One of the primary challenges to engaging in conversations at work is technology. While technology is a wonderful servant, in many instances it has become our master. Rather than walking down the hall to have a “belly to belly” conversation with a member of our team, we fire off an email. Rather than taking the time to have a lunch with a valued customer to build our relationship, we leave a voicemail to save time. All this reliance on technology severs our human connections and human connections are the primary driver of business growth. People love doing business with people who care about them. People love doing business with people they trust. People love doing business with people who they feel bonded to. Without regular and sustained conversations, no such bond can exist.
Here are five practices that will help you keep engaging in conversations and, as a result, continue to experience higher levels of success:
Make time for “human moments” at work.
Research has shown that one of the reasons people are no longer as motivated and loyal at work is because they do not feel they are part of a community. Human moments are infrequent. To increase the human moments within your workplace make time on a daily basis to meet and connect people beyond the superficial level. Speak to people’s interests. Open your heart and listen to them. Ask them about their family, their passions and their hopes. Show them that you are there for them and they will respond with greater energy, empathy and commitment to you.
Increase your conversations by making sure that you “circulate”.
Circulating simply means that you make it a priority to take your clients out for breakfast or lunch. Whenever possible, visit your customers’ place of work to get a feel for their environment and the energy of their workplace.
Extend conversations by creating a rich community.
Keep thinking about your network and how to nurture it. This might involve sending your network an article or book that has been of value to you or calling members when you are stuck in an airport and have nothing to do.
Conversations at home are more important than your business conversations. Having a peaceful and fulfilling home life serves as a platform to fuel your business success. If you lose the conversation with your partner, you will lose the relationship. If you lose the conversation with your children, you will lose the connection with them. In other words, if you stop having conversations with your family, you will ultimately lose your family. Take the time to converse with members of your family on a daily basis. It doesn’t have to take a long time but it should be quality time.
Don’t forget the “inner conversation”.
I have discovered that the more I make time for self-conversations, the more thoughtful, innovative, effective and happy I am. On almost a daily basis, I journal. Journaling is nothing more than a conversation that I have with myself. I reflect on how I am working and how I am living. I reflect on the insights I have learned through my day and the course corrections I must make to improve. I reflect on the lessons I am learning, on the people I am meeting and the thoughts I am thinking. It is interesting that only humans have the capacity to step out of their thinking and evaluate their thoughts. This is an incredible gift that only humans possess. We can actually study our thinking and witness our thoughts. The more we witness our thoughts, the more we can disengage from them if they do not serve us.
So as you become the person and leader you are meant to be, keep increasing your conversations. Keep talking to the people you work with. Keep talking to your customers. Keep talking with your family. And keep engaging in the most important conversation of all: the conversation with self.