Just Make the Freaking Call...
October 15, 2010
Fear of confrontation... There's a lot of you who deal with it on a daily basis.
It's OK - we're trained socially to be nice... So when there's difficult news to be delivered or a question that has to be asked, we typically fear the worst.
Which leads to... you guessed it... procrastination.
The impact of procrastination is always worse then the negative aspects of making the call. For the most part, the person on the other end of the line was raised by similar parents, is human, and you guessed it - fearful (at least to a point) of confrontation as well. It's hard for them to totally blow you up, even if they want to and have the ammo to do it.
Advantage: You. But only if you make the call.
Do yourself a favor today. Make the call that you've been avoiding all week. Tell somebody no. Tell somebody they didn't get the job. Be real and offer up some reasons why that are direct, but talk to them like a friend would.
What you'll find: Nobody dies.
Make the call today. Then make one similar call you don't want to make every day next week.
It's P90X for conflict avoidance.
Make the call.
Interesting thought! As you said- just about everyone has a fear of confrontation. I assume that those with a paralyzing fear of making that call have already had a negative experience from doing it before- thus causing the fear to be all the more real. But you must push through it- face your fear and pick up the phone.
Posted by: Gina | October 18, 2010 at 04:20 PM
Great post Kris! It is far too easy to fall into the trap of procrastinating difficult conversations and your post does an excellent job of providing encouragement to pick up the phone and make that difficult call.
I have included your post in my Rainmaker 'Fab Five' blog picks of the week (found here: http://www.maximizepossibility.com/employee_retention/2010/10/the-rainmaker-fab-five-blog-picks-of-the-week.html) to share your words of encouragement with my readers.
Be well!
Posted by: Chris Young | October 18, 2010 at 05:25 PM