Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 774 Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:40 pm Post subject: Is That True?
Joe always prided himself on his honesty. He always considered his dealings with others to be above board and considers himself a good person. Speaking with others may leave a very different impression. This resulted in two major problems for Joe. Too few clients and too much employee turnover.
Joe tells the client, “The service SHOULD be ready this evening.” When the client arrives it is not ready. The client feels they have been lied to, Joe feels no commitment was made, he said, “SHOULD be ready.” Technically he may not be at fault, but people do not always, judge a business technically. Rather people tend to go with the spirit of a statement, rather than the letter of the statement.
Joe does not intentionally lie to people, rather he would speaks in a vague manner. For instance, he might hire an employee, and say, “We will review your performance and you will get a raise in 90 days.” He would then add, “If everything is going well.” The employee hears his offer, works very hard and to him all is well. Joe on the other hand, sees the company performing below his expectations. To him all is not going well. In 90 days the employee is ready for the promise to be fulfilled but Joe feels no promise has been made. He said, “If all is well.” The results are predictable.
Many things people may not consider as lying may have the same effect. Not all lies are the same, though the consequence usually are. A few of the possible lies include, lies of:
Omission; Leading people to believe what is not so by leaving out information.
Distortion; Saying thing that could mean multiple things (Joe’s case.)
Relevance; Changing the importance of the information. Playing something up or down, for our own benefit.
Clarity; Not giving enough information (possibly also Joe’s case.)
Joe may be very surprised to be called a liar. However, his manner of speaking is causing him a great deal of problems. What advice would you give to Joe?
Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 774 Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:15 pm Post subject:
Eric J. wrote:
Do you consider Joe wrong if his intentions were good.
Hi Eric,
Yes I do. Businesses will be judged by their clients, based on actions and not intentions. Perhaps more precisely, the results of their actions. If a business intends to provide good service, yet renders poor service, from inability or negligence, the client's experience will be the same.
It's like an incompetent service person that needlessly replaces unneeded components. I do not feel the result is any better than the shyster that knowing replaces unneeded component. Thanks Eric.
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