I get it. Sometimes you can’t salvage a relationship. It’s
just not going to happen, however in business and in life, sometimes you need
to be the bigger, more professional person. For me, this lesson hit home last
week. One of my personal flaws is that I get really excited about work that I love
doing and if it’s not something I’m excited about, I will shirk tasks like
nobody’s business. (They still get done, eventually.) One such instance of this
happened recently and it could have damaged a relationship I had with a vendor.
I wasn’t being lazy or rude, but I asked for working conditions to change and
they didn’t, so I stopped working. My mistake here was that after having a
conversation with him about the working conditions, instead of following up and
letting him know my dissatisfaction and warning him that I was going to stop
working, I just quit. At this point I could have just said “F*ck it” and I’ll
find more work somewhere else (because I always will) but I was wrong and my
gut was telling me to correct the situation.
I called the vendor and
apologized. I was very careful to only use “I” statements and not try to place
blame, but to clarify my point of view and make sure that the both of us were
getting the respect we felt we deserved. He respected my call and was very
understanding and the relationship was right back on a positive note. It takes
bravery sometimes to repair a bridge, but I’ve got plenty other light to use
along my path. Is there a call you need to make? The worst thing that can
happen is the situation stays the same. Check yourself and see if you need some
#bridgerepair. Tweet me about it if you need a positive word before you make
the call.
Also: Check out this link. I'm not going to preface it for you, you just gotta click. (I am excited!)
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