Tuesday; June 16

          Do we make people guess about what we expect from them?  The recent decisions we have been required to make in light of the pandemic have reminded me how import information is to us.  With the changes and amendments to changes that have been handed down by government have usually come with details about the changes as well as guidance as to what those changes entail.  No, they don’t answer all the questions (and the information they provide may not be what we have wanted to hear), but all in all – at least in our part of the world – the government has done a pretty good job about telling us what was and wasn’t allowed. 
          As I got to thinking about this, it got me to wondering if I have been as clear to others about what I expect from them as I could have been or should have been.  I can assume that my wife knows what I am thinking, but does she?  We might expect certain behavior from my children or our employees, but do they really understand what we are wanting from them?  We might think that people know what to expect from us or our organization, but are our policies or procedures clear to them?  As I reflected on this I began to realize that it takes a lot less time being clear and precise in providing information than it does in trying to fix the confusion.  Being upfront with information may need to be blunt in the beginning, but it saves a lot of confusion or hurt feelings later on.
          Do people really know what to expect from us?  Do people accurately understand what we expect from them?  Let’s be kind and clear at the onset so that we don’t have to adjust behaviors or repair relationships caused by misunderstandings.
          Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Thursday; May 3

I have a fish tank that allows my three Bettas (Larry, Darrell and Darrell) to live in the same structure, but remain hidden from each other – well sort of.   When I go to feed the fish, I believe that one of the Darrell’s can sort of see that the other Darrell is getting fed and he will linger over on that side of the tank even after I put his food in his tank.   I have to tap on the side of the tank where his food is floating to help him refocus and eat.   I get the impression that he is so interested in what is going on in the other Darrell’s tank that he can’t enjoy his own food. I have been told that the brain of a fish is pretty small – which explains their inability to process “blessings”, but are we guilty of the same malady as Darrell?   Are we so worried (or consumed) by what happens to the people around us that we fail to realize what is going on with us?   Are we envious of the blessings that others are receiving and end up missing out on what we have been given?   Are w
Read more

Thursday; February 14

         While most of us are familiar with today being Valentine’s Day, there are some who actually refer to February 14 th as “St. Valentine’s Day”.  This title is often affixed to a criminally historic event known as “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” on February 14, 1929 in Chicago, but that is another story for another time.  Not knowing much about the history of “Saint Valentine” I did a little research and found out he was a Roman religious leader who was martyred in 269 AD.  According to my limited research Valentine was killed because of his encouragement of Roman men (especially soldiers) to marry which was in violation of Claudias’ edict that prohibited marriage to keep their minds singularly focused on their task of defending the Empire.  Somehow, from this beginning – and possibly embellished by Chaucer – St. Valentine became intertwined with the concept of romantic love.           I am not really sure how February 14 th became connected with love, but inspired by thi
Read more

Wednesday; December 6

What does it mean to be a leader? I subscribe to the belief that a leader is someone who seeks the best for others and works with them to achieve their potential. There are others; however, who define leadership as the ability to have a vision and the tenacity to get their own way. Leaders who are this way are often portrayed as having developed the maturity to manipulate people to do things their way. However, is the ability to drive people in our direction mature or is it childish? The Christians of the 1st Century came from a lot of different backgrounds and had to work hard to work together. As the Apostle Paul challenged Christians in the city of Ephesus he challenged them to accept individual differences, “… until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. “ (Ephesians 4:13). Bossiness was not to be viewed as a sign of maturity, a willingness to wo
Read more