Reflection
May 27, 2005
** Listen to this column on your computer, iPod or other audio player **
Too often, we speed through our work, never noticing the small things we leave behind. Often, in the heat of a meeting or consulting call, we promise many things, but do we remember to deliver? Did you promise to research the procedure for importing data for mail merge? How about that request to update some router firmware? Does a client need a recommendation on a memory upgrade? How many small items have “slipped through the cracks” and disappeared. Even more importantly, how many opportunities to help your clients, and your career, have been lost? If you want to build your high-tech career, you need to become better at capturing these opportunities and using them to improve your relationship with your clients.
The last five...
Right now I would like you to engage in a little exercise. Find a nice,
comfortable place to sit and bring a notebook. Now, think over the last
5 events in your work day. These could include a department meeting, troubleshooting
calls, telephone support calls, vendor meetings, email discussions, nearly
anything that is part of your work. Now, for each of these “events”
take some time to reflect on any promises that you might have made. Did
you agree to look into that new software release or make a call to a vendor?
Did you tell a client that you would follow-up with them in a day or so?
Are their any action items that came out of each event that need to be
“captured?”
Too often, we are more concerned about the work that already awaits us
than the new work that might be triggered by a meeting or call. You probably
already have more on your schedule than you can manage, yet it is these
new to-do items that can effect your relationship with your clients the
most. Clients don’t necessarily care that you are supposed to be
upgrading a server or installing new software, especially if it is for
someone else. Each client only knows that you made a promise to them.
They will hold you to that promise, whether you remember it or not. As
you might imagine, failing this test can drastically effect your relationship.
Routine Reflection
I am sure that this little exercise has turned up a number of items you
probably had discounted, if not forgotten completely. It happens to everyone.
There is only so much information we can carry around in our heads from
day to day. Still, these items are very important and we need to make
an effort to note them, track them and act on them as a regular part of
our work.
Several tricks can help anyone remember the commitments they make on a
daily basis. Here are a few that I use in my own work.
• Write down the commitment immediately
When I promise anyone anything, I make a note of it as soon as possible,
usually immediately after it has been made. This has several benefits
in itself. It makes it nearly impossible to forget the commitment and
the client immediately knows that I have added it to my to-do list. They
can see that I have accepted the commitment and not just nodded my head
automatically without truly hearing what they were saying.
• Reflect and review
Take time each day to reflect on your calls and meetings and capture any
remaining commitments you might not have noted. These are usually short-term
items, like “change password” or “update software”,
but they can also be long-term projects like “rebuild purchasing
database system.” You never quite know what you will turn up until
you take the time to reflect on the work you have done. Go back through
your trouble tickets, journals and PDA notes and add any new items that
are triggered.
• Schedule time to reflect
Our daily lives are so filled with activities that the act of reflection
is often postponed or ignored entirely. Everyone needs to set time aside
to reflect, whether that is immediately after a call, later in the day
or at the end of the week. If you don’t schedule time for this process,
it simply won’t happen. I hope that using the exercise above, you
have seen the importance of this reflection. Don’t let the daily
pressures of your career force out this exceedingly necessary task.
You might be very productive in your work, solving numerous problems every
single day, but if you ignore the need to reflect on your work and your
commitments, you are doing a disservice to yourself and your clients.
It is through reflection that we break out of the haze of the 9-5 schedule
and start to make decisions that really matter. Only when you reflect
on your work can you know what truly needs to be done to improve your
relationship with your clients and your high-tech career.
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