We have said many times that “words are everything”! A single word misused, misspoken, or misinterpreted, can do more harm than almost anything else. Often that failure goes totally unnoticed by the person that used the word. In terms of effective communication, it is the responsibility of the “transmitter” to ensure complete and full understanding by the “receiver”. That can be tough to accept by some. Seems that for some folks it is about the opposite, whatever is said, regardless of how poor it is transmitted, the understanding and reception of what is said is up to the “receiver”. Sadly it just does not work well in that construct. You say it, you must make sure that it gets UNDERSTOOD, not just heard. You say it, you write it, you email it along…YOU own it, and the outcome of what is said and all of its consequences.
So be careful what you say. Say it well. Make sure that it gets UNDERSTOOD. Then in all likelihood, to be effective, you will need to say it 8 more times (per the “rule of 9 times”, which says it takes that many repetitions for something new to be comprehended).
With this premise at work, we will focus on ONE word as we close out on the CUSP concepts and implementation. With about 60% of our audience having English as a second language I believe that this one word is key to everyone’s effective human engagement and we can’t afford to lose anything in the translation.
This word is EMPATHY!
There is a wonderful lady by the name of Brene Brown. She is brilliant in what she writes and says and the world would be a better place if we all spent some time with her studying the “human experience”. Her podcast “DARE to LEAD” is amazing.
My youngest daughter sent me a link to a YouTube video of Brene’s a while ago after one of my blogs dug into empathy a bit (I would never have guessed that my “kids” were paying attention to what their “ole man” was saying, but it seems so 😊 a bit). In this piece, Brene talks about the difference between sympathy and empathy and the value of the latter. It is worth listening to all 9 times needed to help it sink in… AND sharing it around the house and working with family and friends to have the conversation about how you can serve others well with a full understanding of EMPATHY.
Words ARE everything, and in my journey as an MCHP employee, my time to share my words is quickly drawing to a close. In 2 weeks' time I will author my last blog as SVP WW Client Engagement – Microchip Technology Inc. This is NOT the end of the journey, just a shifting of gears……
Cue the video…..
OK, LET’S ROLL!… onward and upward! One GREAT word at a time!
Mitch
p.s. thank you so very much, Jamie… I love you!