Prepared and accepting

I saw another 2×2 matrix yesterday. I love the simplicity of distilling life into 4 quadrants! But they can be useful.

It was Prepared/Unprepared vs Accepting/Unaccepting. It was written by a Buddhist nun talking about death. But could equally apply to communication. In particular taking the stance of Prepared and Accepting into our own communication.

Preparation is important. We all have something to say and we should do our best job at saying it. It’s a bit of an indictment if we don’t get the impact that our thinking and communication deserves. I see plenty of examples where great ideas don’t get the consideration they deserve, because people haven’t prepared as best they could. By preparation, I mean thinking about what we’re really trying to say, who we’re saying it to, the wider context of our conversation, and how we say it.

Acceptance is about being present in the conversation. Listening to the perspectives of others. Letting go of the need to defend our own points of view. Allowing  meaning to emerge (see Stephen Billing’s – Changing Organisations blog- see blogroll). Allowing the response to our communication to influence our own thinking. Accepting that we don’t control the result of our conversation. As they saw, ‘the result of our conversation is the result we get’. And yet, doing our best to influence that result.

I see plenty of examples of Unprepared and Unaccepting. For example I came across someone on Kiwiblog (talk-back radio for the digerati) recently claiming the loss of over $30 trillion was proof that capitalism is working. Define working! Ideological thinking rationalising bad news.