Communication: Tempering the FAEV with the VOUC
As previously noted, the two-year employee tends to communicate solely in the Four-Alarm Emergency Voice, or FAEV. The Manager has put forth a consistent, maddening effort to temper the FAEV with the Voice of Utmost Calm, or VOUC. One of these days it is going to stick, I am sure. I must be sure, or I will lose all resolve in continuing this effort.
Communication between Management and employee typically unfolds like so:
K.Lo: I want some juice, Manager!
The Manager: And how do we ask for juice, K.Lo?
K.Lo: Need juice! Need juice! Need juuuuuuuuuuuice!
The Manager: We say, "May I have some juice, please?"
K.Lo: Say pleeeease!
The Manager: That's right. And then I say, "Yes, you may have juice." And you say--
K.Lo: Thank you.
The Manager: That's right, and then I say, "You're welcome."
K.Lo: You're welcome.
By the end of the conversation, the two-year employee has usually lowered her volume, and The Manager's toes have uncurled long enough to give the small employee credit for at least saying, "Thank you." There still does remain an air of impatient desperation with the two-year set, as well as incredulity at this forced, polite process. Yet, the Manager persists in her wild-eyed quest for polite, pleasant employees, not to mention a blood pressure reading that falls into a healthy range.
Here at our company, we never lag in our determined use of the VOUC. Because rest assured, the very next time K.Lo requires juice, or the filling of some other critical two-year employee need, Management's ears will once again ring with the dreaded FAEV.
3 peanuts:
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This is why half the time I feel I have PTSS--post traumatic stress syndrome--from the conditioning that has my nerves and adrenalin on constant alert. It's a war zone, people!
Teaching gratitude and manners, using a voice that indicates a sense of control and confidence, these are so important but so hard sometimes...
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My old manager used to use the SFHF (the Slipper From His Foot) to encourage the behaviors he preferred.
While E was never one to use the FAEV, we did go through the very same 'Please ask me nicely' and 'May I have...'
(For whatever reason, I have a real problem with 'I want'. The typical response to that would be 'Good for you' or 'Everyone should want something.' We are so mean around here! In actuality, 'I want X' is a statement, not a question, so I saw it as no motivator for action on my part!)
It will sink in, I promise! Be sure to keep your resolve in the mean time. I speak for everyone when I say that it will be much appreciated!