Archive for 'Interpersonal skills' Category
Above the line / Below the belt
Posted by Sharon 6 November 2008Above the line / below the line is a commonly used concept to talk to managers and employees about what sorts of words and behaviour are helpful / not helpful in the workplace.
I have devised a facilitation activity entitled “Above the line / Below the Belt” which explores this concept through mock debates. If you […]
Would you be willing to try something?
Posted by Sharon 26 September 2008Flicking through Robert Cialdini’s latest offering - Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven ways to be Persuasive and came across the section on the hypothetical questions. I have long recommended it as a way to soften a request and avoid an outright “no”. Cialdini and his colleagues Noah Goldstein and Steve Martin, say that there is […]
Humans are hypocrites - use this knowledge
Posted by Sharon 18 June 2008In a recent interview with business philosopher and author Paul Hawken in BOSS magazine, there’s a “phrase bite” I loved about greenwash - “Hypocrisy is one place to start… It’s human nature to start with little white lies before you actually change what you really do. So business is telling lots of white […]
How to deal with Shafters
Posted by Sharon 9 April 2008I was talking to a colleague recently about collaboration and we were lamenting how hard it is to stay in collaborative mode all the time. He said: “if I think they are a shafter, I go straight for the money - e.g, “sorry this is no longer a conversation, we are now consulting […]
To be influential - be influenceable
Posted by Sharon 27 February 2008I’ve been running a number of workshops recently that revolve around enhancing participant’s influencing skills - for those in matrix management situations and those in technical or professional advice roles. I’ve been struck by the difference between what I call ’service oriented’ people and ‘professionally / technically oriented’ people. The professionally / technically oriented […]
Scissors Paper Rock - Dealing with Avoidance
Posted by Sharon 29 August 2007At a recent Negotiation Skills course I ran, some of the group wanted to know more about how to deal effectively with the “Avoiding” conflict mode. The following day I played scissors, paper, rock and made the connection - every conflict mode has a mode that can “beat” it. Avoiding “beats” Competing because it doesn’t […]
The Rules of the Game #1 - Introductions
Posted by Sharon 18 June 2007Years ago I worked in a financial services organisation where it seemed that everyone but the CEO and me knew the rules of the introduction game. Thanks to Paul and some friendly Business Development Managers, I’ve learned the rules and in recent work with an organisation, we developed a model for Introductions, because surprisingly, […]