The holiday season is upon us and you may be feeling stressed out, worried, and wishing it was over already. Don’t let this year be another year where you feel you have to just “survive” the holidays. The words holiday and stress do not have to go hand-in-hand! Here are some tips borrowed from our “Coping With The Holidaze” workshop that will help you keep your stress level down, your good cheer up, and allow you to focus on the “reason for the season,” whatever that may be for you and your family. 1. Eliminate unnecessary activities. My holiday decorating routine takes about 2 hours in t ..read more

Tis the season for holiday events including those at work and in your professional organizations. The office party can be a great time to really get to know your coworkers and colleagues, a chance to network and make new connections, and overall, an opportunity to shine as bright as Rudolph’s nose. However, every year we see people who take their image and flush it down the toilet with unprofessional, inappropriate, or thoughtless behavior- either their own, or their significant other’s. If you don’t want to be treated like a Misfit Toy on Monday when everyone is back at the office, follow th ..read more

I thought I’d get a jump-start on holiday-themed blogs this year so we can all be prepared for finding joy in what can sometimes be a stressful season. To kick things off, let’s talk about holiday gatherings like Thanksgiving, which is coming up next week! Family holiday gatherings should be a time to reconnect, enjoy great food and drinks, and most of all, celebrate the “reason for the season.” However, for many families, holiday gatherings end up being a venue for family drama because: expectations are high, inhibitions are low from too much “holiday cheer”, people see family gathering ..read more

People often ask me what’s the first step to becoming a better listener. The answer? Get rid of your bad listening habits. As much as we don’t like to admit it, most of us aren’t the best of listeners and we’ve developed some bad habits over our lifetimes. As you review this list of bad habits, it will be easy for you to lie to yourself and say, “I don’t do that,” but are you sure? Are you being honest? Remember, denying you have the habit will keep you from getting rid of it! 1. Interrupting You’re basically telling the other person that what they were trying to say is totally unimportant to ..read more

“Could you be doing something more productive with your time?” This is one of my favorite sayings. It is such a mantra around my house, that my daughter actually wrote one of her college application essays on possessing a “productivity gene” that wouldn’t allow idle hands or an idle mind. If I’m not asking it of someone else, I’m asking it of myself. “Could I be doing something better with my time?” “Am I wasting time?” or “What would be a better use of my time?” Keeping ourselves productive isn’t just a matter of pages-long to-do lists. It’s a matter of self-talk- the communication that ..read more

Working to build a successful company requires time and dedication. However, many new businesses fail because they lack the fundamentals of running a business. For businesses these days, these fundamentals include more than just product knowledge and pricing. Today’s savvy business owner knows that to be successful in any business, you need a strong brand identity, detailed customer journey, and an effective marketing strategy to compete and win in a global marketplace. It’s about pulling all the pieces together to create a customer experience that people will want to come back to again and ag ..read more

Change is constant. Whether it’s a shift in your organization or the need to adapt to the ever-changing world around you, change is inevitable and necessary. Change as an individual, however, can be more challenging and uncomfortable than other types of change. Change leads to growth, but it can also be scary and for many of us, it often leads to uncertainty and doubt, two feelings that most leaders don’t like to have. Leaders face a constant battle of staying aligned with strategy while also embracing change in their organizations and the people they must lead through those changes. To combat ..read more

Many people define empathy as the ability to step into someone else’s shoes. However as a leader, it’s more than that. It is the things you do and say daily that gives you the power to inspire others, create a culture of trust, and foster an environment where employees are happy and feel valued. As an added bonus,  empathy in the workplace can also make all the difference in the world in terms of both employee engagement and retention. As Laurie Norden, author of The Empathetic Leader, explains: “Leaders who have empathy-based skills can positively impact the emotions, attitudes and behav ..read more

The world has become a digital marketplace, and businesses must keep up with changing customer expectations if they want to compete with their competitors, both locally and globally. To stay competitive, business owners need to understand how their employees can help them provide better customer service. Encouraging employees to provide excellent customer service can be challenging for many reasons, but one of the biggest is just our natural human tendency to serve ourselves rather than serve others. We all like to think of ourselves as focused on others. Still, in our day-to-day reality, espe ..read more

Let’s face it, being a leader is challenging. Most of us never anticipate when we take on a leadership role the amount of time we’ll spend just trying to keep the team going in the right direction. In any team, there are going to be different types of people. Some will want to focus on their own work, others may not have a strong interest in what the group is doing. A good leader knows how to deal with these situations and still get everyone on the same page. The best leaders aren’t afraid to challenge the way other team members operate and they get to know their teams so they can inspire moti ..read more