I describe my professional settings as places where I’m getting paid, or potentially getting paid to be in that space. My main professional setting is at work, at Stratton Air Force Base, I work in an office setting but often must travel to other offices and buildings to work on equipment. I also work as the COO of our foundation, where I’m working from home, but still have professional conversations with potential health care providers, local government officials, insurance companies, donors and patients. This form of communication is very straightforward and always formal.
Where it gets confusing is at the base. There are many strictly enforced rules around how to address colleagues, there’s a ranking system and written regulations that must be followed. You must greet officers with “Sir/Ma’am” and a salute, use rank and last names only, answer the phone in a certain way, and follow many other customs and courtesies. Where the lines get blurred are in deployment situations. Your colleagues now become your roommates, often in very isolated locations. When you spend 24/7 working and living with the same individuals, it naturally becomes less formal and more casual. It feels uncomfortable addressing someone formally “Sir/Ma’am” during the day when you just spent all night playing cards and talking about their daughter’s softball career.
Dom Sagolla’s “140 characters” speaks to a unique style of writing that emphasizes brevity and immediacy. This tends to be the style I lean toward professionally. I want to kept things brief, formal, and informative, getting straight to the point and leaving out fluff. Sagolla quotes Strunk and White, saying “Omit needless words.” I agree, I don’t want to waste anyone-especially potential clients or leadership’s-time. Time spent is the most valuable thing we have to give one another. Ironically, I’m the opposite of this during personal interactions. I feel like the communication I have with friends and family ADDS to the value of our time spent together, as it’s used to create personal experiences and memories.
Commenti