If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Or, join our email list and get a free audio gift. Thanks for visiting!

Very few people like to be told that they are wrong. But artful relationship-centric executives know how to deliver candid, poignant criticism without cutting thin skin.

Here are five ideas that support the classic approach of influencing without authority:

1. Speak to the person’s agenda. Say nothing until you determine how your negative comments will affect the individual’s self interest. Everyone wants to be promoted, keep people off his/her back, get rich, and be perceived as a leader – so express your opinion in terms of how the person’s approach will interfere with his/her goal.

Read the rest of this entry »

To succeed in business and in life, it is imperative that you develop a knack for identifying whom you can trust and whom you can’t.  Here are the six most dangerous character flaws according to Mark McCormack’s book, Staying Street Smart in the Internet Age:

1. People who rarely do what they say they will
2. People who push their work onto you
3. People who are late and don’t apologize
4. People who tell you, “I’m too busy”
5. People who reject your ideas without listening to them
6. People who won’t let you off the hook when you’re in a jam

Do you ever wonder why your employees won’t take more responsibility and stop dropping every detail of every project in your lap? Throughout the day, do employees sharing details that may or may not be relevant to your efforts often interrupt you? Maybe it’s not them. Maybe you are not delegating as effectively as possible.

When delegating, here are eight critical points to remember:

Read the rest of this entry »

Would you believe that you only need 30 minutes to plan for your most valuable relationships each week? How? Follow our simple RATE formula:

Read the rest of this entry »

Identifying and building relationships alone will never suffice. You must also become savvy in nurturing those relationships through proactive engagements and Relationship Currency deposits.

One of the easiest ways to do this is through conversation. Influence the conversation, and you will influence the relationship. Influence the relationship, and you will influence the outcome you desire. So the logical question then becomes – How do you influence the conversation? Ask more engaging questions!

Here is a list of 10 questions to ask as you travel throughout your organization’s hallways, factory floors, distribution centers, and cafeteria.  Two words of caution here: 1) If you don’t mean it, don’t ask, and 2) Illustrate that others’ opinions matter by asking these questions consistently as part of your routine:

1. What part of your job involves entirely too many actions?
2. What part of what you do involves entirely too many people?
3. What was asked of you today that was a complete waste of time?
4. What task was made entirely too complicated?
5. What did you see wasted?
6. What part of our business costs too much?
7. What was misunderstood today?
8. What caused complaints today?
9. What took far too long?
10. What made you mad today?

Get your employees engaged – truly engaged – and they will do far more than just collect a paycheck!