The other day, a kindly member told me that one of our staff had a bad attitude. I confirmed the truth and I found that as the member had told me, the staff did have a bad attitude. I apologized to the member and then I spoke with the staff.
However, the staff could not understand his mistake and he could not accept his fault. Finally, he realized his fault, but I realized a very important thing through this experience.
What I realized was that my definition of the word "respond" and his were different.
First, the staff said "I always do my best to meet a wide variety of member’ demands." Even if he did his best, if his attitude made our members feel bad, then it cannot be said that he meets our members’ demands sincerely. I thought his argument was very selfish. However, I listened to his argument further. And I found that he has a wrong idea.
I define "respond" as "to act before the members demand something". Therefore, it is quite expected to meet the members’ demand if they actually request something of you. However, I try to feel our members’ Ki (mind) and act before they request something of me. In another words, it is important to always send Ki to our members and realize their needs in advance.
On the other hand, the staff defined "respond" as meaning to act when he was requested something from members. If we hear "If you request, I will do it sincerely", it sounds good. However, in this case it can also be said "I will not act unless you do not have a request." Therefore, the staff was moved passively by our members’ request and did not try to catch our members’ request.
In this case, it cannot be said that Ki is extending. The member let me know the staff’s bad behavior. This means the staff did not send Ki and act positively.
I have told our staff to be courteous at all times. However, the staff misunderstood the meaning of "respond". Even if I told it to our staff correctly in words, if the staff misunderstood the meaning of the words, then I did not convey the meaning to the staff. Through this experience, I realized it is important to confirm if the person really understands not only the form of the meaning, but the Ki (mind).
Japanese often use the word, "Do your best". If you clarify how to do your best, you can use your mind clearly.
"I have told you, but why have you never done this?" You may have this kind of situation in your office. Instead of blaming others for not doing something properly, it is important to confirm that the other person understood your words correctly in the first place.
This is one of the example of Ki in daily life.