The Power Of Words
Words. Words. Words.
The business day usually starts with a “good morning” greeting, and then it is followed up by hundreds, maybe thousands of simple and polysyllabic words as we work. Mostly in emails, but also in conversations. Sometimes to praise, sometimes in frustration, sometimes to bargain with, sometimes in idle chatter. Are we ever aware of the incredible power unleashed by words? Think of cursing someone out when they do something rude to you, or do you cancel such thoughts and they never come out of your mouth. Then you are better than most of us. Think of the teacher who encouraged you in fourth grade and how her words still ring true these many years later. Think of a friend who works in an unhappy office mainly because she has a bully for a supervisor who is verbally abusive. I could go on but you get my point.
At DDA, even when we are tempted to spit something unkind out, especially to a client that just does not get it, we have to reign in our irritation and find a way to turn the sour taste into sweet meaningful talk. More and more these days, it is hard in many business situations to say after a meeting or encounter, “That was the nicest person to talk to.” We are lucky at DDA, we have more clients we like than dislike. But it could also be that this is because we try to always be professional, and have our game face on. Sometimes, little slips occur in some emails that indicate an undercurrent of frustration, sometimes it surfaces ina phone call, so everyone read your emails twice before sending and take a deep breath if you feel that annoyance rising while on the phone.
We have all heard stories about open microphones where someone said something unkind and the reprecussions of that error. Or where the wrong person got an email because someone hit send before checking to make sure the message was on target and addressed to the right people. I know at DDA, even those of us who are not professional writers, use words well. We stay away from jargon and slang when we communicate. We try to find the right words to convey our ideas, it matters that we care enough to perform properly, and using words correctly is a big part of our collective responsibility.
Entry by: elizabeth