Today, I'd like to introduce an interesting and informative story from one of my overseas friends.
One day, his son and daughter got into the quarrel with an apple. His son said "I need an apple to do my school project, and it's very important." His daughter also said "I need the apple for my school project too, and it's very important. "
A lots of words were exchanged between them and each gave their reason why their project was more important. And they ended up in a big argument.
He got angry listening to their argument, so he took the knife and cut the apple into half, and gave each of them their portion. He thought that was the best way to solve their problem. But it wasn't...
A few hours later, he asked them what they were supposed to do with the apple. His son said, “I need to grate the apple skin to bake a cake.” And the
daughter said, “I need to use the juice to make jelly.”
He said to them, “Why didn’t you say so in the first place.” And immediately, he did notice their 'mistake'. He did not ask what were they going to do with the apple. And they did not say what they were going to do with the apple either.
In our workplace, sometimes we do not state our ‘interest’ clearly. We do not
state our purpose clearly. Most of the time, we just state what we wanted.
It is crucial to array all issues on the table, and to investigate them thoroughly.
In addition, good communication skill is a must.
Anyway, don’t cut an apple into two without clarifying the root of the problem.