Communication Skills

executive coaching

How do you tell a colleague or employee they need a coach?

In a recent meeting, a colleague (we’ll call him Mark) mentioned that his client (Brian) a great guy in many ways, could use a coach in a specific area. Mark asked how to bring up that Brian would benefit from working with an executive coach without it being awkward or insulting. The answer lies in changing Mark’s perception of executive coaching.

Do you fire clients? Or not take them on in the first place?

You only have so much time in a day and therefore can only serve a defined number of clients. If you sell direct to consumer and don’t know who your clients are, that’s a different story. But service based, business to business companies have to decide whom they want to serve. 

It’s a common frustration that a client has gotten so difficult to work with that the business owner wishes they had never engaged with them.

civility in the workplace

Is civility in the workplace in trouble?

I brought up politics over cocktails and here’s what happened.

It was an experiment.

Pretty certain that the guy I was meeting with was on the other side of the political spectrum, I asked him what he thought about the election. Over the next half hour we had a spirited discussion about the players, major political issues and the state of the country. It got tens

curious

Are You Curious About How to be Successful?

For a few years I was part of a group of women mentors at a local university. The school has a program that matches sophomore women in the business school with women already out in the workplace. The role of the mentor is to share ideas, tips, information, support and hopefully wisdom to help the students be as prepared as possible to launch into the work world.

At one of the events, all of the mentors were asked to share what one trait each of us considered vital to being successful.

Who is with Me to Stop the Snippy Email?

Certainly you’d never fire off a snippy email but I’ll bet you work with people who would and do. I know this because I’ve experienced it and I also hear about it every single week from people in corporate America. So this post isn’t really about you. It’s for you to share with those other people. From now on when I say “you” I mean “them.” Moving along.

Five Ways to Instantly Appear Poised and Professional

You probably know these ideas, but knowing them doesn’t necessarily mean we remember to do them, right? Perception is reality. If you want to attract business, collaborate effectively, be comfortable walking into a room of strangers, and get along with people in general, the little behaviors matter quite a bit. Appearing poised and professional instead of anxious and amateurish is as easy as putting these five tips into action.

5 Ways to Get to the Point More Quickly

Learning, I’m usually a bottom-liner. I want to know what I’m supposed to learn and right now, please. I don’t need seven examples illustrating the point or three case studies about people who implemented this new process or idea.

Here are five instances when you might be able to get to your point more quickly, saving yourself and others time and probably annoyance, too.

client from hell and wimpy manager

A Guide to Surviving the Client from Hell and the Wimpy Manager

You have a horrible client who is not only demanding, but rude and dismissive as well. Your manager, believing that this client’s business is very important, does nothing. If it was your company you’d fire the client, but it’s not your company. You know from past experience that your boss will never do anything to help the situation. Sure, once in awhile she tells you she knows how awful it is, but the situation never changes. Getting up the nerve for you to say something to the client would be pretty much impossible. But even it were possible it would probably result in a reprimand in your personnel file, a demotion or getting fired — and you need this job.

What do you do?

The Jerks are Killing Productivity

A recent study indicated that nearly two thirds of employees are not engaged at work. For a variety of reasons, workers would just rather be anywhere but in their particular workplace. It’s often not the work that people dread, it’s the interaction with specific co-workers. A LinkedIn article, The Top Ten Reasons People Hate Their Jobs listed “Their Boss Sucks” as number one. And it’s not always the boss that’s the problem. Colleagues can make the workday pretty miserable, too.

It’s disheartening to hear so many stories about workplace environments that range from annoying to unbearable due to obnoxious behavior.

How about the CEO

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