You Can't Embrace Possibilities If You Can't See Them
by Carol Bowser

A key to career and business success is to notice opportunities.  Opportunities to engage.  Opportunities to help someone solve a problem.  Opportunities to save time or money.  Opportunities to help someone reach an important goal.

Opportunities, however, are often presented in disguise.   

You might be lucky enough for someone to approach and say “I have an opportunity for you.”  Most opportunities are not that direct.  Instead, they come in the form of concerns, gaps, and complaints. 

Do any of these sound familiar?

“I just hate bookkeeping.  I never get around to it as a result my invoicing is a mess.”

“I just can't find anything in my office.  My files are a nightmare.  It stresses me out.”

“I wish I could find the time to market my business.  It goes in fits and starts.'

“I need to work out more, but just can't find the time or the motivation.”

“I want to ask for a raise, but I just don't think it is a good time.”

All of these examples-these complaints are requests for help in disguise.   Help that you can offer based on your particular knowledge, skills, talents, and interests.

From this point forward, every time you hear a complaint or a “wishing statement” consider it a request for help. Do you have to answer every request for help.  No.  Should you seriously consider at least having a conversation to explore if there is something you would be interested in helping with and if this is a person you might consider helping. Yes.  Definitely, yes.

The conversation opener could go like this.  “It sounds like you have a lot on your plate.   What is going on?”  Then wait. See what they say.  Follow up by asking “Is this something that you are looking for help with if it could fit into your schedule and budget?” Frankly, who is going to say “no” to that?  A solution from a pain point that will fit into my schedule and my budget?  Sign me up.  Take it off of my plate!  Let me focus my mental and emotional energy on something else.

Here is the kicker, you must believe that you have something of value to offer.

Individuals tend to undervalue their key skill sets.   Those skills and experience that make things easy for you, but difficult or unpleasant for others.  For example.  I hate bookkeeping.  Hate it.  I avoid it.  I do it poorly which creates a mess of the financials.  My bookkeeper loves it.  She loves getting the numbers to add up.  She loves QuickBooks.  She loves Excel Spreadsheets.  Because she loves it and is good at it, I don't have to stress about it and happily write her a check every month.

So what do you do better than the average person?  Organizational skills?  Packing skills?  Photography?  Yoga?  Bookkeeping?  Handling multiple calendars?  Proofreading?  Graphic Design?  Seeing solutions that others seem to overlook? Writing?  What would you say are your particular skill sets?  If you are unsure, ask around.  Your friends and family can tell you.  You can then set out to explore the possibilities.

 

Organizations hire Conflict Management Strategies, Inc. to increase productivity by easing workplace conflict and tension, to train employees in conflict resolution skills, to evaluate internal conflict resolution processes, to coach key employees to higher levels of performance and to facilitate tangible change within the working environment.

Have a conflict-management question for Carol? Ask here. Your question/answer may be printed in a future issue.