Being Kind in the Office

The corporate world is not all ergonomic chair reclining, patting backs, and smiling brightly as solutions miraculous develop on our desktops. We've all had days when that straw sifted lazily down the breeze onto the camels back -when our eyes wanted to roll so far back into our heads we'd need an OR team to go find them -when one more request to re-send one more email chain we KNOW the requesting person was on has us gulping deep breaths and counting to ten. I recently had one of those days shoulder to shoulder with another member of my team and her response to the pressure left me contemplating my own reactions and thinking of how I can emulate her more. 
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I consider myself very solutions oriented. I don't consider excuses a valuable use of time and instead try to gear my discussions and meetings towards action items that solve whatever problem we've stumbled upon. After spending the day with my calm and pleasant coworker, I noticed my reaction to hearing excuses or complaints was increasingly to shut down the conversation abruptly, typically with a frustrated tone whereas she continuously focused on closing down the negativity in a positive way - not an easy thing to do. She did this in a really simple way, by being kind. 

In my previous roles where I was front-facing with clients, I was in a daily practice of listening patiently and responding with a positive regardless of the situation. If a client called and needed access to a resource, I would let them know I heard their frustration and was there to help. Somewhere in my transition to internal service, I had forgotten the value of a friendly word and positive redirection. After spending the day with observing the patience and courtesy from my days of yore, I had an interaction with a different co-worker where miscommunication caused some friction. It was understandable that both of us would feel out of the loop and somewhat frustrated. I immediately noted her tone was irritated and resolved to not let any of my frustration color the tone in my voice. In that moment I remembered my co-workers kindness and dusted off my customer service skills to turn the conversation positive and end our interaction on a happy note. 

I took away a few lessons in this reflection.
1. Kindness is customer service and everyone deserves it -both co-workers and clients.
2. If you can hear frustration in their tone, they can hear the tone you give back.
​3. Patience and courtesy must be practiced daily.

If you've had a similar experience or anything to add - feel free to comment!