Today was the kick-off of the 2010 World Cup, with Bafana Bafana and Mexico sweating it out to finish 1-1. Well done to the teams. What a great start!
As one of the many restaurant dwellers, who sat more than double the time it would usually take on the highway to reach my destination, I had lots of time to reflect and watch my fellow travelers on their way to support our team.
All around me vuvuzela’s were braying like lonely donkeys at the break of dawn, everytime we had to stand and wait for yet another traffic light to turn green.
I saw groups of people – standing on the streets – not rushing anywhere, some joining the blaring noise coming from the cars. I saw people in cars, smiling at each other: whites, blacks, coloureds, Indians – the whole lot of us giving one another the heads up, because the time was here, at last: The 2010 World Cup has arrived in Johannesburg.
Yesterday’s traffic jams in Sandton was behind us. Today’s traffic jams just resulted in pulling up of the shoulders and a shrug: What did you expect, Sista, Bra? It’s World Cup and our team is playing! Be happy and sing da song: Waka waka, oeeeeeehh. Tsamina mina eh eh.
We ordered our food, plus an additional order: One goal for Bafana. The waiter said: “we don’t have “one goal” on the menu, Sir.” Our friend said: “Just write it down and bring it with the food.”
Waka waka oeeehoee, you’re a good soldier!
Just as the food arrived, the goal was placed neatly into the nets.
“We did it! You asked for it! We did it! I wrote it down!”
Never before had I seen a waiter serving food with so much gusto. He did it too! By being a waiter, and serving the food with the attitude of sharing: Waka Waka oeeehoee, we do it for Africa.
And never before had I enjoyed a meal as much as this.
Never before was there such a feeling of oneness between us and the rest of the guests (who brayed their vuvuzelas evertime Bafana got the ball), the waitrons and the restaurant staff.
We were all together. This time for Africa. We’re all Africa!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
STOP SHOUTING AT YOUR CUSTOMER!!!!
Over the past few weeks we touched on using oral communication skills to communicate better with colleagues and employees, as well as with clients and other stakeholders in our businesses. The important thing to remember is that every business is in the business of building relationships, whether it is in manufacturing of goods, import and export, sales or services, and every employee in the business’s main task is to service his or her internal or external customers efficiently.
This week we move to written communication and look at how we could build relationships or break them in the way we write our e-mail messages.
Contrary to what many people believe, the way you write says a lot about who you are as a person. Do you write short, abrupt messages? Starting an e-mail without addressing the recipient, or just starting with: “Hi” and no name?
What does that say about the writer? Is it respectful to address someone in speaking without using his name? Why would it be different in writing?
Imagine the following scenario: Someone enters the office, and says “hi”, or doesn’t address anyone at all, sits down and starts to work, and then suddenly barks out a request or command: “Give me the file on client X!” How would you feel? Irritated? If you were a subordinate, wouldn’t you feel that your boss or colleague didn’t respect you? And if you were the boss? How would you react?
Change the scenario: You are the client and you receive a note via e-mail from your service provider saying: “Your invoice hasn’t been paid and your service will be discontinued without any further notice.” Put yourself in the shoes of the client and ask yourself: How does he or she feel? What if the payment had been made and the mistake was on our system? Would the client want to do further business with us?
Just by changing the addressing and ending of an e-mail and by planning the message carefully, one can make a change in the way a reader responds to the message.
Below are a few tips on writing email.
10 Tips for Writing Better E-mail
1. Always write a subject in the subject line of the e-mail message. If you don’t, chances are your e-mail will be moved to junk mail automatically, or be deleted by the recipient.
2. Address the recipient, e.g. Hi Pete; Or: Dear Mr Peters
3. End your e-mail in a respectful manner by ending the message and adding your name and designation: Thank you; or: Thank you very much for your assistance; Or: Kind regards; Or: Yours sincerely.
4. Never write in capital letters only: YOU WOULDN’T LIKE IT IF PEOPLE WERE ALWAYS SHOUTING AT YOU, WOULD YOU! Capital letters indicate shouting when we write. (In any case, it is so much more difficult to read that half of your message might be lost without the reader noticing the most important part of it.)
