THE CASE OF THE OLD SCHOOL DALE CARNEGIE'S COACHES RESPOND TO A REAL WORLD SCENARIO FROM THE PHILADELPHIA REGION’S COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY. REMEMBER: THERE IS ALWAYS MORE THAN ONE PATHWAY TO SUCCESS.
“Just letting you know, Eric’s just gotten to his desk.” Shannon looked up from her monitor. “Thanks, Jordan,” she said. She could already feel her shoulders tightening up in anticipation of having to speak to Eric, one of the company’s superintendents. She always preferred the days when Eric worked out of the jobsite trailers. “Ok, let’s do this,” she thought to herself as she got up from her desk and walked over to Eric’s desk. “Hi, Eric, did you see the emails that I sent about that bill that you need to review and confirm?” “I dunno.” Eric turned to his computer. “When did you send it?” “I sent the first request last week, but I also emailed you about it twice this week.” “Oh, yeah, I see it. Okay, I’ll look at it. I don’t know why they didn’t just call me. I’m old school. You know that I don’t check my email.” “Sure, Eric,” Shannon said and paused. “I’m working with their billing department, and they don’t make phone calls. On our end, email is just faster for this kind of thing.” “Well, I’m old school. They should have just called me,” Eric said. “I’ll look at it now and get it back to you.” “Thanks, Eric.” Shannon headed back to her desk. She hated having to chase down paperwork, but it had to be done. She also hated the “I’m old school” excuse – she had heard Eric use that with other people before. At this point, that attitude made him difficult to work with, but no matter what anyone said, the bosses were showing no signs of letting him go. 26 CONSTRUCTION TODAY
A few minutes later, Eric came to Shannon’s desk. “Here’s the bill. It’s all good. I guess email wasn’t the fastest way after all, was it?” He smirked as he handed her the printed email. Shannon smiled weakly. “Thanks, Eric.” Just let him walk away, she told herself. After he left her doorway, she looked at her computer. Good news! A client that wasn’t too far away offered to let them pick up a check rather than put it into the mail. Someone would just have to pick it up by noon tomorrow. She quickly emailed the project’s team members—including Eric—to see if any of them could pick up the check. Oh, I guess I should call Eric since he probably won’t get the email, she thought. She picked up her phone. Just as she started dialing, an email notification popped up: Great! I’ll go pick up the check. - Eric Shannon put her phone down. So you DO check your emails, she thought. If only there was a way to get him to care about all of his emails, not just the ones that directly get the company money, or that get him out of the office and on the road.
WHAT SHOULD SHANNON DO? Trainers from Dale Carnegie offer expert analysis and advice.
Dale Carnegie Response Most of us would agree that valuing diversity and promoting inclusion are important for many reasons. Too often, we limit
