Humor & Humility Approach
Do we mean to imply that a joke will resolve a conflict? No. But we have observed that a self-deprecating sense of humor in your approach will lower the defenses of the other party. Compare these approaches in confronting a conflict.
JOE (self-justifying and subtly accusatory): "Fred, I seem to remember at our last meeting that you were going to contact everyone about moving up the training date with this client. Now, I'm getting irate calls saying they haven't been given enough notice or information."FRED: "You told me you were going to clear the date with the client first, then we would talk about the agenda. I didn't hear from you and figured it was a no-go."
JOE: "Wrong. We're up a creek now. You'd better call everyone ASAP!"
In this scenario, Fred forgot to follow up with Joe about scheduling a meeting. If Joe were to take the humility and humor approach, he would handle the situation quite differently:
JOE: "Fred, I don't know if it's my ADD or my short-term memory loss, but I can't remember if I called you about that training date. I apologize ahead of time if I left you in the lurch. Now, I've got everyone upset about the late notice. How do you think we should proceed from here?"
Fred isn't going to grow defensive when there is no offensive. Joe presents his own possible culpability first. By using a self-deprecating approach, he is not dismissing his action, just lightening the atmosphere and preparing to move forward. There is none of the finger pointing and blaming going on, which cause conflicts to escalate.Ohio National is not affiliated with, nor does it endorse or sponsor, any particular prospecting, marketing or selling system.