We spent three days on site with about 320 or 25 agency owners and leaders. For me, the big takeaway this year was being present.
We’ve all got a lot going on. It’s so easy, especially if you’re on a Zoom call, to have other screens happening and check email or text or do all the other things, the multitasking things. But what I really felt for the last couple of days was just the power of being present. That everybody has a story to tell: our employees, our colleagues, our peers, our mentors. Everyone has a story they want to tell.
Not just that they have to tell, but they want to tell us. And it may be about something that’s going on with a client. It may be something that’s going on with them personally. But when you are fully present and when you make that eye contact again, whether it’s on a screen or in person or when you are in physical proximity of each other, and you can kind of feel each other’s energy and you stay in that moment, what happens is it’s almost like, implied permission to tell that story.
And people – the connection is deeper. It is more meaningful, it is more nuanced and layered. But I think when we feel distracted, whether we think we feel it that way with others or not, then I think we get more of the perfunctory communication, like, tell me what you have to tell me, as opposed to tell me what you want to tell me.
So, something I want to encourage you to try this week is just to be really present when you’re in conversation, a real conversation with someone again, whether it’s electronically or in person, and stay focused on them and let them feel that focus. Let them feel that they have your 110% of your attention. And I think you’re going to be surprised at the stories that you hear, at the nuances you notice, at the intonations and facial expressions and all of that.
I think you will get a much deeper story from the people who help you support clients or the clients that you serve. And that’s going to serve you well. And it feels good. It feels good to be that connected to your people, whoever that may be. So full attention, full presence. Try that this week and see if it feels any different to you.
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Hey, everybody. Drew McLellan here from Agency Management Institute this week coming to you from Denver, Colorado, where we just wrapped up the fifth annual Build a Better Agency Summit. You know, we spent three days on site with about 320 or 25 agency owners and leaders. And the big takeaway for me, this year was about being present. One of the things I think for all of us that we struggle with is our to do list is long. We've got a lot of things going on. It's so easy, especially if you're on a zoom call to have other screens happening and check email or texting or doing all the other things, the multitasking things. But what I, what I really felt, for the last couple days, was just the power of being present. That everybody has a story to tell: our employees, our colleagues, our peers, our mentors, everyone has a story they want to tell. Not just that they have to tell, but they want to tell us. And it may be about something that's going on with a client. It may be something that's going on with them personally. But when you are fully present and when you make that eye contact again, whether it's on a screen or in person or when you are in physical proximity of each other, and you can kind of feel each other's energy and you stay in that moment, what happens is it's almost like, implied permission to tell that story.
And people – the connection is deeper. It is more meaningful, it is more nuanced and layered. But I think when we feel distracted, whether we think we feel it that way with others or not, then I think we get more of the perfunctory communication like, tell me what you have to tell me, as opposed to tell me what you want to tell me. So something I want to encourage you to try this week is just to be really present when you're in conversation, live real conversation with someone again, whether it's electronically or in person, and stay focused on them and let them feel that focus. Let them feel that they have your 110% of your attention. And I think you're going to be surprised at the stories that you hear, at the nuances you notice, at the intonations and facial expressions and all of that. And I think, I think you will get a much deeper story from the people that help you support clients or the clients that you serve. And that's going to serve you well. And it feels good. It feels good to be that connected to your people, whoever that may be. So full attention, full presence. Try that this week and see if it feels any different to you.
