Look people in the eye and remember their name. These subtle details act as token of respect towards other people and trigger the necessary elements to establish trusting relationships.

"Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors" - African Proverb

Avoid sending a delicate or emotional email on the spur of the moment. And don’t answer a flaming email on the spot either. Be more professional, be more polite; it may bring the other party to ease their storm.

• Treat internal and external calls the same way.
• Personalize calls by mentioning your interlocutor’s name a few times during the conversation.
• Use a more formal language, unless you’re very familiar with the interlocutor.
• Don’t ever correct the pronunciation or vocabulary of your interlocutor.
• Respect the chosen language of your interlocutor, even if he is having hard time.

A procrastinator is someone who tends to delay things and push them back another day. This kind of behaviour will increase your stress level, because you end up forced to complete your duties at the last minute. Therefore, your performance and the quality of your results both decrease. What you ignore today will become a burden tomorrow. Problems rarely evaporate. Decisions must be made.

Deal with tasteless or offensive humour by clearly stating that you are uncomfortable with what the person said. Be sure to speak neutrally, with a impartial tone and appropriate body-language, and say something like: "When a joke is funny to you but not to me, I don’t know what to say." or "That kind of humour doesn’t work for me".

One of the oldest techniques – supposedly invented by the philosopher and monk Ignatius Loyola – goes like this: for three days pretend that you’ve already gone for one of the options and write down all the thoughts and feelings you’re experiencing. Then go for the other option and repeat. Afterwards, compare notes. You’ll be surprised by how much easier your decision will be.