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 that when you ask someone to give you
Speaker 1: a call, let them know why. That way they can
Speaker 1: be prepared for the conversation and they won't be worried
Speaker 1: about the reason for it. In our personal and professional lives,
Speaker 1: people sometimes ask us to call them or ask if
Speaker 1: they can chat on the phone without saying why. The
Speaker 1: more vague the email or text, the more you can
Speaker 1: wonder what is going on? Can you give me a call?
Speaker 1: I need to chat about something can definitely make you
Speaker 1: think that something bad is about to happen. I mean,
Speaker 1: are we talking something so bad it can't even be
Speaker 1: hinted at in an email? You don't want to create
Speaker 1: a paper record what's going on? At least that's where
Speaker 1: my brain goes. When I've had someone send me a
Speaker 1: note like that, I usually think that something horrible is
Speaker 1: going on, but it is almost never that, So why
Speaker 1: create needless anxiety? I love that school nurses often now
Speaker 1: call and say don't worry, it's not an emergency when
Speaker 1: they are calling about let's say, a kid getting a
Speaker 1: bump on the playground. In those first few seconds after
Speaker 1: this is the school nurse Alex had an accident. You
Speaker 1: don't know if we're talking something really serious or just
Speaker 1: a skin knee that now has a band aid on it.
Speaker 1: Bless the nurses for letting you know it is not
Speaker 1: serious first. I think we should all aspire to that,
Speaker 1: and even when things are serious, there is no reason
Speaker 1: not to give people a heads up. If you are
Speaker 1: planning to ask for a significant raise, you could say,
Speaker 1: I'd like to talk about some of the financial details
Speaker 1: of my job. If you'd like to be transferred to
Speaker 1: something else, you can say, I'd like to talk about
Speaker 1: my current projects and what I'd like to do in
Speaker 1: the future. If you are planning to quit entirely and
Speaker 1: you don't want to be shown the door immediately because
Speaker 1: you work in a place that does that, perhaps you
Speaker 1: can still say something like I'd like to talk about
Speaker 1: some aspects of my job. In any case, this is
Speaker 1: not hard to do. Rather than text your nephew to
Speaker 1: call you and then let him spend the next few
Speaker 1: hours wondering what he did that you are mad about,
Speaker 1: to say, I'd love to talk with you about Christmas plans.
Speaker 1: I'll give you a call tonight or to a friend.
Speaker 1: I have some professional news that I'm excited to share.
Speaker 1: When you have a few minutes, can you give me
Speaker 1: a call after you've put the kids to bed? Is
Speaker 1: perfectly fine. Just a few words can save a lot
Speaker 1: of wondering, and when you give some clues about the
Speaker 1: subject matter, that allows the other person to think it
Speaker 1: through as well. I mean, who knows, maybe your boss
Speaker 1: will take the hint that you are thinking of leaving
Speaker 1: and come up with some plumb assignment she knows you'd
Speaker 1: like and offer you a raise. I mean, wouldn't that
Speaker 1: be a nice outcome to the tip off? In the
Speaker 1: vast majority of cases, you are better off saying why
Speaker 1: you want to talk. The element of surprise may be
Speaker 1: good for investigative journalism or interviewing crime suspects, but for
Speaker 1: most scenarios it really isn't. Let people know why you
Speaker 1: want to talk and the conversation will start off with
Speaker 1: a lot more goodwill. In the meantime, This is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to before breakfast. If you've
Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.