Got The Keys To The City, But The Latch Is On...?
Method and Red (Men, respectively) may have been a bit, ahem, intoxicated when they spat those ☝️ill rhymes, BUT, no truer words have stayed in my brain’s back pocket since 2001.
This is a perfect example of the way communication, or oftentimes the lack thereof, works. Everything could be going off without a hitch, in your business, in your personal life, heck, with your dog! But then that roadblock, or in this example, the latch…the latch on communication…just does not budge!
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about writing this post and talking about exactly how important communication is in LIFE, and I’m glad I waited because, after last week, I have an even more perfect example to share of how people who know how to communicate effectively, are by FAR superior to those who don’t. And no disrespect to anyone who is an introvert…there is no direct correlation to being an effective communicator while still being an introvert. There are MANY ways in this day and age specifically, to communicate. You don’t have to be an out-going, outspoken person to be an effective communicator. In fact, oftentimes those whose voices you hear the most, are the least proficient communicators.
So in this “real-time” example, what could have been a horrible outcome with the loss of a great client, ended up being the purpose behind this post and an amazing learning opportunity.
In all honesty, I’ve been feeling pretty defeated lately, with people’s lack of communication. So much error and confusion could be avoided if people just learned how to communicate better, and so last week, ironically, was just a breath of fresh air.
The story –
Last week I reached out to someone who I really admire in the digital space, and I channeled my LA days, and name-dropped. I didn’t make anything up; I included the names of people who I've actually done work for. I just decided, in the moment, to use my resources to grab this person’s attention because I felt like I would probably not be noticed if I didn’t highlight a common connection. Heck, I was just proud of the fact that I hit send on an email I had thought about writing all week!
Well, things went haywire and a mass of confusion ensued, and it was all my fault. The person mentioned didn’t want to be mentioned because they didn’t know I was going to mention them, and so on and so forth. I felt absolutely terrible and the utmost wave of dread completely washed over me. My heart literally felt like it had sunk into my left pinky toe.
In prior situations of disarray, especially recently, my experience had been with people closing off or not explaining things and disappearing. Well, to my luck, in this case, I was immediately alerted by my client, with a full explanation of everything that happened on the back end of my email’s sent status. We were able to have a completely normal, mature and understanding conversation and it was just the best thing ever!
I apologize for my dramatics but…
My faith in humanity has been restored!
So the moral of the story…COMMUNICATE BETTER, PEOPLE! Put your big girl pants on and just do it. Also, ask permission if you want to use someone’s name for an intro.