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Inspiration
Applying the 'think before you speak' maxim
iven the diversity of business owners in need hand. If you stay on topic, you'll give a professional
of payments and consulting services, and impression. If you don't, you may come across as an
given the range of people working in the airhead. Assessing the helpfulness of a statement is
G industry, it's clear that to take advantage of also of great importance when speaking with people
the vast opportunities available, payments professionals you manage. A preponderance of negative feedback
need superb communication skills. They need to know will never be helpful to people you are supposed to
when to speak up and when to keep quiet, how to commu- be guiding.
nicate good news and bad, how to impart knowledge and
provide guidance, and how to be firm but not offensive. • Inspiring: The importance of inspiring information
How do you do that, though, when assumptions that may is that it is motivational; it brightens people's outlook
have been sound five or 10 years ago are no longer sound? and gets them to act. Discouraging or dull statements
do the opposite.
The good news is that though much has changed in the
work world through the years, some best practices remain • Necessary: Consider whether what you're about
constant, and these provide tools to navigate changing to say will actually move the discussion or project
situations. One old standby that deserves to be dusted off forward. If it's a statement that, while relevant, will
is the acronym THINK, which helps quickly assess what just show off your knowledge and thereby serve as a
they feel the urge to say before they say it. It provides distraction, it's not going to be useful.
questions to ask yourself when applying the age-old • Kind: This is the last letter in the acronym, but it's
advice: think before you speak. by far the most important. If you offend or hurt
Guiding questions the feelings of a colleague, that can set your project
and potentially even your entire company back,
And those questions are, is what you want to say: and repairing the damage can take time. Always
keep kindness and mutual respect in mind when
• True: Is what you're about to say factual, or is it interacting with colleagues, partners and merchant
coming from an unexamined, emotional place? customers alike.
Emotion-driven statements can interfere with your
ability to communicate effectively and sometimes These steps come easily to some and not to others. Chances
ruin relationships when the truth comes out. Sticking are, though, if you're succeeding in the payments business,
with the truth is a way to ensure misinformation and you're already communicating effectively. Applying the
bad feelings don't gum up your working relationships acronym is likely to just make you a bit better than you
and projects. already are.
• Helpful: Sometimes a statement can be true but
useless or even detrimental to the task at hand. One
example of this is throwing out information that may
be interesting but has nothing to do with the task at
Kate Gillespie, President and CEO
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