Who's it for?

One of the many hurdles I've had to clear in my move from ranch work to not-ranch work is what is affectionately referred to as "soft skills": how to interact with humans. I'm good with cows and dogs. I'm getting better with humans.

This week's lesson is that, when in a professional capacity, you must be mindful of others' professional motivations. You can't always know them, but in some industries, people tend to follow similar patterns of behavior.

One pattern that I had learned earlier, but forgot-to my detriment-was that people whose employer is a governmental entity tend to be concerned with chain-of-command.

Rightly so, of course.

I am going to assume that few entities have such clearly-defined levels of authority as those whose levels of authority are the result of lawmaker and committee deliberation.

More simply stated, when dealing with someone in a government job, they are not nearly as concerned with your interests as they are with the interests of their immediate superior.

They are not in a customer service position.

They are in an approval or disapproval position.

Like laws, their work projects either get passed or failed. And you are not the one who decides. Be mindful of this, and, as quickly as possible, find out how you can help them get the project passed.

It's an opportunity to help someone do their job better, as well as accomplish your goal.