Cave Men and Cave Women
Acronyms can help as a memory technique. They keep things concise. Some such as SWOT and SMARTER or SMARTEER are well known and used. Others denote organisations such as the EU and NATO. ASSUME = ASS -U -ME raises a smile and stick with you as a warning about judging a book by its cover.
A drawback with acronyms is that sometimes there are dozens of variants* Paradoxically you have to remember your horse for the course! There are by the way 14 different HORSE and 11 different COURSE acronyms! LOL!
Regardless I am always on the lookout for fresh acronyms, but only those which don’t turn plain words into jargon. I have found one by chance. It was given to me by a participant on one of my courses about changing UK employment laws and expected behaviours.?Courses like this can be attended by negative people who greet every new idea with a loud sharp intake of breath that makes a whoosh sound. Or they’ll say, “you’ll be lucky William if they agree to that” or “do you think that’s wise?”. Or they operate as a resistance movement with passive aggressive behaviour.
CAVE men and CAVE women!!
CAVE =
·????????Colleagues
·????????Against
·????????Virtually
·????????Everything
It’s being so cheerful that keeps them going! There used to be a wonderful “Listen with Mother” BBC Radio programme for children when I was a boy. One of the on-going stories was about the characters in Toy Town. P.C. Growser enforced the law with the mantra “It’s disgraceful-It ought not be allowed”. My parents told me about another radio programme then for older audiences which featured Mrs Mona Lott.
However, engagement with CAVE Men and Cave Woman is essential. Otherwise, things stagnate, and a toxic environment starts to surround positive people. My tools for the CAVE include: -
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·????????Active Listening skills
·????????Benefits clarity – what’s in it for them?
·????????Clear communication
·????????Genuine consultation and involvement
·????????Patience
·????????Sincere empathy
Assertiveness – You’ve got rights – And so have I
How do you influence the CAVE people in your life?
*There are 68 variants of CAVE, but I still like the one profiled in this blog!! Two can be reconciled with the version here…
CAVE = Citizens Against Everything
CAVE – Customers Against Everything