Tag: Patience

The Best Time to Make decisions

Decisions often have precarious timing. The time to make decisions is not when you’re climbing up a mountain of problems and situations that you’re faced with. That is what I call disparity or calamity; in these situations, you’re trapped in the valley of darkness. This is not a time to make decisions. Instead, this is the time to dig your heels in and rely on that reserve that’s already stored in you, allowing you to fight the battle that’s right in front of you. Let’s face it: at this point, you’re just craving relief and attempting to bring clarity to the situation. You are trying to get out from under this gorilla or this elephant. In these difficult situations, don’t try to make major changes in the hope of finding comfort. To quote Myles Monroe, “Never make a permanent decision in a temporary problem.”

When the calamity is over and you reach a moment of calm where you can think more clearly, then congratulations—you’ve reached the time to make those decisions. Why? It’s simple:

  1. You can now see the situation more clearly.
  2. You are not under the storm clouds of calamity, fear, and disparity.
  3. You’re now more likely to figure out how to be more successful from adventure to adventure, avoiding the valley of darkness.  

Why enter the valley experience if you can avoid it? On the other hand, if you find yourself in the trenches, the solution is clear: pull out those reserves that rest within you. Show this experience what you’ve got.

I used to run cross country in high school, and just before you reach the halfway point, your body wants to run out of energy. In that moment, those runners that started out quick and didn’t pace themselves either drop back or drop out. I remember telling myself at the point, “Derrick, you are in this race for the long haul.” So, I made up my mind to pull out the reserves and finish at my same pace. If you’re in the midst of life’s struggles and fighting uphill, then do yourself a favor. Pull out the reserves, stay the course, and don’t make huge decisions in the middle of the stream. Finish that uphill battle and reach the top of that mountain.

Avoid making important choices when things aren’t going well. This is the time to truly see what you’re made of in order to reach a point of clarity. Once your vision is clear and the storm clouds have dissipated, you have finally found solid ground. This is the time to make those decisions and changes in your life, business, or team. With patience, you will steadily climb from mountaintop to mountaintop.

Derrick Darden, PhD

thecarolyledestinygroup.one

dcdardentalks.com

How to handle conflict and commit to the customer

Derrick C Darden, PhD

There’s an old saying by Sam Walton: “There is only one boss, the customer. Serving the customer is the reason your business exists. In the professional world, your job, whether it’s in sales, services or manufacturing, revolves around the customer.”

However, what happens when there is a conflict between a customer and an employee?

In this short blog, we will talk about how to handle those situations. Unfortunately, they are inevitable, but we have some tips and tricks on how to resolve them.

But before we get to them, I want to tell you a story.

I once heard about a customer who was waiting patiently to be seen by the optometrist to be fitted with new glasses. Her number was finally called, but instead of the optometrist technician waiting directly on her, he decided to answer a question from a customer who hadn’t taken a number at all. “Ironically, this same technician was rude to my husband only a month ago,” the customer remembered.

Now, this customer became infuriated and very loud. Of course, this got the attention of everyone in the store.  In the meantime, the manager was watching this take place in the background and quickly came to the aid of the furious customer. The quickly extinguished the situation. He took care of the customer, and the customer left happy.

As this story illustrates, one way to resolve a conflict to get straight to the source. What is the source? It is the foundation of how this conflict occurred. There’s always a second perception behind the truth. Maybe the customer was irritated by another, unrelated situation. But you assume that all this anger and resentment is geared towards you. Most of the time, the customer doesn’t have a personal problem, but a consumer problem. And, as a consumer, they must get quality and satisfaction.

So avoid complaining to others and whimpering. Avoid negative name-calling and further eroding your relationship with that customer.

Second, dissect the problem, not each other. Attack the problem by looking at it from different angles, then ask the customer to help buy into the solution.

Third, avoid the “blame game.” Instead of wasting your energy in finger-pointing and trying to prove your point (if there is a point to be made), direct your energy to resolving the issue at hand.

Here are some other tips on how to resolve a conflict with a customer:

1.      Listen to your customer’s concerns, get an understanding of what is being said, take off the filters. Listen with both ears, and speak once.

2.      Remember the golden rule: Do onto others as you want them to do unto you. You cannot judge someone. Put yourself in that customer’s shoes. As the saying goes, you can’t judge a person until you walk a mile in their shoes.

3.      Understanding is key. Understand why the conflict happened. What are some of the causes? Never assume that these things always happen.

4.      Lastly, to fix the conflict, go to the customer and make things right between you two. Re-establish your relationship and earn back their trust.

I hope this article will help you with your decision making. And remember – without conflict, life would be boring!