Being Assertive

Interpersonal communication is the lifeblood of business. It's the means by which you, your colleagues, your staff, your managers and your clients share information, experience and ideas.

Assertive communication skills help you to make your requirements known in a direct, yet nonthreatening, manner.

Assertiveness is

• Standing up for yourself without violating the rights of others
• Believing you are entitled to hold an express your own opinions
• Saying "no" without feeling guilty
• Being straightforward
• Asking for what you want
• Asking questions when you don't understand
• Expressing ideas even though they might be wrong
• Risky behavior
• Expressing disagreement as mildly or strongly as the circumstances require
• Conveying empathy, fairness, objectivity and strength
• Believing you have the right to make your own decisions, and other people are entitled to make theirs
• Believing you are accountable for your own mistakes and decisions

Assertiveness is not

• Being pushy or selfish
• Hurting other people's feelings
• Automatically giving others what they want
• People pleasing behavior
• Getting from others what you want
• Manipulative behavior
• Taking responsibility for other people's problems
• A lack of concern for others
• Saying yes when you want to say no
• Not expecting others to give in to you
• Shouting when you're angry
• Reprimanding or punishing people

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How Do Your Actions Influence Your Team?

~~Tip for Managers/Supervisors/Team Leads~~

The minutes before the workday begins are some of the most important minutes with your team. Team meetings, morning huddles, or shift starters set the tone for the remainder of the day. This is your chance to energize, inspire, and direct your team's focus.

Ways You Can Affect Your Team

1. Arrive Early - before or with your employees.
**Don't be the last to arrive. It is difficult to respect and follow a leader who fails to give as much as they expect in return. Let your actions show your dedication to the company.**

2. Positive Energy - attitudes and moods are contagious.
**Energy is transferable. A smile and energetic walk will spread enthusiasm to your team. It is OK to be frustrated or disappointed. However, as a manager your energy can overpower your staff. Make sure you vent upward and that your team does not sense a change.**

3. Greet - walk around and talk with your employees.
**Don't hide in your office. Walk around and let your team know that you appreciate their work and they are a valued employee.**

4. Direction and Expectations - relay clear objectives and expectations.
**Let your team know objectives, deadlines, and expectations. With a goal to work toward, employees are less likely to be distracted. This requires that you also have a clean plan of action.**

Job Interview Mistakes to Avoid

13 Job Interview Mistakes to Avoid

1. Arriving Late.
Get directions from the interviewer. Leave home early.

2. Dressing Wrong.
You make your greatest impact on the interviewer in the first 17 seconds - impression you want to make powerfully positive.

3. Play Zombie.
Ok, you’re nervous. But you can still smile and make eye contact. Sit up, and focus on the interviewer.

4. No smoking, no gum, no drinking.
This is all comfort stuff for some, and none of it will help during the interview.

5. Research failure.
The interview is not the time for research. Find our the company’s products and services, and other key
information from the Internet, Library, etc.

6. Can’t articulate your own strengths and weaknesses.
Only you can recognize your most valuable strengths and weaknesses. Be able to specify your major strengths.

7. Winging the Interview.
Practice! Get a friend, a list of interview questions and a tape recorder or video camera and conduct an interview
rehearsal.

8. Talk, Talk, Talk.
Rambling, interrupting the interviewer and answering to a simple question with a 15 minute reply—all of these can be avoided.

9. Failure to connect yourself to the job offered.
The job description details the company’s needs - you connect your experiences, your talents and your strengths to the description.

10. Not asking questions - and asking too many.
Use your research to develop a set of questions that will tell you whether this is the job and the company for you.

11. Bad-mouth anyone.
Not just your present employer, or former employer, or the competition.

12. Asking about compensation and/or benefits too soon.
Wait for the interviewer to bring up these issues.

13. Failure to ask for the job.
When the interviewer indicates the interview is over, convey your interest in the job and ask what the next step is.

Interview Preparation - C.A.R. Stories

There are three steps to good interview preparation. One is to develop your C.A.R. stories as described below. Step two involves practice. Have a friend or family member ask you a sample of the questions listed below. Even better, have someone videotape your answers to make sure you sound confident and appear relaxed. Finally, before you leave for the interview, familiarize yourself with our list of do’s and don’ts. It’s easy to forget the most obvious when we are under stress!

C.A.R. Stories
You will be better prepared for you interview if you develop mini-stories about your accomplishments. This will help you answer interviewer questions by providing examples and make it easier to remember your accomplishments under stressful situations. Begin by describing an accomplishment and the skills that were used in that situation. See if you can break it down into a 5 or 6 sentence “story” describing the challenge, action, and result.

C. Challenge or problem that you encountered.
·What needed to be done?
·Where did you start?
·Describe your specific assignments, responsibilities or duties.
·Describe the situation, project, or task.
·Emphasize the non-routine challenging problems.
·How and why did the situation arise?
·Did you notice or discover it yourself?
·Did you suggest or initiate the action?

A. Action that you took to resolve the problem or situation.
·What did you do?
·How did you proceed?
·Describe your goals, plans, and procedures.
·Emphasize your creative and innovative approach.
·Describe what you actually did and how you did it.
·Emphasize what others did under your supervision.
·Describe the difficulties that you encountered and overcame.

R. Result that was achieved for you or the company. Be specific and use measurable examples whenever possible.
·How well did you do it?
·What did you accomplish?
·State how well you carried out your responsibilities.
·Describe your contributions and achievements.
·Quantify your results and specify them in concrete language.
·Describe how completely your plans were realized.
·Emphasize who (Company? Department? Boss? Other?) benefited.
·Exactly how did they benefit and how much did they benefit?

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