In his book, “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, Stephen Covey used the term, “deposits in your emotional bank account”. What he explains is that, as you develop relationships with employees, customers, suppliers, or friends, you are opening an emotional bank account with them. When you do something positive for or with them, you are making a deposit. When you do something negative in that relationship, you are making a withdrawal. The more positives versus negatives that occur, the greater your “balance” in the emotional bank account. The more negatives versus positives, you run the risk of bankrupting the account and losing the relationship. Now this is happening whether you think about in these terms or not. However, if you think in these terms, you will likely look for ways to make deposits. Remember, in any relationship, sooner or later you will have to make a withdrawal from the emotional bank accounts, so you need to keep a positive balance.
One application of this is in new relationships. It takes time and effort for you to create a positive balance, so you need to look for opportunities to make more deposits early on. You may see another team member making a “withdrawal” and wonder why they still seem to have a good relationship. The answer could be that they already had a nice “balance” with that person.
The secret is to plan for making “deposits” and do positive things proactively. When you know you need to make a “withdrawal”, you will be glad you have a reasonable “balance” to draw from!
About Rob Coats, CEO
Rob brings more than thirty-five years of manufacturing experience to SMC. He spent the first part of his career in manufacturing management with Procter & Gamble before coming to Lexington to manage the operations of a small manufacturer. His first position with ownership was a wire harness company near Lexington. After that business sold, Rob purchased SMC as the majority owner in 1994. Sales grew by 7X over the next thirteen years due to a stellar group of key employees. Rob holds a B.S. in Engineering and a MBA from Virginia Tech.
ABOUT SMC
SMC is a print circuit board assembly manufacturer, custom cable assembly provider, system integration/box build manufacturer that is located in the heart of Kentucky. Our two locations provide quick and easy access for the technology industry in the eastern region.
We specialize and are certified to manufacture products in the medical, security, military/DOD, industrial controls, construction, and transportation industries. To maximize customer support, we have created five separate engineering departments: process, test, customer, system integration, and quality engineering. These departments offer world class engineering support and product development. SMC has the EMS solutions you need to ensure quality electronic products at a competitive cost.
