The key to posture is patience. Regarding posture, I am not referring to sitting up straight or walking tall. I am talking about how to position yourself so that any personal relationship or business deal can be a win-win situation. Patience is the key to good posture in any situation.
It goes without saying that you cannot control another person. You cannot judge what their motive may be in any given situation. Even if another person wants to win and wants you to lose, you can still put yourself in a position where both of you can have a winning situation.
Being patient is not as easy as it sounds. It’s even harder when the other person’s attitude communicates, “This is no big deal.” You go out of your way to accommodate a request, overlook unacceptable behavior, or eat the cost of the time and money wasted. It can be frustrating, but you hold your tongue and your posture.
If you know me very well, you know I am rarely short of having something to say. My biggest challenge is that I may have something to say about everything! But fortunately, I am continuing to learn that patience is a great virtue, and the best way I have learned to demonstrate patience is to keep my mouth shut and listen and wait, and listen and wait, and listen and wait. And, if you think this is easy, I would love to watch you when things do not go your way to see how long you can listen and wait! If you are anything like me, it is not very easy.
Communication is more about body language than tone or words. Others see our posture through silence, listening ability, and patience. King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, said, “Even a fool is thought to be wise when he keeps his mouth shut.”
The next time you are in a business or personal situation, see how you can better demonstrate posture in the circumstances by simply listening and not talking. I am not talking about manipulation or deception. I am talking about having the posture of one who is genuinely interested and wants to listen and connect. We all can be wonderful people when everything goes our way and falls into place just like we planned. But, when life throws us a surprise or curve that is when our posture will be seen. It will mostly be seen or heard in our words and through the patience we demonstrate when we try to work through some issues.
At Doing Good at Work, we encourage, educate, and equip people to do their best. We coach people to be good listeners, care about others, and work toward win-win situations. Do you need help creating this type of culture in your company or organization? If so, click HERE to start the conversation about your custom people strategy.
REMEMBER: Better People make Better Businesses, and Better Businesses make a Better World.
Practicing patience,
Boomer
Dr. Boomer Brown, Ph.D., is the CEO of Doing Good at Work, a 501(c) 3 organization that operates with the efficiency of a business. Our mission is to ‘Make People Better’ because we firmly believe that better people make better businesses, and better businesses make a better world. Learn more about our work and how you can be part of this transformative journey with you: https://doinggoodatwork.com/