Author : Dr Judy Esmond
Every time I am facilitating another dealing with difficult people workshop I am always asked - how can I be assertive all the time to deal with all the difficult people I come across?

IS IT IMPORTANT TO BE ASSERTIVE WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE?

I then almost always respond with the next question - who told you that you needed to be assertive all the time? Most people look confused by the question but their responses are always very similar - I am not sure who told me but I thought that this is what you have to learn to do, be assertive all the time, with everyone and in every situation

HERE IS THE PROBLEM FOR YOU IN HANDLING DIFFICULT PEOPLE

Well, here is problem with that strategy on how you deal with difficult people Every person you deal with is unique and different You do not react exactly the same in every situation and with everyone People vary greatly in their behaviour, their reactions and their responses to you Now you can develop a range of strategies and techniques to deal with the general reactions of others on many occasions But responding the same way to every situation, whether that is always aggressively, or always assertively, or always passively is not the best solution

WHEN YOU RESPOND THE SAME WAY ALL THE TIME YOU HAVE GOT PROBLEMS

In my consultations, I have worked with people who have responded aggressively to every conflict and disagreement they have had with others It has caused them so much trouble in their life They responded in the same aggressive way to family, friends, employers, strangers, authority figures and more I have worked with others who have responded passively to every conflict and disagreement they have had with others It has destroyed their confidence, self-esteem and belief in their own thoughts and opinions

USUALLY BEING ASSERTIVE IS OFTEN THE BEST APPROACH BUT NOT ALWAYS

For sure, being assertive can be an effective approach in dealing with the difficult behaviour of others but not always Take the example of a potential road rage situation When driving on a double lane highway, you unintentionally cut in front of another driver when changing lanes The other driver blows their car horn, shakes their fist at you and then moves to the other lane and drives up beside you, yelling at you out of their car window What do you do? Is this the time to be aggressive back? Is this the time to be assertive? Or is this the time to respond passively?

You do not know this person but you can assume that your own aggressive or assertive actions will more than likely inflame the situation This situation has the potential to escalate into an even more aggressive response from the other driver

HANDLING DIFFICULT PEOPLE IN VERY DIFFERENT SITUATIONS

So do understand that the best response in this situation may be a passive one Consider slowing down, pulling back, making no eye contact with the other driver This may not always work but your aim is to reduce the likelihood of escalating the situation into an out of control road rage incident Why? Because you really have no idea how aggressively the other driver can become, they are a stranger to you and ultimately you cannot predict their behaviour You have no behaviour history - unlike people you may know, you have no knowledge of how this person responds to conflict situations other than what you have already seen and it was not looking good

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES CAREFULLY

So here is the most important strategy you can use in dealing with the difficult behaviour of other people, you must choose your battles You must decide what battles are to be left alone and what battles are to be responded to assertively
There are times when you must decide to take a stand and other times when you need to just let it go There are times to be assertive with others, there are times to ignore their behaviour and there are times to take a different course of action

YOU NEED TO LOOK AT DIFFERENT RESPONSES TO DIFFERENT DIFFICULT PEOPLE

You do not and should not respond exactly the same way in every situation when handling difficult people So decide carefully how important this battle is to you and choose your responses wisely, being assertive is one way, but not the only way And there are many more ways for you to read in my Free Guide on Dealing with Difficult People: 17 Ways to Handle the Difficult Behaviour of Other People at my website Join me now!Dr Judy Esmond is an international expert on dealing with stress and difficult people. She is also a leading consultant in volunteer management see her website at http://www.morevolunteers.com

Judy is one of the most in demand speakers on stress and difficult people. Go to her website and get a FREE GUIDE on Dealing with Difficult People: 17 Ways to Handle the Difficult Behaviour of Other People at http://www.nodifficultpeople.com

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Author : David RiklanIt is not uncommon to hear people complaining that their days at work are too hectic for them to be able to plan anything Plans never work out, there are always changes: appointments being cancelled or new assignments being added, so that the preview and the review of each day have very little in common This may be true, but maybe we should take a few moments to breathe and analyze this situation

