WOW Word-Of-the-Week #466: Personal
July 10, 2013 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on WOW Word-Of-the-Week #466: Personal
Personal – that which directly affects you.
What does personal mean to you? What issues that directly affect you do you have to deal with? Is that a positive experience or a negative one?
My husband Chris has said from the time I met him, “Change is always personal.” What is change? And why is change so hard sometimes?
Change is the result of something being different. We are constantly dealing with change every day. We are either comfortable with or adapting to how things are around us. Change is not always negative or always positive.
Chris spent 45 years working as an administrator for the health care organization, Kaiser Permanente. Health care is one business that is in a constant state of change. Not only are you dealing with the Science of Medicine, Procedures, Breakthroughs; you have Regulations, Technology, Computers, etc.
During his career one of the biggest changes at Kaiser came when they implemented Electronic Medical Records. Every one of their employees and physicians nationwide was directly affected by this! In addition, all doctors, nurses, hospital personnel, and health plan workers had to be computer literate. And how hard do you think that was for some people to deal with? How about a doctor in his last few years of practice before retiring who never even used a computer?
I say everything is personal! Not everyone wants to travel. We love it and can’t imagine our life without the wonderful and very different experiences we have had. If everyone had the same likes and dislikes it would be very boring!
This week’s focus is what personal means to you. How do you feel about change? Is it different if it’s your idea? Do you like to have a say about those things that directly affect you?
WOW Word-Of-the-Week #303: Personal
May 17, 2010 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on WOW Word-Of-the-Week #303: Personal
Personal – relating to or responsive to an individual.
Do you take the time to acknowledge people who are serving you? Do you call them by name if they are wearing a name tag? Do you like it when you are personally addressed by your guests, customers, members or clients?
Joe Moran is one of my WOW readers who gives me lots of (positive) feedback. After I received his response to last week’s WOW on disposition I thought it would be great to share it. Then I got the idea to let him pick the WOW and he chose personal as this week’s WOW.
Joe wrote, “My general disposition is upbeat and happy. Now, I am not happy, joyous and free every day. But for the most part I put on a happy face for the world. When there are times that I am not in a great mood, I will watch an episode of “Seinfeld” so that I can get a good laugh before I go to bed at night. That puts me in a good place.”
“You mentioned saying hello to someone during the day. When I go into the post office, there is a beautiful, shy woman at the counter named Crystal. The first time that she took care of my mail needs I said her name. She replied with an appreciative, generous smile, as if just by calling her name I made her day. When our family was leaving the Magic Kingdom recently at the end of one of our days there, I looked at the tag of the woman at the exit gate. I said, ‘Hi, Sharon. How are things in Childress, Texas?’ Her reply was, ‘I love it when people call me by my name.’
“That is a little thing, but it means so much in our everyday lives to simply be acknowledged. I don’t think most people being served in gas stations or restaurants bother to even look at the name tag of the person who is taking care of them. I don’t know if enough people realize how important it is to be recognized. It is basic to who we are. We don’t do it enough. Just the return of a smile, like Crystal’s, can make your day.”
In my service programs I talk about my “7 Simple Steps of Service” and using names is one of them. I always go out of my way to know a servers name. It’s just feels better to me and more respectful. This week focus on being more personal. Who do you need to acknowledge? When is the last time you read a nametag and repeated their name?
I love feedback! And if you have a WOW that you want to share, please do!
Reader Responses
“Thanks for the reminder. I usually do this one. I makes us all human.” – Sandra