Soothing Tones
I've been working on a special tone of voice to respond to emergencies at work. The receptionist may have just told me that the particular caller is horribly upset and talking about suicide, but the caller doesn't know I've already been told that and I answer the phone speaking as if I were taking a lovely stroll in the park with an iced lemonade.
I practice this tone of voice not only with callers but with my co-workers. When they call me from their desk "I need you!" I've learned to recognize their panic in the very way they same my name and then I know to switch to "the tone".
The tone could be used to say "That's interesting, usually the Titanic sinks on Wednesdays not Thursday mornings." Other times it more closely resembles "Yes, the Titanic always sinks when you run into that iceberg, but let's find the life boats."
After such an episode this morning, my co-worker pleaded... "You can't go on a honeymoon. What are we going to do without you? Every morning you will need to wake up, get down on your knees, and pray for us in your absence."
For some reason, my ability to find that soothing tone of voice completely disappeared.
I practice this tone of voice not only with callers but with my co-workers. When they call me from their desk "I need you!" I've learned to recognize their panic in the very way they same my name and then I know to switch to "the tone".
The tone could be used to say "That's interesting, usually the Titanic sinks on Wednesdays not Thursday mornings." Other times it more closely resembles "Yes, the Titanic always sinks when you run into that iceberg, but let's find the life boats."
After such an episode this morning, my co-worker pleaded... "You can't go on a honeymoon. What are we going to do without you? Every morning you will need to wake up, get down on your knees, and pray for us in your absence."
For some reason, my ability to find that soothing tone of voice completely disappeared.
Comments