First of all, changing your schedule too often can only have bad effects in the long run, because it breaks time management habits If you change your program and schedule tasks whenever something new comes up and nothing goes as planned, you will soon find it much less frustrating to work without any schedule whatsoever: if there is no agenda in the first place, you won’t have to worry about anything getting cancelled However, this will eventually lead to a very chaotic day, likely to exhaust you even more than the continually changing schedule

The next step in time management is deciding which tasks in your schedule must remain unchanged and which can be modified The fixed task will form a sort of backbone in your plan, something for you to rely on Furthermore, if you have decided from the very beginning that there are tasks that can allow some variation — as long as these tasks don’t interfere with the main ones — it will help you cope with changes much better Also, practice saying “no” from time to time, when the main points on your agenda are threatened

After a while, you will notice that you are feeling much more relaxed, and that your ability to stay focused has increased

A Changing Agenda:

Many people schedule tasks and feel frustrated when the points in their agenda do not work out as planned, or at least in close resemblance to the plan, particularly when new things come up and they need to be assigned a time slot This often means that they will have to cancel other things in their schedule When this happens, time management can become quite a stressful business However, there is a very simple technique you can use to avoid working under pressure that goes hand in hand with the way to schedule tasks

It is true that unexpected assignments can lead to an overbooked agenda, but, fortunately, this is not the only change that can occur Or, from another point of view, you are lucky that you are not the only one with such problems Other people will be confronted with the same issues, which will force them to cross out things they have planned When activities or appointments that also concern you get canceled, empty slots of time are created in your own agenda

These extra slots can be used for anything, so why not use them to work on things you need to finish? If there are any urgent matters that came up after you drew up your schedule, you can use the time thus created to concentrate on them On a calm day when nothing unexpected comes up, you can just pick anything you were going to do at a later moment or on another day, which will lead to another free slot somewhere else

As a result, you will always have enough room in your schedule and you won’t need to worry too much when you have to squeeze a new job among the day’s activities

This article was compiled by the editors at SelfGrowth.com, the number one self improvement resource on the Web. Visit SelfGrowth.com, for hundreds of free articles, websites, experts, and videos on time management .


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Author : Joey YorkLanding a good job is one of the most important goals for many of American consumers Being able to improve the odds of landing a high paying and secured job is important and obtaining a project management professional certificate can do right that

The first thing to ask yourself is what job you are looking for If you are interested in project management than thinking about obtaining a project management professional certificate makes sense Obtaining suck a certificate like many other certificates involves an major investment in time and money You will need to sign up and be accepted to a project management program in one of the local schools that provides such a program You will need to pay tuition that can vary a lot depending on the school You will have to attend class do homework and successfully pass the project management professional test

In order to get to a project professional program you will need to prove some hands on experience in project management In other words you can not just decide one day that you like project management and apply for the program You need to actually have worked for a few years as a project manager before any of the project management schools will accept you This is a good precaution as it will make sure that you are aware of what the profession requires

It is also important to take a step back and look at your long term goals If you are interested in project management you should consider if this is your long term career goal Would you want to be a project manager for two years or twenty years? If project management is a short term goal for you in order to step up the corporate ladder for higher or just different jobs than obtaining a project management professional certificate might be an overkill If on the other hand you plan to stay in the profession for a long time and maybe one day managing other project managers or even becoming a company chief project management professional than obtaining a certificate is a good investment

Project management is a very specific type of management skill Managing project means taking care of many aspects of taking a project from its beginning to its successful end The project itself can be anything from designing a new software product to building a new skyscraper to simpler tasks as fixing a hole in the road All projects have a few things in common when it comes to successfully managing them There are human resources or in other words employees and people to manage There are resources that needs to be allocated either physical or electronic There are unforeseen things that happen during the project that need attention There are time schedules to follow rules and regulations and other terms that the project must adhere to Projects can be as short as a day or as long as decades

Project management is different than general management If your goal is to be the CEO of a company or to just jump the general management ladder of a corporate than obtaining a project management professional certificate is probably not enough for you Obtaining a masters in business administration also known as MBA is a better choice for general management Joey York explains more on project management software benefits « project management log

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Author : Joey YorkA PMP is a Project Management Professional certification It is basically a proof that the holder of such a certificate went through training and is an able and knowledgeable project manager The PMP certification can be useful for example when applying for project management positions

