» Communication

When communicating be:- Clear Concise Concrete – include all pertinent facts included and avoid distracting asides Correct – not only facts, but it is good to avoid spelling and grammatical mistakes (and I should know!) Coherent – can your reader easily follow your flow? Complete Courteous[...] read more » Effective communicators are like sailors… they never forget the 7 C’s

Arguments aren’t good, but we are all occasionally confronted with situations where we want / need to win.  Here are a few tips to help you:- 1.  Confidence: as I have mentioned many times here before, performing with confidence is key to success and especially in an argument.  If you look, sound and feel confident, […][...] read more » 9 Ways to win an argument

We all occasionally need to have difficult conversations, be they at work or at home, and as we know or fear that they will be ‘difficult’ we tend to brace and tense ourselves up against the anticipated backdraft.  This is always a bad way to begin, so this is the third in this small series […][...] read more » Successfully start difficult conversations – 3

We all occasionally need to have difficult conversations, be they at work or at home, and as we know or fear that they will be ‘difficult’ we tend to brace and tense ourselves up against the anticipated backdraft.  This is always a bad way to begin, so this is the second in this small series […][...] read more » Successfully start difficult conversations – 2

We all occasionally need to have difficult conversations, be they at work or at home, and as we know or fear that they will be ‘difficult’ we tend to brace and tense ourselves up against the anticipated backdraft.  This is always a bad way to begin, so this is the first in a small series […][...] read more » Successfully start difficult conversations – 1

I came across this in the paper the other day and was amused by it, but reflected that it contained more than a grain of truth.  I was talking to a fellow coach about it and it was interesting to explore the nuances of communication that are landmines waiting to blow the legs of the […][...] read more » Communication- it’s tougher than you think

It is an oft repeated business aphorism that “The customer is always right!”  My father who was a salesman liked to say “The customer might not always be always right, BUT he is always the customer!”  A variant on this is “The customer might not always be right but he is never wrong!”  Good companies, […][...] read more » Three lessons in how to handle a disappointed customer or how to win arguments and friends

Lesson 4:  “What would people think?” We all live inside invisible walls constructed by our society, we are self-policing to the degree that we care and worry about what others would think and this has its positives.  However, often it constrains us in ways that limit us.  We judge ourselves and project that judgement on […][...] read more » Four lessons from our self-talk: lesson 4

Lesson 3: “They are smarter than me” or “I couldn’t do that” We often feel like this or say it ourselves and others and guess what?  Sometimes it is even true.  Of course there are more talented or more intelligent people out there; we can’t all be Stephen Hawkings or Bob Dylan!  However, the good […][...] read more » Four lessons from our self-talk: lesson 3

Lesson 2:  “I  don’t like them (or that)” When you hear yourself saying or thinking this you should pause and ask:- What exactly is it that you don’t like about them? Does something they do remind you of yourself?  Perhaps something you don’t much like? Does what they do or who you perceive them to […][...] read more » Four lessons from our self-talk: lesson 2