Communication Lesson

By far, my biggest opportunity for growth is communication.  By the way, my greatest skill, is communication.  If you ask my customers that know me well, they will tell you that I am a great communicator.  They will also tell you that it is impossible to get in touch with me.  This is my paradox.  My greatest asset is my greatest liability.  The underlying problem is that I avoid conflict.  the truth of conflict is most of the time the problem is usually not as bad as it seems.  In every case, when I have finally called my customer back and dealt with the conflict, it was never as bad as I thought it was going to be.   In the most difficult situations, facing the problem head on, and communicating early is always the best approach.  There was a time when I owed a vendor $30,000, and it was going over 30 days.  For the first week over 30 days I talked to him and reassured him that I would be receiving a payment and I would be able to pay him some of what I owed.  When the payment I was expecting didn't come, I was embarrassed and didn't know what to do.  So, I decided to avoid my vendor and hope that the payment would come in soon.  He started calling me every day 3 times a day.  What did I do?  I ignored the calls.  I felt horrible because I was friends with this guy and he was a good person.  I owed him the money and I was unable to pay.   One day I was sitting in my office and he pulled up unannounced.  When I saw him my heart dropped.  I thought he was going to gear me apart, both verbally and maybe physically.  He got out of his truck and said, "Why are you avoiding me?"  I replied, "I am sorry, I just don't have any money to pay you."  He said, "That's ok, just talk to me, so I know what's going on.  I am your friend, you never have to avoid me, Joey.  If you don't have it, you don't have it.  Do you know when you'll have it?"  I said, "It might be another 2 weeks, but I am not sure."  He said, "No problem.  Just keep in touch and we will work it out."  This taught me a very important lesson:  Never avoid your problems.  Talk to your customers and vendors regularly when there is a problem.  They appreciate knowing what is going on, even if they can't get what they want from you.