ganconference.com
312-432-5377
Hey there, Anthony – I’ve always loved that quote. It IS like I knew your grandfather!
These three suggestions will find their way into our team meetings in December. Customer Service is definitely a situation in which the adage seems to be “get it done, next, please” however, I think the extra time taken to ask and find out will pay off HUGE dividends.
Thanks for writing on Phil’s Blog.
Brandon, I appreciate hearing that the questions will find their way to a new group! I agree with you about some customer service approaches and would love to hear how my questions help your group reconsider that. Good luck!