#PositiveVibes - Do Business

By John R. Nocero & Sandy Abell

The VIBE:  Just do business, meaning put the emotions away and get it done.

John: Sandy, I have a question for you to start, what if we didn’t think, didn’t emotionally react and just did what we had to do? Yesterday, my boss had a question about some data that I had recently given her. After I explained it, she said, this isn’t the data I need, I need this data and I need it by this afternoon because I am giving it to a physician for their presentation tomorrow. I didn’t get all stewed or up in my own head. I said, hmm, get her the data, so I looked at it, made some minor adjustments and sent it back within an hour. Now, I am not saying this to be a hero. Quite the contrary. But let’s take the emotion out of this for a minute. What was I asked for? A data update? How soon? This afternoon. It was 8am when she made the request. All I did was what she asked for, updated the data and sent it back. That was it. That was needed.

How many times, have we, or anyone reading this, gotten all involved or up in our own head, with something like, you know this is the third time this week this has happened. Or she always asks for last minute requests and I always come through, well no more, well maybe this once. Of course, you don’t say that to her, you say it all to yourself. And you waste valuable time instead of doing what you needed or should be doing. Let’s break it down – it was a spreadsheet, I could explain all variances and I fixed it. That was the problem. It takes such a small amount of time to do what your boss wants.

 What if we didn’t think, didn’t emotionally react and just did what we had to do?

Sandy: Great example John. A phrase I use a lot is “Do Business.” When I say, “Just do business,” I mean put the emotions away (as you did) and get it done. There really isn’t much room in the business world for lots of emotion, so it’s important to be able to control your feelings and get things done in a timely and efficient manner. Understand that usually it’s about the work, not about you.

Some people might have taken your bosses reaction to what you’d given her personally, gotten upset that she wasn’t happy with what you’d done, and spent time focusing on looking for a new job. Of course, that is incredibly counterproductive. She wasn’t making it personal at all. She was talking about the data, and you were aware enough to take it the way it was intended and move ahead.

Of course there are many places in life to express emotion, but the office usually isn’t one of them. Even if your first reaction is emotional, when you give yourself a few minutes to process what’s happened, you can make a logical response (as you did).

It’s important to know the difference between reacting (usually instantaneous and often emotional), and responding (taking time to think it through and making the behavior choice that will create the outcome you want).

When you give a thoughtful response and "do business," things will usually work out well.

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