Lessons from “Trim your Hedge”

I seem to be daily challenged in both understanding what others are saying, and in being understood by others. This applies not only at work but at home too.

My neighbour, Mrs. P, doesn’t say too much. I think in the 7 years that I have lived at my current address we have only spoken two or three times. The majority of the communication has involved wandering dogs, either hers or mine (more on that next time…). We live rurally and we all like our space, and when I say neighbor, we don’t live close enough to even see each other’s houses.

I was out for a morning jog and Mrs. P passed me on the way to work.

She slowed her car and wound the window down. “You need to do something with your hedge. It’s getting close to the powerlines.” She croaked out the window.

On the way back home, I passed the hedge and yep for sure, the hedge was getting close to the powerlines but nothing that I would be too concerned about.

I called the tree contractors who also contract to the power company for a quote. I showed them the area of concern. They weren’t worried. They told me I needn’t worry. They gave me some advice on how I might drop a few trunks and went on their way. Strange but true.

Fast forward to a weekend earlier this month, and I was out there trimming the hedge, dropping a few of the larger trunks. My other neighbor, I’ll call her Ms. V, a sensitive and caring lady about my age, came by and told me how concerned she was about the trees and the powerlines. I smiled, chainsaw in hand and gestured to the trees. “Sorting it…”.

“Oh, not these trees, I mean down there.” She pointed to the far corner of our section, and again, I could see the trees almost brushing the wires.

“Don’t worry, Ms. V” I said, “I’ll get to it soon”, slightly confused as to what all the fuss was about.

This weekend, Sunday morning, I thought today is the day, tackle these trees that aren’t touching the powerlines but seem to be putting fear in the hearts of the neighbours.

I continued past the area that I was aware of and then I finally understood. Right in the back corner the powerlines meet a pole and drop down about 2 meters as they continue their journey.

The pole is IN the hedge. The very last tree of the hedge has started growing around the pole and up between the two wires. There is also a small Macrocarpa growing through the wires a little further down. If I drove past this every day, like my neighbours do, I would be concerned.

Sometimes, we can’t see the wood for the trees. But in this case, it was the powerlines for the trees.

Lesson Time…

I thought that I thoroughly understood the problem, and I thought I was expending my time and my energy on remedying the immediate problem of concern. True, I was dealing with a part of the problem, for sure. However, I had not dealt with the real situation that was causing my good neighbours worry. Part of this came down to communication, but part of it was down to me not really trying hard enough. I didn’t bother to take the time to get an overview of the situation. There is also some fault to be laid at the feet of the power company’s contractors – they have been phoned by the neighbours as well as by me, and something should have been done already.

This experience reminded me to try and understand problems fully before trying to solve them, and also reminded me the importance of asking the right questions and not assuming that I know the answers or solutions.

Also, there is an important lesson to be learned if I mentally ‘switch roles’. When we have a problem and we are explaining it to someone who can or must solve the problem, it is important to be precise. If we want someone to act, we really need to be sure that they understand the problem or concern that we are raising and understand it fully!

I have a note on my desk to remind me of this part of this communication equation. It reads:

“The Power of Saying What you are Trying to Say”

What is the power that comes when you say what you are trying to say? First and foremost, it empowers the person speaking. By articulating what it is you are trying to say YOU understand what you are saying. You can also be easily understood by others and you immediately clarify a situation.

Unless we are able to communicate precisely and clearly articulate what we need or want to say, we are just creating confusion.

And as for those trees. The job is manageable, I can do it myself and have made a very careful start in clearing around the lines using clippers, handsaws and chainsaws. There are rules around how close you can get to live lines, which I am following. Piece by piece I will clear the offenders and I guess that I will clear the air as far as the neighbours are concerned as well.

Welcome to Haley Karauria

Haley joins us from sunny Tauranga in the gorgeous Bay of Plenty. I noticed real care and diligence when I was speaking to Haley, which features alongside a successful real estate career including a strong start and a placing in ‘Rookie of the Year’. These are of course extremely important traits for anyone in this business, and even more so with a company that promotes independent working.

Timing is everything in this business, as we all know, and Haley and I managed to connect at just the right time as she readied to make her move. I am really looking forward to working with Haley as she embarks on this next stage of her real estate career. Welcome Haley!