Byrnesys Blabberings

Everyday I deal with a lot of people, sometimes it can be that I speak to them often but for only a week as a project starts up, others are every few days over the year, others everyday, and its made me realise how much other people, even people down the end of the phone can change your day.

Yesterday for example I ended up working late, and then continued on the phone for my hour drive home and then still recieved phone calls when I got home pertaining to projects I had been working on. Fortunatly I was speaking to a very pleasent guy who was a client and was apologetic about the disturbance to plans that had been pre-layed earlier that day that he was now changing at the last  minuite for a project we had been involved in. This phone call was contrasted by another phone call from a different guy in the same company as the guy I was speaking to last night who was much harsher, un-apologetic, and communicated in demands. Now I am more than willing to accept that the second guy had a bad day etc, and was communicating out of a desire to get things done, but as a Christian I am challenged, that however much things need done, I need to value the person.

Its something I think is important to remember, because all of last year in my Christian perspectives on medical methodology study I realised how the care for the individual as a person should always take priority over the efficiency and task orientated approach. In business, as in healthcare, it is right and proper to have targets and aims, but it is certainly not too much to ask that we a) recognise that they are people, with feelings, family and a life! and b)appreciate the help and flexibility that other people offer us within a business setting.

The guy who called me this morning probably saw me as a sideline to remember to let a contracter know of a last minuite change of plan, and very often these tones, and attitudes that he displayed can be displayed when we are talking to a service provider, we demand as if we are filling out a form to a robot. I equally am constantly calling our business travel agency to sort out various logistical things, and have found it much more rewarding from both a personal and business perspective to really take interest in the agent and build rapport, another handy tip, if you struggle to remember names and your always (like me) on the phone to people who you’ve never met, keep a little piece of paper, or post it with the names of people you are speaking to and take some notes.

For Example: With the travel agents I speak to about 8 different agents, I try and take their names and something down that I can pick up on at a later date, like a funny incident or something they had mentioned about themselves, for other contracters (many who work at home) I intend to try and build up a little list of their wives names, as they always seem to pick up the phone and know mine immediately. These things may seem a little contrived, and maybe even ingenuine, but I am hoping that they can brighten peoples day a bit by knowing that I remember them, and more that that by writing them down Ill begin just to remember them.

Do you have any tips for remembering people and details?