We have standards.

We don’t expect people – whether they be our staff, colleagues, customers and clients, or family and friends – to be perfect. Of course not. But we certainly expect them to make an honest effort and do their best.

We expect them to work well with others and give a lending hand. We expect them to be fair and play by the rules. And if they’ve done the wrong thing, we expect them to realise it and make amends – and all without having to be asked. In a nutshell, we have standards and we expect people to live up to them.

If people don’t live up to them, we have work to do.

Of course, there are plenty of times when the best thing to do is to rise above it, let it go and move on. But there are also plenty of times when we need to act.

Sometimes all we have to do is give them our special look, deliver an Assertive Instant Message or have a friendly word in their ear. Or maybe change some systems and processes.

But sometimes we have to do a lot more. Sometimes, we have to look them in the face and tell them their behaviour is unacceptable. And tell them how we want them to behave. Sometimes, we have to do all of this in a formal sit-down meeting, or maybe several of them – and maybe involve other people. Heck, we might even have to justify our actions.

And if this wasn’t enough, sometimes we have to implement performance improvement plans for someone and include plenty of follow-up meetings along the way. Aaaaaaah! Oh, and just one more. Sometimes we have to go down the ugly path of disciplinary action.

And this is where I can help

Let’s face it; managing people and their performance can be tricky – and frustrating, stressful and time-consuming. So this is where I come in. I help you get the best possible behaviour, communication and performance from people – and with what to do if you don’t.

I help you:

1. Help your staff & customers live up to, embrace and showcase Best Practice Behaviour.

Do you want a workplace – or home for that matter – which is efficient, productive and respectful? A place where people are civil, work together in harmony and always put their best foot forward? Of course you do. Who doesn’t?

Well, to get it, we need to give certain people a bit of help. It’s because for them, working well with others doesn’t come naturally. They think if the soup they’re heating in the microwave boils over, you just leave it for someone else. They think if the staff meeting starts at 2pm, it’s fine to wander in at 10 minutes past, and disturb everyone while you sit down. 

And these are the ones who don’t seem to know doing what you agreed to do is simply the right things to do. And lending a hand when it’s needed and speaking civilly to people are all basic manners. And the list goes on. Yes, I agree; it should all be commonsense but as they say …. 

So Best Practice Behaviour to the rescue. It’s both a process and a result, and consists of three main steps – defining standards, making it easy for people to live up to them and rewarding effort not just achievement. Find out more.

2. Master Tough Conversations

We wish we didn’t have to have them, so it’s no wonder so many of us put them off – and for way too long. Well, guess what? The need for them won’t magically disappear just because we put them on the back burner. And the longer we leave then, the tougher they become.

There are four main types of Tough Conversations and there are three main steps to mastering them and getting the best possible result for all concerned. The three steps are: Take Control of the Situation – sounds simple but we often fall down on this; Take Control of the Scripts – there are templates for you to personalise to suit your particular needs; and Take Control of the Deliveries – yes, that was ‘deliveries’ because what many people overlook is more than one delivery is often needed.

And I have some particular strategies to help you:

Speak up and say what needs to be said and help you to Speak to an employee and have them improve their behaviour or performance. Find out more.

3. Stop bad behaviour and Deal with Difficult People.

The reality is this: despite our attempts to instil Best Practice Behaviour in people, sometimes a person’s behaviour is unacceptable – or if you prefer, unsatisfactory, inappropriate, poor or simply bad.  And we need to step up to the plate and do something about it.

For the record, bad behaviour is behaviour which fails to live up to one of our standards of behaviour – or if you like, breaks one of our standards. And a difficult person is someone who behaves badly, fails to show sincere remorse with the emphasis on sincere, and repeats the bad behaviour by breaking the standard again or moving on to breaking others.

There’s a sure-fire three-step method for putting an end to bad behaviour and for dealing with difficult people. The steps are: Nailing the violation – something often overlooked; Tailoring the strategies – there are nine major ones to mix and match; and Personalising your approach. (And you can get Mark’s list of strategies here.)

And I have some particular strategies to help you:

Deal with customers who are rude, nasty or abusive and help you Deal with inappropriate comments, innuendo and put-downs. Find out more.

And I help you in other ways as well.

Please go to the Services page to find out more.