There are Great Lessons in Everyday Life - Patricia Fripp
Channel: Patricia Fripp
Date: 2020-10-20

There are Great Lessons in Everyday Life.
How often have you heard a speaker who is funny or profound while seemingly talking about everyday situations? You might think “Nothing like that ever happens to me.” Of course, it does, or you would not be relating to it. What that speaker has done is attribute meaning where it doesn’t usually occur. 

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For example, in a speech for telephone operators on good customer service, my client said, “Patricia, our telephone operators don't stay in Ritz Carltons; they don't shop at Nordstrom. How do we teach them what good service is?”

I said, “Very easy. We are all customers. You need for them to act as business consultants based on their own experiences, then apply what they learn to their own company.” I told them some of my good and bad customer service stories, and then asked them, “Who would like to tell me one of yours?” A young woman said, “I went into a store to buy a leotard to go under my child's Halloween costume. I made a mistake and took the wrong size. I had not opened the package so I took it back and said, ‘Excuse me, could I change this for another size?’ The clerk rolled his eyes and said, ‘You don't even know what size your own kid is?’”

She told us, “I made another purchase, wrote a check, and made the mistake of putting the next day's date on it. He threw the pen across the table saying, ‘Will you initial that?’ I went up to the Customer Service Department and told them the story. Do you know what they said? ‘That must be Antony.’”
The point I make in the speech is that this is a company that advertises, “We care about our customers,” and they know about Antony. Here is the most important lesson in management: It's not what you say you believe that's important. It is what you model, encourage, reward, and let happen.
Here are some of my ideas and questions that will help you with your next presentation:

Start with stories you are already telling. 
This week what incident or situation has compelled you to talk about it at work or at the dinner table? 
What story makes your friends and coworkers laugh when you relate it? 
What is an average day for you?
Start observing what happens as you go through an average day in your life. Ask yourself, “If I used this example in a speech or team meeting, what point would I be emphasizing?” There are great lessons in everyday life.