FSS Spotlight: 3 Little Words = One Powerful Message

By Harvey Mackay

Ah, to hear those "three little words" - sweet music to the ears, unless you're in a business situation. Go around professing your love and you are likely to be scouring the yellow pages for a good employment lawyer.

But there are other cases where three little words can make all the difference in your professional life, and these are completely safe and appropriate. Saying them might even improve your work environment. For instance,

Can I help? A coworker in a bind, a boss under the gun, a looming deadline: all are situations ripe for a helping hand. Sometimes it's good to help even if you don't get any of the credit. Besides, it's always better to be ahead in the favors granted department.

Are you busy? How many times have you been interrupted by someone barging in to your office without an appointment or even the chutzpah to ask you to put your work on hold while you solve their much more important problem? This goes ditto for phone calls. I have three other words for the interrupter: Can this wait? Usually, if you actually ask, you'll find the answer is yes. Before you become known as the office annoyance, get in the habit of asking others if they have a minute. Prepare to come back later if the answer is no.

You are right. What terrific acknowledgement to bestow on another person, at the office or anywhere else. People like to be told when they are right, and their opinion of the person who tells them increases exponentially. Hey, everyone is right at least part of the time - and pointing it out makes for a much more cooperative and productive relationship.

Let's do it. The objective is to get the job done. There are times when another meeting, another study, or another focus group is overkill. Figure out when the information you have is enough already, and get on with it. I read somewhere that 50 percent of all work-related meetings are unnecessary, and therefore, a source of frustration for those actually charged with completing a project.

I'll do it. Don't be afraid to take on tasks that will move the project toward the finish. If your workload can handle it, take on additional responsibilities. Not only will you be someone's hero, you will gain experience and quite probably learn or sharpen some skills. You can be a team player even if you are working solo.

Great job, (name). I've never met anyone who doesn't love to be recognized for great performance. It's an immediate morale booster, and even better when spoken in a meeting or at least in front of others. Be sure to use these three words as honest rewards, not idle flattery. Otherwise, you'll come off as insincere.

Yes, we can. Do you love a good challenge as much as I do? I'm particularly fond of showing what can be done rather than proving what can't. A positive attitude can work miracles, and I'll move mountains to come up with a new or better way to get a job done.

Let it go. A lost sale or scrapped project is a downer, but it shouldn't bring down the world around you. As a manager, you need to help your employees over little bumps and big ones and move toward the next project. Know when to quit and make sure that you don't equate failure with disaster. Do, however, learn from what went wrong and file away the knowledge for future use.

I don't know. Yes, I'm completely serious. It's more important to admit what you don't know and come off as uninformed, than to try to bluff your way through and convince everyone around you that you truly are inept. The upside to this is that the answers to so many questions are just a few keystrokes or phone calls away. Isn't it better to take a couple of extra minutes to base your work on good information, rather than guessing and hoping for the best?

I love this job. Okay, that's four words. But learn the above phrases, and this one will be easy to say.

Mackay's Moral: Those who have the most to say usually say it with the fewest words.