Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to be flexible on the details. You can
Speaker 1: build a lot of goodwill even with fairly substantial expectations,
Speaker 1: by being flexible on how people do things. We all
Speaker 1: like a little autonomy in our lives, so allowing that
Speaker 1: when you can, can make everything more palatable. So I
Speaker 1: have five kids, which means I am constantly managing a crowd.
Speaker 1: I do have certain requirements for my kids. For instance,
Speaker 1: if you are home at dinner time, you are eating
Speaker 1: with us and without any sort of device running at
Speaker 1: the same time. But beyond that, I'm pretty flexible. If
Speaker 1: you don't like the food on offer, and you're polite
Speaker 1: about it and old enough to prepare your own food,
Speaker 1: you can go ahead and make yourself something else. If
Speaker 1: you'd like to sit up at the counter instead of
Speaker 1: at the table in the same room, that is okay.
Speaker 1: No one has to stay for hours. The little kids
Speaker 1: often get up and run away quite quickly, but we
Speaker 1: are building the habit of eating together. The idea is there.
Speaker 1: We are just flexible on the details. Same thing with
Speaker 1: going to church. I generally do make my kids go
Speaker 1: a few times a month during the school year, but
Speaker 1: sweatpants are okay if you want. I am flexible on
Speaker 1: the details. Perhaps you have expectations in your family or
Speaker 1: at your workplace too. You expect people to bring in
Speaker 1: a certain amount of business. You expect that customers will
Speaker 1: be happy with your product or services. You expect managers
Speaker 1: not to have people quitting left and right. It's good
Speaker 1: to hold your people to these standards. But then the
Speaker 1: more flexible you can be on the details, the more
Speaker 1: loyalty you will probably engender. If people are getting their
Speaker 1: work done, and a lot of that work can be
Speaker 1: done virtually, there's no real reason that people can't work
Speaker 1: from home when it makes sense for them. Demanding that
Speaker 1: people swipe in a certain number of times per week
Speaker 1: is going to create a lot of conflict that didn't
Speaker 1: really need to happen. If a salesperson is bringing in
Speaker 1: a lot of business but likes to start work a
Speaker 1: little later some days because he's training for a triathlon,
Speaker 1: there is no real reason to force him to log
Speaker 1: in at nine am daily. For a great many things,
Speaker 1: it is the outcomes that matter. When people can have
Speaker 1: some choice and autonomy about the details. They feel more
Speaker 1: in control of their lives. High expectations seem less burdensome,
Speaker 1: which makes it more likely that they will be met.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.