Crucial but Difficult Conversations

Difficult conversations are a part of normal business and will always be challenging. With fear and anxiety being part of the equation in “DCs” no wonder we avoid having them. Short-term comfort too often trumps long-term improvement.

Why bother getting better at managing difficult conversations? At one level, it’s a simple matter of reducing anxiety in your life. But it goes far beyond that. Especially for people who work in a collaborative environment, the ability to communicate clearly and powerfully, and to manage conflict with confidence and grace, are no longer just good ideas, they’re integral to management competence. On the flip side, conflicts that are poorly handled or simply just ignored altogether, will sap creativity, lower energy levels, destroy teamwork, and send productivity and morale plummeting. When conversations are handled well, collaboration and productivity are enhanced, morale goes up, resulting in a more productive and positive company culture.

It’s unrealistic to think that emotions can be eliminated. We can, however, learn to manage and reduce them, leading to more effective communication and better results.

"I don’t want the confrontation."

"I don’t want to hurt her feelings."

"I’m afraid I’ll damage our relationship."

Examples of difficult conversations include:

•Confronting disrespectful of hurtful behavior

•Giving a critical performance review or performance feedback

•Saying no to a request

All of these issues have the potential for keeping us up at night and impacting our satisfaction with work. But the anxiety of something can be greater than the consequences of not saying anything. We frequently leak our feelings in very un-useful ways.

However, before you can talk about outcome and before you can consider how to protect the feelings of others, you have to get through your own fear of starting the conversation. The fear that:

•The other person won’t listen to you or will reject your solution to the problem.

•You will be hurt by something the other person says.

•You may lose control of the conversation.

•You might be perceived by your co-workers as a bully, or worse - a pushover.

•You might have to face rejection. The other person might not like you.
The first step in thinking about the appropriate way to address these sensitive issues is to “come clean with ourselves”.

What do we really want the outcome of the conversation to be?

•Do we just want to air or vent our thoughts or feelings?

•Do we want to just be “right”?

•Do we want others to have necessary information or is there a need to set limits?

•Do we want to hear what others have to say or learn about another’s perspective as a basis for negotiating?

Reacting emotionally is part of being human, but we can change the course of unwanted feelings and turmoil by addressing our own motives. We can then look at what we really want as the outcome of the conversation.

Effective managers know they don't always have to win at the expense of others. Showing vulnerability is one key to making connections with other people. As you prepare to have a difficult conversation:

•Be honest with yourself about your fears and any personal agendas you might have.

•Empathize with the other person. Chances are, your co-worker feels the way you feel - afraid and vulnerable.

•Discuss your fears with a colleague. This should be a person who can remind you about your essential character and your competence as a manager. He or she will help you gain the courage you'll need to face your fears. Sometimes this will be your boss. Sometimes you’ll want to talk to someone outside of your newsroom.

Holly Seaton, Ph.D.

OTLConsulting.com is a wine & hospitality consulting company, based in Sonoma, CA and Seattle, WA.

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6 Simple Tips To Help Potty Train Your Puppy
Potty training also known as toilet or house training is the art of teaching your puppy where you want him to relieve himself. Sound simple! Not exactly, at least to me and many dog owners out there. Potty training my puppy gives me the most problems and headaches when I start to house train my first puppy years ago.

It seems that my puppy is always either in the wrong place at the right time, or the right place at the wrong time! Nevertheless, over the years, after much experiments and reading up, I’ve manage to come out with 6 simple tips to help potty train your dog.

1. Try to feed your puppy on a regular schedule and remove his water supply before bed time. His potty timing would be more predictable and consistent.

2. Puppy usually instinctively wants to relieve itself after feeding, sleeping, playing and confinement. Bring him to your designated area for his potty business after such activities.

3. Do not let your puppy wander off without supervision, potty training aside, it is dangerous for a young puppy to wander around by itself. Confined it in an area where you can see to prevent accidents and reward desired behaviors.

4. Be vigilance and always be on the look out. When you see your puppy sniffing and running around in circles, bring him to your designated spot immediately.

5. Give a command to help your dog associate the potty action with. For example, “Do it now” or “Go Potty”.

6. When he is doing his potty business, praise and reward. Praise and reward again after he’s finished.

Following these tips should help you considerably in potty training your puppy.

About the Author

Moses Chia is a dog lover and owner of DogsObedienceTraining.com – The dog training resource site for a happier and healthier dog. You are welcome to reprint this article if you keep the content and live link intact.

