I was having a discussion with a friend the other day and he was complaining about how younger people in today’s workforce “just don’t get it”. He opined they don’t understand the basics of how to provide great customer service, communicate properly, problem solve. I reminded him not all younger people should be stereotyped like that because I do know younger people in the workforce who do have those skills. And besides I posited, if our younger generation truly doesn’t have those skills, isn’t it the older generations that failed to teach them those skills?
After a sideways look and a grumble about “the basics” interlaced with a swear word or two he changed the subject.
So in the spirit of teaching “the basics” I made up an acronym to contribute to the cause:
Be Early
Nothing drives me crazier than people being late to a meeting. If you strive to be early to a meeting or on a deadline, you’ll always at least be on time. I work in an industry where literally time means money, so I’m hyper-aware of this paradigm.
Always Listen
It seems these days people prefer to talk about themselves rather than listen. If you’re in sales this is an especially important habit to learn. People will give you clues about what they’re really looking for if you intently listen to what they say.
Say You Don’t Know
If you don’t know the answer to a question don’t just make something up that sounds good. You should be more afraid of being wrong than admitting you don’t know the answer to a question. Admit you’re not sure of the answer, promise to find out the answer and then follow through.
Integrity is Key
It seems honesty doesn’t have its place in today’s world. The rarer integrity becomes the more important it will be to put into practice.
Check and Double Check
If you quickly perform a task and make a mistake it often takes more time to fix it and deal with the ramifications than it does to simply proof your work in the first place.
Synergy
Some people seem to thrive on causing friction in the world around them. It takes much less energy to cooperate with the people around you. Life is difficult enough without producing more strife.
If we all strive to follow the BASICS wouldn’t our lives be more relaxed? Perhaps that’s the next acronym to tackle: RELAX. While you do that I’m going on VACATION.
