April Tanner, CCE, Kimball Equipment Co.
“Self Mastery” with Jamie Utley
WOW– can I just say I could not write fast enough for all that I wanted to take down for this review. I have many pages of notes. Yes, I still take notes on paper, I feel I am more apt to remember when I put it on paper. I will pick a few discussion items from Jamie’s session on Agreements and what he calls Self Mastery. He said the most important thing we should learn from the session was that Accountability = Power.
We need to remember that when it comes to Agreements, we need to understand ourselves and our part of the commitment. When an agreement is broken there is the loss of trust, even for agreements with us. As such, we should be impeccable with our word and have a process to restore trust should our word be broken. Breaking agreements will happen, so when we establish restoring trust and a process to that in advance if the breaking is invaluable. As someone who reads a lot of contracts, terms and conditions on PO’s and other legal documents, I look at it like this: a good contract expects everything to run smoothly but will be prepared if something goes awry so there is a right to cure in the contract.
Jamie pointed out and I underlined it a bunch: As part of the restoration process, shame should not be a part in any way, shame prevents us from moving forward.
Jamie did a worksheet with us on breaking agreements at:
- Work
- Home
- Personal
I found that I mostly break personal agreements – those with myself. So that is where I need to improve; improving that aspect will improve the other sections as they are interrelated. We noted the analogy that self-care is and investment for the now and the future, like when you are on an airplane and are told to put your mask on first before you help others. Jamie urged us to find our pattern for breaking agreements; to get curious and ask questions that won’t be judgmental, just the facts. As credit professionals, we are good at looking for and interpreting facts.
In closing he said in relation to making and keeping better agreements:
- Say NO more often
- Monitor the agreements you do make
- Keep data, review and reflect
- Keep seeking resolution
- Problem Solve – Find the way to Yes
- This is one of the credit professionals key phrases
- Then teach the process to others