Set Up Like A Deck Of Cards

People skills

There was a presentation at work today, about a new system we’re introducing. There were 16 of our people there and two external guys were there to do the presentation. Before they started, they asked us to go around the room and say our name and what department we were in, for their benefit.

The presentation lasted about two hours, mostly them talking and some of us chipping in with questions occasionally. Afterwards, I was walking up the stairs as they were walking down. As I walked past them, I said, “Cheers for that, it sounds good.” One of the guys replied, “Thanks, Mark.”

He’d heard my name for the first time, two hours earlier, in the middle of 15 other names he’d just heard for the first time, and he rattled it off like it was nothing. I’ve got no doubt he could have done the same to any one of us. That’s people skills.