People often ask me what’s the first step to becoming a better listener. The answer? Get rid of your bad listening habits. As much as we don’t like to admit it, most of us aren’t the best of listeners and we’ve developed some bad habits over our lifetimes. As you review this list of bad […]
I created this video at the beginning of the year to share some quick tips for providing great customer service during challenging times. Little did I realize then that the challenging times for many of you and your businesses would still be continuing now. If you or your team is struggling to maintain your customer […]
Whether it’s an email received after a workshop or the line of people waiting to ask that burning question after a conference session, for the 25+ years in business, people have had a LOT of questions related to communicating at work and at home that they’ve looked to me to answer. As I was sitting […]
Conversation Dominators. We all know at least one. It’s the woman at work who only asks how you’re doing so she can jump in and tell you how she’s doing. It’s that guy next door who has to let you know all about his son’s great accomplishments in sports, but never asks about even ONE […]
Marcel Schwantes posted a great story in INC., sharing some of Warren Buffet’s top leadership advice. One of the key points was: “Learn to delegate your authority” So, I thought I’d share some of my best delegation advice from more than 20 years of helping leaders and business owners avoid drowning in tasks and responsibilities […]
When we want to communicate something to others, one of the most important decisions we have to make after deciding WHAT we want to communicate, is HOW. That’s where the communication “channel” comes in. In 1720, our options were pretty much limited to face-to-face communication or sending a written letter. In 2020, we have a […]
Previously I’ve shared the high cost of poor listening. Although most of the time our poor listening isn’t an issue of life or death, we do all pay a price when we don’t make effective listening a priority. If you read articles on the importance of communication, listening is usually listed as one of the […]
For those of you who know me, you know I live on an animal rescue ranch. At any given time we have anywhere between 40-60 animals here of all ages, sizes, and varieties. Right now, we have three barn cats, six kittens, a puppy and her mom, two goats, two donkeys, one pony, one horse, […]
We’ve all come across people who seem to love conflict. They seek it out, jump into it even if it has nothing to do with them, and start it for no reason at all. However, the vast majority of people would prefer not to deal with conflict at all and will do just about anything to […]
When it comes to talking with employees about performance, too many leaders take a “hands off” approach when employees are doing their jobs right and only talk to employees about performance when things go wrong. However, if you see people doing great work and you ignore it, they start to wonder whether “going the extra […]