To be a certified project management professional you do need to have any previous business degree such as a Masters of Business Administration also known as MBA In fact there is no real connection between PMP and MBA While MBA is a more general degree that covers many business issues from human resources accounting and financing project management certification is a focused vocational training that emphasizes the skills needed in order to successfully manage small or big projects regardless of the type of industry or technologies used

Since the project management professional certificate is more of a vocational certificate the requirements of most institutes providing such a certificate is a few years of hands on and relevant work experience To get a project management certificate usually take between a few months of on an accelerated path or a few years of due to work and limited time only a few class a month can be taken The project management professional certificate is won only after successfully passing a project professional test at the end of the course The project management professional test is usually a standardized test controlled by the state or other local government

So why do people want to get the project management professional certificate? In fact the certificate has become more and more popular in the last year Some companies require that project managers hold that certificate This is usually the case with very large corporations that are trying to make sure that there is some basic standard of knowledge and experience for its project managers While other companies do not require a certificate having one can help potential employees land a job It can also help in negotiation better compensation market statistics show that candidates holding the project management certificate are usually more likely to land a job at a higher salary

Some people are confused about the difference between an MBA and a PMP PMP is a focused certificate that is very helpful for professionals who are aiming at project management jobs or a long term project management career MBA is a more generic management certificate that is more beneficial to people looking at general management positions and in future climbing of the corporate management ladder MBA does teach some aspects of project management but not in the same depth as PMP

It is a good thing to have both an MBA and a PMP certificate but if you have to choose between which one to get it really depends on your career goals If you are aiming at a project management career you are better off with a PMP For general management career you are better off with an MBA If you can get both you should choose which one to get first Again depending on your employment strategy if for example you decide to start your career in project management and then jumping to higher general management positions get a PMP first land a project management job and then work on your MBA Joey York wrote this article. More articles on project management professional, pmp, pmi, project management certificate

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Author : Kees de LangeLike any other company, a translation agency depends on its clients for survival, which means its primary concern should be to have the human resources, equipment, routines and processes in place that enable it to serve its clients as best it can

The first priority of course is to attract clients Promotional and acquisition issues are the subject of a different article by the same author Suffice it here to say that, broadly speaking, there is a choice of two strategies A translation agency can attract clients through active promotion based on the distribution of company brochures and the like among a pre-selected target group of relevant business, and through a strong and dynamic presence on the Internet via a website that should both be easy to find and rewarding for those who visit it

Our main concern in this article is the question of how to retain clients once they have found your company and used its services The whole idea of client retention is based on the assumption that clients will have a recurrent need for your product or service This is why your first concern should be to determine whether a client is likely to need translations on more than an incidental basis

This can be a tricky issue In terms of account management, you may be inclined to neglect apparently insignificant orders from apparently insignificant clients When a small company asks you to translate a letter to a foreign customer, this does not immediately offer the prospect of a steady flow of recurrent orders Even so, you should bear in mind that a company that does business abroad usually does so with more than one customer, and usually within the framework of a deliberate foreign expansion strategy which, in the longer run, may well lead to a greater need for translation services than you would have imagined at first

The type of client that offers the greatest potential, however, is the category of big companies with regular and established contacts abroad, and with a wide variety of translation needs - not just for correspondence or company brochures, but also in all sorts of other business-related domains, such as legal affairs, tax and compliance issues This is the type of client that can make an important contribution to your translation agency’s continuity, provided that your account management approach is optimally geared to its needs

Account management essentially concerns effective communication with your client about the measures you take to meet their requirements You will find that many companies with translation needs tend to have a highly fragmented approach towards filling them As companies grow, so their contacts expand; over time, huge enterprises may end up doing business with a host of translation agencies However, sooner or later they will find that this is no longer consistent with their need for a uniform and professional verbal market presence They will be very happy to do business with you if you are able to meet and coordinate all of their translation needs effectively

