For the past two years, one of my clients has been working diligently towards creating their dream of building a built-for-purpose facility to accommodate their growing business.

Up until last week, progress towards building that facility had gone smoothly and the finishing line was in sight.  However, last week the quote for the building works was received and it was three times greater than my clients’ budget for the build.

For my client, who is a highly ambitious, success driven businesswoman, and who loves being in control, it was a devastating moment when the builder provided the quote.  In that moment, she was no longer in control of achieving her dream.   She was angry, frustrated and grumpy with the world as it appeared her dream was turning to dust.

The next day she turned up for work still feeling grumpy, angry & frustrated about the previous day’s events.  However, before her first appointment she disclosed to the two people who she would be working with over the day, how she was feeling and why.

The two people responded appropriately to my client’s mood.  They were caring & supportive of my client and kept the mood light & cheerful.

My client appreciated the way they responded to the disclosure of her feelings,  at the end of the day she sent them a message thanking them for being so supportive and understanding of her mood.

As my client recounted this story, she observed the approach she chose to adopt came from a change in her attitude & belief about the most effective way to deal with other people.  The change in behaviour stemmed directly from the work we had done to improve her communication skills.