5. Don’t use IM grammar and spelling: Gr8 is great to use for your cell phone messages but not for e-mail. E-mail is a fairly formal communication medium – especially when you use it for work.
6. Watch out for THREE EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!. It shows hysteria – you are screaming uncontrollably, not just shouting at your customer or colleague. If combined with all capital letters, it is the kind of e-mail one just deletes without reading it.
7. Another punctuation horror is the exclamation mark combined with the question mark (?!) or (!?????). In literature one question mark and one exclamation mark are used in combination for very specific reasons – and very sparsely. Unfortunately, the duplication of punctuation marks for greater effect is overused in e-mail – and has therefore lost its meaning.
8. Don’t use smiley faces and avatars in your business e-mail. You might be considered unprofessional.
9. Watch out for pretty backgrounds – they don’t belong in business e-mail.
10. Read through every e-mail and make sure that you actually say what you intend to say. It is very easy to misunderstand someone’s intent by reading between the lines if an e-mail is not planned and written properly.
This week we move to written communication and look at how we could build relationships or break them in the way we write our e-mail messages.
Contrary to what many people believe, the way you write says a lot about who you are as a person. Do you write short, abrupt messages? Starting an e-mail without addressing the recipient, or just starting with: “Hi” and no name?
What does that say about the writer? Is it respectful to address someone in speaking without using his name? Why would it be different in writing?
Imagine the following scenario: Someone enters the office, and says “hi”, or doesn’t address anyone at all, sits down and starts to work, and then suddenly barks out a request or command: “Give me the file on client X!” How would you feel? Irritated? If you were a subordinate, wouldn’t you feel that your boss or colleague didn’t respect you? And if you were the boss? How would you react?
Change the scenario: You are the client and you receive a note via e-mail from your service provider saying: “Your invoice hasn’t been paid and your service will be discontinued without any further notice.” Put yourself in the shoes of the client and ask yourself: How does he or she feel? What if the payment had been made and the mistake was on our system? Would the client want to do further business with us?
Just by changing the addressing and ending of an e-mail and by planning the message carefully, one can make a change in the way a reader responds to the message.
Below are a few tips on writing email.
10 Tips for Writing Better E-mail
1. Always write a subject in the subject line of the e-mail message. If you don’t, chances are your e-mail will be moved to junk mail automatically, or be deleted by the recipient.
2. Address the recipient, e.g. Hi Pete; Or: Dear Mr Peters
3. End your e-mail in a respectful manner by ending the message and adding your name and designation: Thank you; or: Thank you very much for your assistance; Or: Kind regards; Or: Yours sincerely.
4. Never write in capital letters only: YOU WOULDN’T LIKE IT IF PEOPLE WERE ALWAYS SHOUTING AT YOU, WOULD YOU! Capital letters indicate shouting when we write. (In any case, it is so much more difficult to read that half of your message might be lost without the reader noticing the most important part of it.)
5. Don’t use IM grammar and spelling: Gr8 is great to use for your cell phone messages but not for e-mail. E-mail is a fairly formal communication medium – especially when you use it for work.
6. Watch out for THREE EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!. It shows hysteria – you are screaming uncontrollably, not just shouting at your customer or colleague. If combined with all capital letters, it is the kind of e-mail one just deletes without reading it.
7. Another punctuation horror is the exclamation mark combined with the question mark (?!) or (!?????). In literature one question mark and one exclamation mark are used in combination for very specific reasons – and very sparsely. Unfortunately, the duplication of punctuation marks for greater effect is overused in e-mail – and has therefore lost its meaning.
8. Don’t use smiley faces and avatars in your business e-mail. You might be considered unprofessional.
9. Watch out for pretty backgrounds – they don’t belong in business e-mail.
10. Read through every e-mail and make sure that you actually say what you intend to say. It is very easy to misunderstand someone’s intent by reading between the lines if an e-mail is not planned and written properly.
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