“Talking and Listening” lessons for business from this weeks political to-ings and fro-ings.

Last night the media was in a frenzy. On television, we were treated to unending shots of a silver Jaguar sitting in traffic which the broadcasters hoped was carrying the future Prime Minister to Buckingham Palace. After several days of negotiations between the Liberals and both the Labour and Conservative parties we were told that talks had broken down between the Liberal and the Labour parties and that the Conservatives had been more receptive to negotiate despite differences in their political manifesto’s and beliefs which had led to an agreement that they could govern together as a coalition.

What we saw last night was something that occurs regularly in business. That the people who are most prepared to talk, listen and negotiate are those who win, that its not a sign of weakness to seek middle ground whether in politics or business.

In the management standard ISO 9001, customer focus is a key requirement for certification, it specifies that businesses must develop communication processes to inform their customers about their products and services while also ensuring that they fully understand the customer’s requirements. If there are gaps between what is offered and what is required then negotiations should ensue until essential common ground is found or the order should be declined.

People say that talk is cheap, but in business it is invaluable when paired with listening to what your customers are telling you.