Unless you are communicating clearly, directly, and assertively, you are not the one in charge. How can we expect others to know what we want unless we are able to communicate the desired action? Too often we feel that our feelings, thoughts and words are unimportant because what we want appears to be overlooked. Use the following checklist to...

Clay ignored concerns voiced by his staff that customers were complaining about increasingly delayed shipments. He continued to brush off their comments until he lost his biggest customer. When he called the customer in an attempt to recover the lost business, the customer said, “I repeatedly told your staff that delivery times were becoming unacceptable—yet...

Broaden your management style to motivate people of all ages, and pay particular attention to Generation Xers; they are leaders and trend setters in business. Who is Generation X? Generation Xers are people born between the mid1960's and late1970's, and, while diverse, exhibit characteristics that are unique to their generation and not just...

All of us have experienced situations where we do not see eye to eye with other people. Sometimes, differences are hard to resolve and they create feelings of anger and resentment. If these feelings are not acknowledged and dealt with, a simple disagreement can break into an out-and-out war. When this happens, we may feel unable to control our...

Mike was in hot water. He had ordered 25,000 sales brochures from the printer and now his boss, Peter, was livid: “I never gave final approval to order those flyers, and I’ve decided not to move forward. Just cancel the order,” Peter shouted. “You told me to work out the details and get the job done,” Mike responded. “I thought...

Staying current with e-mail etiquette and diplomacy takes a little finesse. We extol the virtues of reputation, responsiveness, and cooperation in business. We become passionate apostles about what the "customer" wants and how to increase sales, productivity, and profitability through better communication. But with sloppy or lazy e-mail habits, you...

“We miss you when you’re here.” It sounds like such a strange thing for someone on my team to say, but in my world it actually makes sense. I remotely manage a staff team and fly in for meetings about once a month. On one such trip one of my staff stopped me in the hall and said, “We miss you when you’re here.” When I asked her what she...