Assertiveness is an important attitude to have in one’s professional life. An individual who is assertive remains calm and demonstrates positive body language - good visual contact, a relaxed posture, an air of interest, and good elocution (volume, delivery, tone, etc.) 

Assertiveness allows you to demonstrate to your interlocutor your assurance in your ability to deal with the problem while being respectful and establishing trust and credibility.

According to a study by the Observatoire de Responsabilité Sociétale des Entreprises in France (ORSE), 56% of employees spend over 2 hours a day managing their inbox and 75% admit to interrupting a task to look at incoming emails. If you are part of these statistics, it is time to assess your working method.

Choosing your words wisely can make all the difference in how people perceive you. Instead of sounding like a complainer and a whiner by saying "I have a problem", try "I have a concern" instead. You still have an issue but you’ll sound mature and more in control.

When a client is aggressive, a colleague disrespectful or your boss is being rude - don’t take it personally too quickly. Instead of thinking: “Why is he/she doing this to me?”, try to say “Let me understand why you believe this or want that.” Then, listen to the answer. Be curious instead of furious!

A professional knows how to positively influence his surroundings. But to gain the right to influence, one must gain respect and appreciation from the others, which starts with the way you see yourself. You must find the professional in you before you can show him to others.

When negotiating (a sale, a raise, a promotion ...) learn to be comfortable with sitting in silence and taking your time to craft a thoughtful response instead of rambling on awkwardly.

« He who speaks sows, he who listens reaps.” This Japanese saying reminds us of the importance of practicing active listening. The key element of good listening is to understand the interlocutor; it will allow you to know more about others and will facilitate successful collaboration with them.

The key to learning something new is to stop focusing on the end goal. Instead, focus on the process of learning the new skill. This will help you concentrate and make the learning process easier.

A new year is beginning! What would you like to be this year? Yes, the question here is not what you would like to HAVE or DO, but what you want to BE! 

First, we must decide our intentions to BE (happy, serene, accomplished, efficient, free, blooming), to then identify how to get there, meaning to write your list of things to DO based on this state of BEING. 

A happy person does things he/she likes, from which he/she gets satisfaction. For example, reading, spending quality time with family, taking tango lessons, etc. An efficient person organizes, plans, prioritizes… Soon, we discover that what we DO evokes what we have always wanted to HAVE.

Share your intention on our Facebook page. “In 2014, I wish to be ___________.”

Sometimes, you will need to put a call on hold. Before doing so, make sure to explain to the customer the reason of this waiting and to ask his permission. Wait to get confirmation. Some will prefer to call back or be called back.

The quality of our social interactions, be they professional or personal, greatly determine the quality and efficiency of a team, a network, an organization or a family.

One of the purposes of "customer service" is to change feelings. Not the facts, but the way your customer feels. The best measurement of customer support is whether, after the interaction, the customer would recommend you to a friend. Time waited, refunds given or the facts of the case are irrelevant. The feelings are all that matter, and changing feelings takes humanity and connection, not money or speed.

Everyone makes mistakes. What's important is how you respond to them and what you learn from them. US President Ronald Reagan said: "What should happen when you make a mistake is this: You take your knocks, you learn your lessons, and then you move on."

Mistakes don't make you a failure. The greatest mistake a person can make is to be afraid to make one. There are really no mistakes in life, there are only lessons.

"Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing."
– Albert Schweitzer

We all have difficult customers and we usually invest our best efforts (time, patience, energy, emotions, etc.) with them. And the easy, friendly, nice customers? Well, we sometimes end up taking advantage of their good nature, investing less effort, because they will accept less effort.

Don’t forget to reward the people that make your work better and easier and treat your easy customer with care and effort.

The person who is always chasing their tail, who is busy putting out fires, and who misses deadlines will always see time as the enemy. However, as it’s often the case, we are our own enemy. Time is on our side from the moment we learn to manage it.

Times New Roman may be your default font, but onscreen its curvy design with tiny tails on the ends of letters, called serifs, may slow word recognition and force you to stare harder and longer, contributing to eye fatigue. Fonts like Arial and Verdana, which have more space between letters, can make words appear crisper and easier to read from farther away, taxing your vision less.

--James Sheedy, PhD, director of the Vision Performance Institute at Pacific University College of Optometry

Sometimes you need to take a stand. But not as often as you think. An old saying says, "The world is divided into people who think they are right." Resist the urge to prove they are wrong – their egos won’t need so much defending, they’ll be willing to listen more and fewer disputes will occur.

Emails sent too fast, written without a polite opening, the imperative “Urgent” received various times a day, the never-ending “reply to all”… All these mini aggressions are the source of misunderstandings, knock the psychological balance and can eventually cause illness tied to stress.

Deliberately practice patience - with your customers, with your colleagues, with your bosses, with yourself. Dare yourself to hang in there another five minutes. Resolve not to get wound up by what happens. You’ll eventually build your "patience muscle".

The quality of our professional relationships has an impact on our energy once we get home and on the attitude we reflect in our personal life.

Influence represents the honest and productive aspect of persuasion, whereas manipulation acts against someone’s will.

Giving and taking criticism is no easy task, but it is a valuable tool, in raising and maintaining performance standards.

If you adopt a passive, defeated attitude or an aggressive response to criticism, you are not going to improve the situation. No one ever choked swallowing his or her own pride! Admit you aren't perfect. By adopting an open attitude to criticism, you can achieve greater personal development and help uncover blind spots.

Did you know that 80% of psychological harassment complaints at the workplace presented to the “Commission des Normes du Travail” don’t meet essential criteria?  It’s a sign of an issue in business relation skills, such as respect of diversity, conflict management, open and honest communication, healthy competition, equity… A convivial working environment shows professional maturity and promotes individuals’ development.

Most of us often face the same complaints or issues, day after day – we therefore tend to stop listening and to begin offering solutions.

But the customer has not yet reached the step of problem resolution, he wants to make you understand his point of view and feel that you are really listening. If you skip this step too quickly, the customer will refuse your solutions, will come back to his story, will put the emphasis on the negative aspects, etc.

Not taking complaints personally is hard! If we do, we become defensive which will only increase the customer’s anger and undermine our credibility.

What we wear to work is a visible expression of our willingness to fit in. You can call it compromise, or you can call it courtesy, either way, it is our ability to walk the line between fitting in our workplace and affirming ourselves as individuals.

You will not be able to fix problems if you do not know which problems exist. A study found that only 4% of unhappy customers complain. For every person who complains, 24 unhappy customers do not say anything. To uncover customer service problems, you must aggressively seek feedback. This will help you pave the way for customers to provide insight. Instead of asking, ''How was everything today? '' Ask,'' Did you notice anything we could do to improve?'' This will provide you meaningful feedback.

Although we might be convinced otherwise, the truth is, not everything is urgent. The first step to becoming a more effective person is to have the humility to admit that often we create our own emergencies by not setting our priorities right.

When negotiating, you have to grow comfortable hearing ''no'' – don’t take it personally – they are not saying ''no'' to you, they are saying «no» to the proposal.