Why Do I Need an Accountability Partner? Part 2

Why Do I Need an Accountability Partner? Part 2

The second presentation I adopted came out of a need to understand my manager.  He would not talk to me.  This is pretty surreal when we were supposedly working together and he was to oversee me.  Of course, it didn’t help that he was my son’s age, had just moved to the area knowing no one and he was to hire 10 new sales people in 12 months.  I had lived in the area for 10 years and was very active in the community.  When he would tell someone he was with New York Life, they would ask him if he worked for me.  Not a good way to start out.  Needless to say, being the people person that I am; this situation not only defocused me, but hurt my production.  I am a recognition dependent person who certainly was getting no recognition.   I saw a flier on a workshop focusing on social styles and how to identify them and work with them.  My light bulb came on and I signed up 

for the workshop.  It was very enlightening, and I hired the presenter to help me learn how to deal with my manager.  He came to my office weekly where we talked about what I wanted to talk about, he would set up exercises for me to work through to learn how to deal with all personalities.  Not only did those exercises increase my productivity, but they also brought me to the understanding of how my manager thought and expressed himself.  This was accomplished by understanding who I was working with and how they processed information.  I have used and taught this concept for the last 18 years.  How many of you have heard or read Stephen Covey?  Covey says, “Seek first to understand before you seek to be understood”.  If you don’t leave with anything else today, I want you to remember that.  Also remember that urgent always trumps importance.