Article as it appeared in Country Life magazine. By Patricia McCracken
How do you face social encounters if you're feeling burnt-out or nervous? "Being well-prepared is a great confidence-booster however tired you feel - and also for any nervous novice staff", says Durban executive coach and psychologist Claire Newton.
Whether you are at a formal function or an informal gathering you will be called upon to make conversation with others. Mastering this skill - either one-on-one or conversations in small groups - is thus an important life skill as it will give you the confidence you need to handle both business and social events.
This practical course covers the fundamentals of conversation such as how to start a conversation with someone you don’t know; effective introductions to ease the way for others; how to be interesting rather than boring and how to include everyone in the conversation. We also touch on non-verbal (body) language.
(Presented as part of my How to Stand up for Yourself course & To Thine own self be True - the Confident You! talk)
Assertiveness is about having clear, honest and respectful relationships with others. Part of this is knowing your Basic Rights and standing up for them.
Article as it appeared in Weigh- Less magazine. By Natasha Liviero
Feel like you have been pushed-over or passed-over one too many times? If you’re nodding in agreement, it’s time to take a stand and start speaking-up for yourself.
Article as it appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine. By Kim Garner
Stop dissing yourself and take credit where it’s due. You deserve it!
During my year-long working holiday in America, I tried to see as many different cities as possible. I often made use of Greyhound buses, and one day, when leaving Chicago, I had a ticket for a bus that was due to leave at 4pm. I arrived at the terminal at midday, but didn’t want to walk around with all my bags, so I just sat and waited. Another lady had also arrived early, and she too decided to wait. As the afternoon wore on, crowds of people started arriving to catch the bus, and the fact that we had been waiting four hours didn’t seem to matter - the new arrivals just pushed and shoved so that we were forced right to the back of the queue. We were both furious, and the lady shouted and screamed at the conductor, demanding to be let on the bus. I kept calm and explained that we had been waiting hours. In the end, the conductor let me on to the bus, but turned the other lady away for being rude.
The lesson here is that aggressive behaviour seldom, if ever, gets you what you want. No one likes a rude person. If you want something, ask for it in an assertive, NOT aggressive, manner, always taking the feelings of the other person into account.
