Category: Soft Skills

Managing Conflict With Clients – Don’t Retaliate

This article continues my series on the phenomenon of throwing people under the bus. In the first article my advice was Don’t Throw People Under the Bus. There are usually better ways to stay safe and handle difficult situations. To that point, the second article addressed the topic, How to Avoid Being Thrown Under the Bus. Nevertheless, while prevention is an important element of staying safe, we all find ourselves under the bus at some point in our careers. What do you do if you find yourself there? Specifically, what do you do when your client throws you under the bus?
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Topics:Conflict ManagementCustomer FocusPerformance ImprovementSoft SkillsThrown Under the Bus

Managing Conflict By Not Being A Victim

I started my series on bus throwing with the article, Don’t Throw People Under the Bus. Interestingly, it has become our all-time most popular Advance Update. But while people seemed to appreciate the article, they seem even more interested in hearing and talking about when they get thrown under the bus. So I decided to focus this article on how to avoid being thrown under the bus. I hope to start a dialog so people can share their experiences with “the bus” and offer advice to others who find themselves being rolled over.
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Topics:Conflict ManagementPerformance ImprovementSoft SkillsThrown Under the Bus

Consulting Skills Are Now Essential In Business

Twenty years ago consulting skills were the exclusive domain of professional consultants. Today, consulting skills are the new business 101. They belong to everyone in business and have become essential for getting results in today’s complex web of people, organizations, and business relationships.

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Topics:Consulting CompetenciesEnterprise of the FutureSoft SkillsTransformational Change

Don’t Fall Into Destructive Influence

Whether your clients are internal or external, you work hard to understand their needs. You develop ideas and solutions to help them meet their needs. But then how do you then convince your clients that they should understand and appreciate your vision and support your proposal? Will you use constructive influence or destructive influence to convince them? (See our recent article, Influence – Constructive or Destructive, for descriptions of each.) Rather than answer this question directly I decided to have some fun with it. Here is a short tutorial on how not to influence your clients. Not to worry. These unfortunate methods point to strategies that do work.

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Topics:Customer FocusInfluencePerformance ImprovementSoft Skills

The Next 90 Days

Relaunch Your Career With Personal Strategy Planning

the next 90 daysWhat you do over the next 90 days at work could become a cornerstone in your career or, at the very least, could help you position this as the year you finally accomplished that important goal or project you haven’t been able to get to.

Each of us knows that our career success is enhanced by strategic accomplishments that rise above daily operations. Yet sometimes we get bogged down, lose focus, or become distracted by less important tasks. (more…)

Topics:Getting UnstuckInfluencePerformance ImprovementSoft SkillsStrategy and TransformationTransformational Change