The 7 Reasons Your Employees Don’t Perform and What You Can Do About It (from the archives)

When you manage others, you are evaluated  based on the work your employees perform (by your customers, by your boss, etc.).  This can feel like a very risky proposition, if you don’t know how to get your employees to do good work.  Here are some of the reasons I’ve encountered that employees don’t perform. You don’t act like…

Why’s it so hard to say no? (from the archives)

Stop! You can say No!! It’s been a long time since I’ve written something new. Why’s that, you ask? Well, I’ve been taking care of some basics. But it’s really hard to slow down because it requires me to say “no” to a lot (and I wasn’t always successful). Why is saying “no” so hard?…

The 6 Steps to Diffuse Conflict (Even When it Seems Impossible) from the archives

When we hate conflict, it can feel horrifying to find an angry, dissatisfied customer yelling at us. In our personal lives, we yell back, shut down, give in, or whatever. But when we’re facing customers, we feel responsible to handle it better. Here are six steps to diffuse conflict in a different way: Take a…