Connecting With Intentions

Last week I spoke at a conference and witnessed one of the most incredible illustrations of the power of intentions; it was such a powerful connecting tool, I just had to share it with you! Following my presentation, I finished packing up my stuff and walked into the ballroom for the luncheon, which was already…

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Connecting With Focus

Happy Anniversary! One year ago this month I launched my first ever ezine column. It has been an amazing year and I truly love writing these monthly messages to inspire you to improve your connections. I have been so blessed by the many notes I’ve received from readers who each month look forward to reading…

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Connecting For A Change

Change is one of those funny words. You either love it or loath it. Some people are hardwired for change and embrace it for the new possibilities it brings and others dread it. Like it or not…change has become a way of life for all of us. I find it fascinating how long we put…

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Connect In Before You Connect Out

One of the things I love the most about traveling around and speaking at conferences and meetings about Perfecting Connecting ® is the conversations I have afterward with audience members.  They often start with, “I really would like to be a better networker and connector but I’m so bad at it!” People have a very…

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Connect In Before You Connect Out

Discovering your value-add offering to your network requires you to take an honest look at who you are, what you value and what your core beliefs are.  It will be impossible for you to be authentic and communicate your value to others is you’re not living your life honestly. Fourteen years ago, I had my…

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Conflict and Change Co-exist

When you hear the word conflict, it has negative associations with words like argument, war, battle, and disagreement. In reality, conflict should be embraced as being essential to a healthy organization. The majority of employees (and many supervisors and managers) avoid conflict because of the assumption that conflict is destructive. Conflict is expected and desired…

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Communicate to Connect

“Good communicators are open to my ideas. They respect me. They know who they are and what makes them ‘tick’ and they want to know the same about me. They foster my growth while attending to their own. They are proud of their accomplishments and of mine-for our mutual benefit.”  A Get Along seminar participant…

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Commit or Omit?

The vast majority of bosses don’t intentionally want to make employees miserable – usually it happens completely by accident! Whether it is an act of ‘commission’ or an act of ‘omission’, the results can be destructive. A front line supervisor, manager or team leader can make things better or worse, both with what they DO…

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Coaching a Manager Who is Too Tough

In a previous post we examined a manager who was too easy on his team. In many cases an assignment will come in to work with a manager who has the opposite challenge – he or she is too tough on employees. Often these hard-nosed managers tend to work long hours, do the work his…

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Coaching a Manager Who is Too Easy

The Plant Manager was becoming increasingly frustrated. His production manager was struggling to meet plant performance targets and was not getting his team to take ownership of achieving results. The initial diagnosis was that the production manager was being too easy on his team. As with most management problems, only two or three behaviours cause…

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Choose Stewardship Over Entitlement

Most of us have had the experience, at least once in our career, of working for a boss who loved his/her role because it was all about: I’m special (after all, they made me the boss) I deserve extra respect (because I’m special, of course) I have real power (try opposing me and you’ll feel…

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Change Your Words, Change Their Minds

I continue to be amazed by that fundamental truth about living: how we choose to see a situation dictates the choices we–and others–make about it. Take a look at this 2-minute clip that demonstrates it better than any more words I can write. You will be glad you did. How you choose to deliver feedback…

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