Da Wingy Code
Critics say the film is crap. The people say it’s insulting to God. It’s banned, and then it’s not. We have not had such a circus over a new movie release for quite some time now. I almost missed all the hoopla.

Thank you Mr. Ron Howard. Thank you for waking the sleeping masses. Why do we see all these protest over a film that no one has seen yet? It’s everyone’s chance to get his or her 15 minutes of fame I guess. It did bring about an interesting sound byte by the Director of The Da Vinci Code at the press conference at Cannes though. He said to all the people that were protesting the release of the film “Don’t watch it!” I think that’s reverse psychology at its best. He went on to say that those who think that they might be offended by the movie should wait tell they meet someone who has actually seen the film and then discuss the matter and decide whether to watch it or not.

For heavens sake, it’s a work of fiction. Let it be. You won’t turn to dust if you watch it or be condemned to eternal damnation for that matter. The Da Vinci Code movie is just like any other mainstream commercial cinema on the planet, the main objective it to make money. All this extra good or bad publicity only helps it along on that path. But who will explain this to the scores of “faithful” that call for a ban on it. These people are too wrapped up in sentiment.

The one other interesting point to note from all of this was that Ron Howard also reminded everyone that this was a movie and not a documentary. That’s another crucial mistake that people seem to be also making. Somewhere under the arc lights of today’s sharp marketing campaigns that are attached to mega budget productions the line between reality and fiction often blurs. In the process of trying to sell the movie we see it to be packaged as something that really took place. The advertising and marketing people have skills so well honed now that they can almost create any reality that they want. You could say that in many ways it’s the victim of its own success.

Lets not forget that the movie is based on a bestseller. The books are still on the shelves and selling at hyper speed. If the book is still around why ban the movie?

Sasha Masand the founder of Indian Voice Overs is an award winning Television Producer who has been part of the Indian media industry for over twelve years.

Change Management: Getting It Right
Change management is something many companies may face throughout their existence. Whether something simple or a complete change, various things can be done to allow for a successful change. Management of the change effectively will allow for the best overall final product but it really just is not that simple. But, there are ways to get effective change management in such a way as to contribute to the betterment of the company.

Change management is the management of change. In that, you will realize that there is potential for failure. It could go wrong. To keep this from happening though, there are systems that can be put into place to help throughout the process of change, no matter how large or small it may be. In many cases, you will find many individuals and organizations willing to help manage the change for you. It is important to make sure that these individuals have the company’s best intentions at heart. It should be more than just a job, but something that they believe in.

You can also find a wide range of computer software programs as well as applications that can be used to help with change management. Making it successful is the key and to do this. You will find that many opportunities are available. You can and should determine the best method for your needs based on the availability, the methods used as well as experience and relevance of anything that is used to make change management happen.

You will find a wide range of help when it comes to change management. There are resources that can help guide you through the process as well as much advice to allow you to make the right decisions. Effective change management starts at the beginning with planning and experience. For your company to benefit from change management, it helps to be as knowledgeable as possible about these factors.

For more information please see www.change-management-advice.co.uk

Your Adwords Conversion Is Very Important
Are you using Google Adwords to promote your product or service? Are you getting the results you want? You'll only know this information if you are tracking the conversion rates of the click-through you are paying for. Then, depending on what you learn about the conversions, you may need to refine your campaign.

A conversion rate is defined as the percentage of people who actually purchase your product or service compared to the number of people who came to your website by clicking on your Adwords ad. This number is the conversation percentage and the higher the percentage, the more effective your ad campaign. If you have extremely low numbers, you need to do something to increase those numbers such as refine your ads or choose better keywords or websites for displaying the ads.

Google provides inside the Adwords application a tool for tracking conversions for each campaign and each ad you run. This allows you to learn what your rates are and see which ads are doing their job well. If one ad or a whole campaign isn't doing well, then you can look for patterns that can clue you in about how to change and make the campaign more effective.

The more data you gather about conversion the better you will be able to tune your site because the fact that a visitor clicks your ad, lands on your site to see what you have to offer does not necessarily makes it a buyer or a lead. Your site colors, navigation and structure also have a very important effect on your conversion rates.

It doesn't matter whether you are the world’s number 1 adwords campaign creator if your site is ugly, difficult to use or navigate or is not offering what you stated in the ad you will have very low conversion rates. A fine example of this is the ad that states that a product or service is free only to find out when you go to the site that you have to pay. Make sure that your ad and your website are offering the same thing with the same conditions.

For more useful tips and hints, Points to ponder and keep in mind, techniques and insights pertaining to Google Adsense, Do please browse for more information at website :- www.thegooglefund.com