Morning Captain Obvious

MorningBy Daven J. Claerbout

I have now looked at the three word title at least five times wondering if you are going to think this is an obituary.  I keep thinking that such a morning would be a mourning so I finally checked in the dictionary and I was right… this ain’t no obituary.

Within the last two weeks, I’ve received two different emails from two different people with the same subject line:  Morning.  I’ve been greeted by countless people saying, “Morning.”

Honestly (as opposed to quite honestly, to be completely honest with you, somewhat honest) I found it very lazy on both senders’ behalf to simply say morning to me before they went into the details of their email.  Equally as lazy were the people greeting me with  ‘Morning.’

Before I throw any more daggers, I will admit that I was a big user of the word ‘morning’ when I walked through the plant visiting third shift and just-arriving first shift employees.  I would even put a little exclamation on the second syllable when I would greet someone I ‘really liked.’

And then someone pulled me aside and said, “Daven, isn’t it a good morning?”  It definitely caught me off-guard and as I went back to my desk being very careful not to step on my tail, it dawned on me that saying ‘Good’ first would actually take me another second.  And this additional second of effort would speak pretty loudly, especially to an employee.

You and I are in sales every day of our lives; as a father, boss, greeter at church, greeter to new customers, to employees, to the dentist (I hate going there so I really polish my sales approach….like it even matters), coach, Grandpa, husband, the list goes on.

So to show you care, don’t state the obvious, add a second’s worth of effort.  And then watch the reaction of the recipient, your eyes will hear a lot. 🙂

Daven J. Claerbout is the Director of Business Development of Dutchland Plastics. He is a Past President of ARM and a member of the Rotational Molding Hall of Fame.

The ARM Blog is written by a variety of leaders in the rotational molding industry. We encourage you to share your input in the comment section. If you’re interested in writing a post for the blog, email ARM staff at info@rotomolding.org.

One response to “Morning Captain Obvious”

  1. Morning, Daven! Thanks for the reminder to make every personal interaction count. It reminds me of the quote “When I talk to Managers, I get the feeling they’re important. When I talk to Leaders, I get the feeling I’m important.” Thanks for the post.

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