As business owners, there are several tasks that need to be handled as the new year rolls around. If you are a new business owner, you may – or may not – have a list of To Dos like I do.
Here are some examples, including one seemingly tiny detail that so often gets overlooked, but can be totally off-putting to anyone who sees it.
On January 1, repeating each year on my calendar, my list of tasks includes things like:
I’m sure it seems as impossible to you as it does to me that we are almost into 2020. It’s seems like “Y2K” was just a blink of an eye ago – and here we are two decades later.
Many of us are thinking about how we’ll live our lives differently in 2020 than we have in years prior. So I thought I’d share with you some of the best advice I have received in years – something I’ve worked hard to implement, and have found that it has totally paid off. I hope it works as well for you as it has for me.
Years ago I was invited to present a talk on Patient-Doctor Communications to a group of specialists. I was just one speaker during a many-day conference for thousands of doctors who had come in from all over the world.
Imagine my surprise when I was assigned to a large room, set up for 300 or more attendees. And imagine my even bigger surprise when it was standing room only! What on earth? Me? Why would so many people care what I had to say?*
The even bigger surprise came about as I began speaking. I was setting the stage for them to walk into the exam room where the patient was waiting, with two pieces of advice: First, that they check that their nametags were turned out so the patient could read them (because, you know how often then are turned backwards and can’t be read?) And second, that they NOT be reading a chart or paperwork as they walk into the room. Instead they should look their patient in the eye, then introduce themselves, “Hello. I’m Dr. So-and-So,” then wait for a moment while the patient replied with her or his name.
The surprise? That, immediately, half the attendees wrote that down! I watched them as their heads bowed to their notes and their pens began in earnest to record my words. I was floored.
As someone who was raised on the importance of spelling, the fact that correct spelling seems to have gone the way of the dinosaurs is a frustration!
Further:
What a mess. However!
While the writer and speller in me is appalled, the web developer in me says “Hey! Let’s use this information to our benefit!”
So today’s tip will show you how to do that.
This week’s TIP is a reminder to us all – including myself! – because it’s too easy to violate this one word action step.
I cite it today because I was actually guilty of failing to do this myself – and then had to apologize, and fix the problem, a problem which, had I paid attention, would not have happened. I wasted her time, my time, and it took far more effort to fix the problem than it would have taken had I not made the error.
Fortunately the person I had not properly helped was understanding – much appreciated of course. But believe me, I’ll be far more careful in the future!
And hopefully, after reading this post, you will, too.
That one word action step is….