Dealing With Difficult Clients: 7 Approaches To Transform Challenging Client Relationships
This post first appeared on Forbes.com If you’re in a client service business (lawyer, consultant or in-house services), you’ve met them: difficult clients. These clients are demanding. They may be anxious and need a lot of hand-holding. Or they habitually lob in urgent requests at the last minute. Some nit-pick your work. Some are rude or behave badly. Others try to micromanage you or are very hard to please. You see them as “difficult” because they demand special attention or effort and they often make your life harder. In extreme cases, they may seem like the enemy....
Read More7 ways to increase positivity in your more challenging work relationships
Relationships are one of the defining elements of our work life. When we have great colleagues whom we enjoy working with, it’s easier to get things done, and work is a happier experience. However, when we have a colleague with whom we have difficulty, collaboration becomes harder and work is less fun. Sometimes it gets so bad that we quit. But does it need to be that way? Much like in a romantic relationship, you can’t change other people. But you can change your own behaviors and mindset and thereby change how you relate to the other person and to the relationship. Taking a cue from...
Read MoreNetworking is Not a Dirty Word
Many of my career coaching clients cringe at the word “networking.” But I think networking gets a bad rap. When undertaken in the right spirit, building relationships can be fun as well as helpful. And you don’t have to be Keith Ferrazi to do it.
Read MoreHow Much Beer Do I Need for My Son’s Fifth Birthday Party?
I’m feeling pretty emotional tonight — alternately weepy and wistful. Today my son (the baby) graduated from preschool and then we had a big party to celebrate his 5th (fifth!) birthday. Now, exhausted and more than a little wound up, I am blogging for the first time in months. I used to scoff at kiddie graduation ceremonies. But now I see the value of this rite of passage. My son is old enough to comprehend that something special is ending and something new and unknown is coming. He patiently explained to me that the graduates would sing “Silver and Gold” because...
Read MoreThanks, Moms!
Here’s a shout out to all the stay-at-home moms (and dads) out there – thank you for all you do, not just for your own kids but for my kids too. I am writing this from my hotel room in Pt. Reyes, California where I am staying for a client off-site retreat that Leigh Marz and I are conducting with a partnership of non-profit organizations. I feel privileged to work with this talented, committed, and ambitious group. And what made this work possible was the support of my husband and the help of no fewer than four mothers of my children’s friends, who have hosted my son for...
Read MoreHow Much is Enough?
Money. We all need it, and daily we make decisions large and small about how to use it. We are constantly bombarded with news of the economy, and many of us have definite opinions about the local, national, and world economies. But when it comes to personal finances, we are often vague and uncomfortable. Talking about our finances is unseemly, pretty nearly taboo. You can be sexually intimate with someone, but don’t ask what your lover’s income is. Despite our diffidence in talking about it, money is a big driver for most of us – determining what job we take, where we live, and...
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