Vicki Anderson

It’s no wonder that communications is still the number one issue in business environments today. (This is my unofficial survey result based on experience with my clients and friends.) If you ask anyone, they will say there is a problem with communication in their workplace, home, church, school, etc.

Just take a look around and you will see that it has less to do with language and more to do with how you happen to perceive the situation at hand. While you may not perceive the situation to be worthy of much communication, there is always someone else who needs way more than you are giving. And vice versa. You may need more than someone is giving you. Plus, it is not just the amount of communication, but what you need or want to know.

It depends on how you are involved and what stake you have in the situation. It is easy to look at the needs of the situation from your standpoint, but if you really want to be known as a good communicator, take time to evaluate other vantage points. Listen to others and involve them in decisions where possible. It is amazing how smart you will be perceived to be when you have become a good listener to other perceptions than your own. And how much less stress you will experience from communication aftershocks!

It’s May Day, or May 1st. I remember this was a much bigger thing when I was growing up. We would pick flowers or make a little sack of candy and leave it on the doorstep of a friend, ring the doorbell and run. Of course, they would be lurking by the front door to run out and catch you so you had to run fast. Those were simple days of fun and few worries because kids just didn’t get involved in all the grown-up stuff like today.

Actually, I think today it is the grown-ups who are trying to keep up with the kids. They are leading the technology revolution while we are struggling to figure out what to do. I just signed up for Twitter today. Not sure what I will do with it, but I definitely won’t be making entries every 2 minutes. However, I am interested to see what pops up as people follow me and we are able to share ideas. When I started my business sixteen years ago, I wasn’t sure what it would ultimately look like but I knew for sure that I wanted to be a resource to others. Therefore, I named my business Anderson Resources. I pride myself on being able to provide useful resources to others as well as point people to resources they need other than me. I like to share ideas and discuss new fields of thought.

So, let’s twitter away(@andersoncat) or just follow my blog, but let’s stay in touch.

Spring is trying to arrive. It comes with variable weather and you’re never sure what clothes to wear. Somehow it seems to be reflecting the world we live in now. The economy seems like it’s getting a little better then takes a big step backward. We start to hear good news but then get a dose of bad.

This also reminds me of how hard it is to change things in any organization. You may think you are on a right path to make positive changes, and then something happens to pull you back. Change is hard no matter the subject. It is never easy to get people to change because there is a basic fear of change. We don’t know what the change will bring. We know what the status quo is like and no matter whether we like it or not, we at least know what it is. We have learned to deal with it.

When we think a change will be a good thing we jump on the bandwagon and try to make a go of it, but then an obstacle arises and it is easy to go back to what we know–even if it’s not where we want to go. It seems there is always the pull of the past.

When involved with change I think you just have to plan for some setbacks and address them as they arise. If you are able to stay committed while making course corrections, you will ultimately reach your destination–the next change.

I don’t know about you, but I am really tired of hearing so much bad news about the economy. NBC Nightly News was doing a series of good stories where people are helping people and the good things that are happening because of their actions. It was called “Making a Difference.”

I wish we could hear more about people making a difference and less about what a bad state we are in. We can talk ourselves into a hole deeper and deeper or we can get going and do whatever we can to help ourselves and others get back on their feet. Ultimately, we are consuming some things so we have to have some production to feed, clothe and take care of us. As we cut back to make ends meet, we are rightfully being more careful about what we spend.

However, I do think you can’t hold a good person or a good country down. I live in the southwest and the good folks here have always been resilient. I remember the 80′s when the oil bust happened and we lost a lot of oil jobs and people moved away because they couldn’t find jobs. Others took whatever work they could find to get by. I was personally laid off a couple times. I remember interviewing accountants for a job several years later and they had been doing any other work but accounting until accounting jobs were available again. I think if we partner up to help each other that one by one we can make a difference in our lives and ultimately the economy. I’m tired of hearing what we can’t do. I’m just going to do what I can every day to keep going.

We all make resolutions for the new year, whether it be to stop something or to start something.  We are excited about it for a little while and then life happens and we go back to what is comfortable. After all, it takes effort to act differently. We have to think about it.

If it means taking time to do something, we have to make time. Many years ago in a time management class I learned that there is always enough time to do what you really want to do. It’s just a matter of making it a priority. Rearrange so that the things that are truly important take precedence over the things that you do but don’t care about.

If it means stop doing something, we have to rearrange our time to fill it with something different. Again, this takes effort, but it is a matter of priority. Which behavior is a priority for you and why? I heard someone who had lost a lot of weight say that she finally had to do it for herself, not her children, her family, or her doctor. But, isn’t that the truth for any resolution we make? Unless we see a benefit for ourselves, we will never stay with it.

I am really bad about starting an exercise program for about 3-5 days and then I stop. Then something happens and I decide to start again. I guess I just haven’t ever seen the benefit to keep going because it takes so long to see the difference. I got a Wii Fit for Christmas and it has a coach and keeps track of my progress. When I miss a day, it chastises me with, “I guess you were too busy to work out with me yesterday.” I think having something to measure my progress is important because then I can tell if what I am doing makes a difference–and it doesn’t hurt if it’s fun.  We’ll see in another few weeks if it sticks.