Just take a deep breath and think about the word ‘response’.
In very simple words, response is a reaction to what you do or the stimulus you send out. Just look around you and think. What happens when you don’t get a response? Here are different situations. You ask a question to someone who does not respond, leave alone acknowledge your query. You send an e-mail expecting a response from your team mate for an important deadline and you don’t get a response or even an acknowledgement. You order for another round of drinks for your friends. It’s your party. But the waiter just does not respond. Most people feel offended and many get angry when they do not get a response. Relationships get affected. Turn the tables around and put yourself in the position of the person who does not get a response. It’s not a good feeling. Let me tell you this.
Whether in business or with friends, relationships are built around basic expectations. The problem is that these expectations need to be guessed. Most often you have a person or a set of people on one side sitting with their expectations and on the other side there is yourself. Acting in a way that makes you get the desired response, is the mindset we are talking about today. Believe me, its just a conscious and deliberate way of sending out stimulus and getting the response you are looking for. This article will be in two parts for sure and a lot will depend on ‘your response’ and feedback!
Let’s see a real example of the response inspired mindset first. Bata, the reputed shoe wear brand sent two teams to Africa to see the potential of setting up a shoe manufacturing plant, based on the market. These teams were led by brilliant business development executives. Both teams went in two directions and the first sent a telegram within just 1 day spent in Africa. Those days there were no faxes or internet. “Returning with team. Please send tickets immediately. Imagine, no one here wears shoes” and the team returned back to the UK. The other team went missing for days. There was just no communication from them. But on the 7th day, the head office received a telegram from the business development team leader- “Huge potential here. Imagine no one wears shoes here. Bata can introduce shoes in Africa. Please send technical and marketing team immediately”!
This business development team executive did possess a response inspired mindset. Its not just blind optimism that drives such behaviour and success stories, you need to be inspired to create a response.
There are 7 steps to evolve to this amazing mindset. I roll them out one by one in this article and my next one. Enjoy and reinvent!
The response deficient Mumbai auto driver
I am fortunate to have lived and studied in Mumbai when I was in my later school years. My father used to work with the iconic tyre brand- Dunlop India and would get transferred periodically to various cities in India. Those days I used to use the bus or get a taxi to get to school. What courtesy, what response. When I returned to India and Mumbai from a 14 year overseas assignment, how things had changed dramatically. The attitude of service providers had stooped to an all-time low. The Mumbai auto driver of course, takes the cake, bakery and the baker!
When you try and stop an auto driver for example, he just looks at you and drives on. No response. If he does stop and you request him to take you to a particular destination, most of the time you do not get a response but he just drives off. Even while travelling if you talk to him trying to give him directions or request him to stop somewhere. He does not even respond back to you that he has understood.
More, in my next article……
“Between stimulus and response, there is a space where we choose our response” Stephen Covey
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