Every once in a while, you’ll attract a strange individual who is not a fit with you or the work you do.  Whether you’re in an office and it’s necessary to interact with them temporarily, or they are calling you about your business, you’ll have to use smooth communication skills to address what feels like their creepy style. (more…)

When was the last time you tried to convince someone of your good idea and you got resistance?  Maybe your idea or problem-solving approach didn’t appear new to them, hadn’t been adequately tested before, or simply lacked the enthusiasm backing it to make it sound worthy of pursuing?

Your idea is not the orthodox, mainstream solution they’re used to and you will need to be convinced of its viability yourself and hold your ground as you present your idea with aplomb.  Here are 6 ways I’ve found that can help cheer lead your unique ideas to a welcome reception:

1.  Ask your customer/client through an introduction meeting and possibly a followup short email survey,  questions to discover root problems with the way things are.  Use these responses to create a jumping off pad for your idea or solution, or just to be sure you address the problems with your new strategy. (more…)

After putting all your ideas out, you can then decide which ones you’ll keep and which ones you’ll eliminate in finalizing a goal.  While this may seem like a timely process, it assures that all your great ideas are captured, regardless of how silly or how seemingly impossible they may be, towards helping you accomplish your objective.

It’s always best to work on a large paper or even a dart board, as seen here on the left, (since this can be a fun process too).  You want to be sure you aren’t restricting your ideas with too small of a writing or working space. 

Get all of your ideas out – both those that are strongly or mildly interesting and even the crazy ones.  With even the wild and crazy ideas, there can be kernals of something useful and powerful to include.  So don’t be too quick to discard these kinds of ideas.   Then see where there are similarities, where your experience, skills and strengths most occur, and with which ideas you’d have the time, energy and resources for.  In other words, begin the narrowing and focusing process after you’ve got all your ideas out. 

Best not to jump into action on any of these ideas until you’ve done the shuffling process of discarding the true misfit ideas and see the patterns emerge on what you really want to pursue.  Now with less ideas you can move into the R&D phase and do examination of these ideas or goals in more detail, to determine the best one to pursue.

You know those times when things are awkward and you feel backed into a corner.  You’ve said or done something inappropriate or you feel you were right and others wrong, maybe you’re too harsh in how you communicate your view.  Or you feel wronged and you stand your ground and feel justified in your actions.  Then you are either proved wrong, or you don’t get your way even if you’re right.   Your embarrassment can compound it all.  You’ve backed yourself into a corner.

There’s a cellphone commercial out about a manager who blasts a group in his office when he sees them all meeting and socializing and he accuses them of not inviting him and it’s clear he feels they disrespect him.  He’s backed himself into a corner with his superior stance, his notion of right and wrong and his need to blame.  He’s embarrassed to learn that he’d been ”texted” an invite like everyone else and that’s how they all know to meet, but he hadn’t checked his phone messages.

Before you go blaming others or yourself, take a deep breath – or even step away for a minute if necessary – to ask yourself these three questions:

1.  What am I really upset about?  (you may be blowing this out of proportion for other reasons  than this situation)
2.  What else could be going on here?  (take a look to see if it’s possible you don’t have all the facts)
3.  Am I more committed to being right or resolving this? 

The next time you find yourself upset, instead of saying something off the top of your head or taking an action you’ll regret (backing yourself into a corner), stay calm and ask yourself the above questions, find out the facts, then take actions that won’t embarrass you or reflect poorly on your judgement, but show you as a problem solver and keen negotiator.  As the expression goes, “You can catch more with flies with honey than you can with vinegar.”

Ever set out to get somewhere and just as you go to hop in your car to take off - you find something is in the way?  Maybe you forgot it’s the day they’re repaving your driveway and you can’t get your car out of the garage.  Of course, this is an analogy for a lack of goal planning.

You get a passionate idea of something you want to do and jump into action without more careful observation of your current situation.   Here’s some simple questions to start with asking yourself before you launch into action:

1.  What resources will I need to accomplish my task?
2.  What’s my timeline?
3.  What needs to be taken care of first, second, third?  (organize your action steps) 
4.  What possible obstacles might I run into that I’ll need to address and how will I do that?
5.  What support will I need and  who can I expect it from?

Coaching helps you look at your current and future situation and make sure you have the know-how, skills, time, financing, energy, support and resources to get where you want to and expect a high success rate.  Whether you hire a professional to offer guidance and focused action steps or not, take the time to stop and do your prepatory work.

If there’s a cement truck in your way, you don’t need to drive up on your lawn and ruin the axle in your car as you go down on the curb, just to get around it.  You don’t need to miss your appointments or get angry because your actions have been stifled or you feel a loss of momentum for your change.  That’s because you’ve had the foresight to plan your trip at an optimum time and safeguard your journey by knowing when it’s best to take action and how to best go about it. 

Is there a goal you’d like to pursue where you’ve asked yourself these startup questions?