Your ability to serve any client, and particularly your larger clients, hinges on the two mainstays of your operational management: quality and capacity The issue of quality management is beyond the scope of this article While quality tends to be the main focus of any starting translation business, it does not usually take long for capacity management to emerge as an equally urgent concern for your company’s ability to meet your regular clients’ needs A large company will only select you as its preferred supplier of translation services if you are able to guarantee availability for all regular and urgent translation jobs that present themselves This should not be an issue in the relationship with your client Rather than having to negotiate a deal for each individual translation, your regular clients are best served by an arrangement which, ideally, enables them to send you a text plus the desired deadline and instantly receive a confirmation stating the costs based on a regular, standard word rate

Your clients’ capacity requirements are a major factor that determines the structure of your organisation Ideally, and for obvious reasons, all translations from a single client should be done by a single team of translators, which can be either in-house staff or freelancers Whatever arrangements you make, its is imperative that you discuss quality-related issues with your client (such as those relating to tone of voice, terminology and the like) and use these as a basis for a set of instructions to share with your translators Always try to convince your client that ongoing terminology management has your constant attention This will gradually make them feel that you are the expert, and it suggests a kind of intimacy with their inner processes and concerns that will strengthen their bond with your business

Another important aspect of account management in the translation business is damage control when, for some reason or other, your client is not happy with a particular service you have provided There is a host of potential issues that explain instances of substandard performance Operational constraints may have forced you to use a translator outside the regular team, there may have been a communication problem, or a text may prove to be more complicated than was originally thought Whatever the case may be, it is up to you to explain the issue to your client and indicate what measures you have taken to prevent similar incidents in the future This may involve pledges to update your client-specific terminology database more consistently than apparently you have done so far or to introduce more thorough internal revision processes, but also far-reaching measures such as removing a particular translator from particular jobs if his work is consistently inadequate, or making a recruitment effort to find additional qualified translators so as to be able to meet your client’s capacity requirements

An effective and practical account management approach is a wonderful tool to help potential clients unify their fragmented translation outsourcing practices by persuading them to consolidate those practices in a single translation flow towards a single agency - yours
I am Kees de Lange, aged 32, and working as a freelance translator for about 5 years now.
For more information concerning this subject please visit:
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Author : Ruth KustoffIn today’s changing business environment and challenging economy, what’s the best way to get the most of out learning and development activities?

Often, L&D is the first area to get “cut” since it’s not directly a profit center However, the value of learning programs is steadfast, and particularly in rough times When else do staff resources need to know they are important, and intrinsic to the success of the organization? The collective knowledge needs of staff is closely tied to overall individual performance results, which directly align to meeting organizational goals

This article is directed to practitioners of L&D, HR, or a training function However, it may provide insight for L&D recipients too Learn how L&D supports the business and how regularly planned organizational assessments provide for continuous improvement (Check out the link below of a sample survey for internal reviews )

Improving L&D with Leveraging
If we look at how learning and development supports the organization across the enterprise, we can identify economies in how we work with internal clients If L&D supports business functions vertically across the company, we need to identify common required processes at project start and completion Additionally, recognizing the different needs by business unit can help tailor how to approach program planning and project management needs L&D can create a best practice approach around project planning, implementation, and management to help streamline efforts, and allow clients to be more proactive in their learning needs and development

A first step toward streamlining work and provided services is to identify the type of work, projects, and events typically offered to your clients Secondly determine around which functions or services a best practice could be implemented For example, what constitutes a project in your organization and for your clients? The Project Management Institute defines a project as: ", a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service it is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations " What commonalities exist within your definition of a project where you can build on what’s been created?

After defining what a project means, the next step is to segregate projects from BAU - business as usual In other words, how we work with clients on business as usual functions may be set a part from a formal project and not need the same level of involvement or resources Identify how and where in all you provide, you can save time through reuse of work already completed and sharing of lessons learned

Summary
The bottom line is that L&D must continually observe itself and evaluate its own processes and best practices in how it serves its constituents We certainly know that at times, senior management does likewise, often when a larger “overhaul” or a reorganization becomes necessary By always identifying your own best practices and ensuring your team is leveraging work from one another, could possibly help you in times of restructure Remember, the L&D function that is lean yet productive will ultimately prove beneficial to the organization With 20 years experience as a business and learning needs analyst, Ruth offers a strategic business approach to learning. Ruth

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