A few past clients commented they were unfairly treated during job performance reviews or received criticism they felt was unwarranted, from their clients.  Maybe those comments seemed to come out of left field, when things were thought to be going well, or my clients have said criticism was delivered too harshly and not enough was offered about what they were doing right.

Get ahead of this happening, beat employers or clients in this feedback by requesting they review you more often and help them do it constructively.  Here’s an approach I’ve encouraged my professional and entrepreneurial clients to take:

Managers, Employees and Staff
Be sure to have clear benchmarks set for your work.  If it’s not clear, ask that these be reviewed with you.  At these different benchmark stages within the project or work requirements, interview any working partners and talk with your boss or supervisor for their periodic feedback rather than wait for semi-annual reviews. (more…)

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.”