Newsletter - November 2005

Hello and welcome to the November edition of my newsletter. You will recall in the last newsletter Robert Gerrish submitted an article and offered a copy of his book to one lucky reader. The winner of Robert’s book “Flying Solo” is Joanne Christodoulou from Doyle Computer Services, congratulations Joanne.

NEWS FLASH - Lindsay Adams Books, CD's and Courses available from our new online iShop

Are Meetings Driving You Crazy?

In many organisations today a lot of time is taken up with meetings. Some people excel at getting exactly what they want in meetings through aggressive meeting management, whilst others sit back and get walked over because they are too nice to stand up to the aggressive tactics. If you want to learn how to control a Meeting Bully read these five simple steps.

In the last month I have encountered several similar instances of poor service. I only have enough space to write about one. I was working in Melbourne and had the opportunity to catch up with my brother and his two sons and their partners. We went out to dinner and had what we might call the service experience from hell.

• Step 1 – Remain Calm!
  Prepare yourself for the meeting bully by analysing previous meetings you have attended and remembering their tactics in meetings. In the actual meeting it is important to breath deeply and remain calm. Meeting bullies love conflict and get energy from arguing with others in meetings, so deny them the chance to upset you.
  
• Step 2 – Keep a Positive Focus
  Establish common ground first, this will create a more positive atmosphere in the meeting and the bully will feel less inclined to take over. Showing that you have areas of common thinking will enable you to move toward areas of contention with a positive constructive focus.
  
• Step 3 – Stick to the Facts
  Sticking to the facts rather than emotion can avert difficult discussions. Facts are tangible and measurable, things such as dates, cost, deliverables are indisputable and steer to meeting away from negative emotion, jaded opinions or hurt feelings.
  
• Step 4 – Ask Clarifying Questions
  Ask questions to clarify the issue at hand rather than focusing on disagreement or disputing what has already been said. Clever questioning will allow you to direct the conversation in the direction you choose without the need for argument or defensive position taking.
  
• Step 5 – Monitor Your Voice Tone
  Thinking carefully about what you say or asking clever questions is important and the tone of voice in which you ask these questions is even more important. We have all experienced an uncomfortable moment when a question has been posed in a nasty tone of voice. Be very careful to monitor your tone of voice constantly as it is easy to slip and reveal your true feelings during what is meant to be a positive constructive conversation.

In Summary
Some people come across as meeting bullies and are really just evry passionate people. Make sure you control your behaviour and in turn you will control the meeting.

How to Get People to Say YES, When They Would Normally Say NO!

Have you ever left home on a Saturday morning to buy a few items at the local shopping centre and come home with an unexpected purchase? Ladies, it could be a new pair of shoes, men a new power tool. How come we do this? Is it retail therapy in action or have we been influenced to buy something by a sales assistant without even realising what’s happened?

I believe that you have been influenced by an experienced professional who knows how to get people to say yes, when they would normally say no. Psychologists around the world have studied influence techniques used by sales people and others and discovered there are many ways we can influence others. We can influence people consciously or unconsciously. Conscious persuasion usually happens when we set out to buy a specific item, say a car, a major appliance or even a piece of clothing. The sales person establishes what you want to buy and that you are willing to purchase today. Their next task is for you to buy it from them.

Unconscious persuasion happens when we don’t actually set out to buy that item but purchase it anyway. There are six proven methods professional influencers use to make us move to buy items or simply comply with their requests. Most of these techniques are not complicated and once revealed will amaze you at how simple they are.

If you want to know more I have prepared a two CD set which covers the ten direct influence tools, plus the six indirect influence tools professionals use to influence others to get them to say yes.

Want to know more, click on this link and order the CD set now!
http://www.teamocracy.com/products.php

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