Hello, I Forgot Your Name

High school students do it, managers do it, grandmothers do it, office assistants do it...everyone lights up and walks taller when they are greeted with their very own name, especially when it comes from someone they barely know. 

It's your first morning at a new job, someone (whose name you probably do remember) is taking you around the office introducing you to your new co-workers. People are smiling, they are shaking your hand, greetings are coming in rapid fire... and names, so many names are being heard by your ears, but will they be recovered later today or tomorrow when you meet again at the microwave or the color printer?

Put your brain to work helping you to remember names:  

• Do your very best to focus 100 percent concentration on the new person when you meet them. Don't think about your lunch, don't think about social your social network. Think about their face and their name, that is all.
• Be absolutely certain you heard their name correctly. Ask again if necessary, and if it's unusual, you can even ask them to spell it, but always end with a compliment about how memorable, beautiful or meaningful their name is once you hear their story. 
• Repeat the name silently to yourself. When you leave the room, tell them it was great to meet them and use their name when you do. Think about their face and their name as you leave. Use the name in conversation occasionally. Either conversations with them or with someone else, it will help your brain make the connection between that person, their face and their name. 
• As soon as possible, write the person’s name down after your meeting. If you have a photo or can find one online, find their picture as well. Writing also helps stimulate memory recall.  
• When you meet a person if they look like someone else, or if they evoke anything vivid or visual in your mind use that association to help with your recall. This can be added to your notes when you write down their name.  
• Think of yourself as the ACE of names. Come up with something Action-oriented about a persons name, a verb; think of something Colorful about them; and finally, maybe something exaggerated. So William, isn't just William, he's Whispering, Wise (like an owl),  William.

Watch William smile when you greet him in the hall the next day!

Mending Meeting Misery

Do you cringe and groan and try to squirm your way out of invitations to meetings? I would rather run out of gas on a hot day in the middle of nowhere than attend a boring meeting with no agenda or purpose. Meetings are necessary, and can be motivating and productive…here’s how:

• Make a plan, have an agenda --  Determine the point of the meeting using words like decide, plan or choose, to convey action. If someone goes off topic, steer them back to the agenda item.

• Get to the point – Administrative information should be kept very brief and targeted, two minutes or less.

• Keep it lean --  Large groups aren’t usually productive. Invite only those necessary to achieve the goal of the meeting and make sure everyone participates, even if you have to call on them to do so.

• Encourage ownership of the meetings -- Assign roles and responsibilities to different team members for some of the agenda items in advance.

• Start with the end in mind -- Have meetings early in the day or just before lunch so they will start and end on time.

• Stress the positive -- Start and end every meeting with positive inspiration. Be generous in your appreciative feedback. If you have anything negative about an individual share it with them privately.

• Don’t do boring things – Going over new forms, company policy, personal disputes and what went wrong might be better in another format. Figure out a better, faster way to communicate.  Try this: Have an instruction sheet for a new form and pass it or email it out.

• Present solutions – Don’t present problems, unless you have soluions to go with them. This rule applies to everyone in the meeting. It gets your team solution oriented!

• Do fun things and motivate -- Give awards and share success stories. Create a contest among staffers to make motivation more fun.

• Do things to develop your team – Something that helps them learn more about their profession, practice skills to make them better at their job.

• No griping -- Remember, challenges must be matched with potential solutions.

• Share success stories – What is working with people? Coach them to share the specific skills they used that helped them see success..

• Summarize action items - What was decided and what was assigned? A quick review helps everyone remember the highpoints.

 

“Excellence is the gradual result of always

striving to do better.” -- Pat Riley 

Visit our New and Improved website at www.chadcarden.com