Steve's Steps To Being More People Friendly Step 4

After a slight detour on Monday's post, let me get us back on track in our quest to make some of you more people friendly.

STEP FOUR: COMMUNICATION COMPENTENCY
(a Mini-Series within the series)

Thom (no not you Singer just like the unusually spelling of the name) the sales guy talks a million miles per hour. He gets so wrapped up in whatever he is saying that he hardly stops to take a breath as he exacerbates whatever it is he is saying. Watching him is like watching Howie Mandel without his ritalin. Thom is animated when he talks and spends a great deal of time and energy and hot air to get whatever long-winded point he has make made. He is a talker and often forgets that GOD did give him two ears for a reason. Thom is very much the "what's in it for me" kind of guy when he communicates leaving little room for anyone else's opinion or communication.

Melvin the techie is all things technical. You want to figure out how to rid your internal IEEE GIGFUSION DYANBYTE TERRAGATES Doohickie of the occassional general protection fault he is your guy. Just don't ask him to explain what and why he is doing what he is doing. He has little regard for mere mortals who don't understand the higher level of technical jargon and intelligence that was obviously not distributed on the day you were born. Communication with Melvin is fraught with endless supporting data, quantifying details and a mind boggling diagram that would make Einstein wet his pants.

Susie "all too often sweet" is all things people. She is constantly focused on connecting with everyone and being totally in the moment with them with them. Susie can be annoying at times with her somewhat sappy anecdotes about life and her perky and sometimes unrealistic positive outlook. Susie is the one person you truly want to stay away from if you are having a bad day because she can be like a dog in heat banging on your knee until she feels like she has personally rescued you from the dismal doldrums of your pathetic life. Communcation with Susie tends to always default to feelings and relational issues. She is a pro at connecting how circumstances can affect others but often misses the mark that all problems were not created equals. Hugs don't fix a bloody gash or a CPA that has fun off with this week's payroll.

Okay....three very specific and somewhat animated examples of people and their communication tendency. You likely don't have to look long or hard to pick out certain individuals in your tribe that might have a tendency to function like Thom, Melvin and Susie.

In my next POST we will discuss each of these people and how their approach to life and to interacting with other people may positively or negatively affect how people friendly they really are.

Until next time....

Ripple On!

Steve Harper