Editorial Opinions

Kathleen and The Team are here to Serve!

Saying Yes

Author: Kathleen Kleinmann

It is the policy of TRIPIL to find a way to say "yes" when a community member or member of staff ask for assistance or support.

Sometimes we have to be creative and resourceful due to concerns and conflicts with other issues and policies. But the end goal is still the same; find a way that TRIPIL's concerns are met and a way that the individual's concerns are also met.

Requests for assistance and support are difficult to make in the first place. Those of us with disabilities are rejected and presented with arbitrary obstacles routinely in our culture. That should never happen at TRIPIL. Since we are customer-driven, TRIPIL takes the customer's point of view as second nature ESPECIALLY on requests for assistance or support.

When you are first asked for assistance or support by a community member or fellow staff member, your first response should be worded something like this:

With a little exchange, each of you can contribute ideas and effort with the focus of "how to get to 'yes'". Only in rare occassions will you come to the final conclusion that there is no way to provide the requested support in a mutually acceptable manner.

If you started out as a "yes," you will get an "A" for effort even if you can't find the solution. If you started out with a "no", you will be regarded as the enemy from the beginning, and bad vibes will be all around us.

Be cautious but get to YES whenever you can.