Time Management

Better the ball.

November 4, 2006

I was talking to my friend Debbie Foster, President of InTouch Legal, the other day, and she said, “It’s everybody’s job to ‘better the ball.'” She could tell by the look on my face that I didn’t know what she was talking about. She explained that her daughter is the “setter” for her volleyball team. As the setter, she hits the ball second to set it up for the all important third hit.

Volleyball2 Well, Debbie’s daughter complained to the coach that the first person was giving her “bad” passes. The coach’s response? “Don’t complain about what you get. Your job is to better the ball.” In other words, regardless of how bad the ball is when it comes to you, make it better before you pass it on. Wow. Words to live by.

The next time you or one of your staff complains about ANYTHING, remember, it’s our job to “better the ball.” Regardless of how a situation comes to us, we have the opportunity to make it better. We have the opportunity to make a client’s life better each time we interact with them. Write it down, put it on your office refrigerator, make it a screen saver for your office computers. Better the ball!

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