By Michael Young
I was watching the movie ‘Blade 2’ the other day as I love watching supernatural movies involving vampires and vampire slayers.
My favourite scene was when Whistler had a discussion with Blade and asks him if he trusts a certain vampire. Blade’s response was ‘Keep your friends close but your enemies closer’.
This statement resonated with me for the rest of the day as it held so much truth about how society is structured and operates. We are all very quick to tell friends our deepest secrets, let them into our lives and assume that friends will never betray us.
Our enemies on the other hand are kept at a distance. We shelter ourselves from them and dare not divulge any information as we fear that they may use that information to harm us.
So, what is the key distinguishing factor that separates a friend from an enemy? Is it a lack of trust? Is it a question of liking them or maybe it all comes down to how they treat us in the present as well as how they have treated us in the past?
When it comes down to business, we need to reflect and ask ourselves, “Do our clients trust us? Do they like us? More importantly, do we treat them in the correct manner?” When answering these questions, we need to be critical of ourselves and accept that how the client views us may be very different to how we view ourselves.
Yes, I know, it’s sometimes hard to accept that we have flaws and we feel people may hold grudges against us. But no one is perfect, and the goal is to continually change to become someone better in future.
The reason I brought this topic up is because in the business world, everything revolves around trust, goodwill and credibility. Development of these three factors can either cause your business to grow or kill your business very quickly.
So, where does this fit in when becoming professionally registered with ECSA? Outcomes 7 and 8 address the aspects of meeting legal requirements and to conduct engineering activities ethically.
The easiest way to gain trust with a client is to always make decisions and to control your actions in an ethical manner. I know it’s hard to control your actions when someone blames you for something that was not your fault or tries to hold you accountable for penalties on a project.
The key thing to remember is that even though others may be unethical, you don’t have to follow their example by being unethical as well. When things go wrong, go back to the basics. Review the design and see if it complies with standards. Present only the facts in your defence and fight for what is right and just.
Facts are facts and when an enemy attacks you, facts will be your shield to safeguard and protect you. Remember we all have choices in life and being unethical is a choice one makes. Never lose your way and go down this path as being unethical will tarnish your brand within the industry and destroy your reputation within minutes.
Become trustworthy, become credible and more importantly, always help others as that creates good will. Becoming professionally registered with ECSA is not a qualification, it’s a way of life. So, let’s make the HVAC industry great by taking the first step to becoming ECSA registered by attending our free one hour training webinar. Call 073 17 123 11 to secure you seat now as we will only be accommodating 20 callers. We will review your reports and help you better serve the HVAC industry.
I can’t wait to chat to you then.
Wishing you a successful month ahead.
