by Andrea Howe | Feb 11, 2025 | Monthly-ish tips
This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.
At the top of a Mastery workshop a couple of years ago, it became clear that I needed to drop my training curriculum and help the group of leaders manage some unexpected you-know-what that had hit the fan in their organization since the last time we convened. They were understandably dealing with their own reactions while also sorting out how best to show up as trustworthy leaders to their teams and their clients. We paused to make a starter list of how to build and keep trust in tough times. The original tip featured an amended version of that list, including some additions that struck me after we adjourned. I’m reprising the list now because, well, there seems to be a lot of sh** hitting a lot of fans at the moment.
by Andrea Howe | Sep 30, 2024 | Monthly-ish tips
This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.
Something came up in a client conversation right after a Mastery workshop last week that was so meaty I promised to write a Monthly-ish Tip about it. It was a question about how to deal with the “ugh” that often arises when we’ve taken some kind of risk with a client and then don’t get the result we hoped for, which leaves us to stew in our own juices of rejection, failure, and/or loss. I’ve been thinking about it since then, and have drafted a few steps to help.
by Andrea Howe | Sep 3, 2024 | Monthly-ish tips
This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.
Selling* that’s productive, rewarding, and relationship-centric is much simpler than most of us make it out to be. It requires the right attitude (serve others, not your own goals) with the right objective (build long-term relationships and the sales will come) along with a steady focus (take small steps, consistently over time).
*Substitute “business development” if you prefer the euphemism.
by Andrea Howe | Aug 14, 2024 | Monthly-ish tips
This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.
The Roman poet, Ovid, was on to something important for us modern businesspeople when he said, “Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.”
That’s exactly what I’m choosing to do this week. Actually, I’m doing it all month, as I have every year for most of the past decade, because it’s time for my annual summer sabbatical.
by Andrea Howe | Jul 12, 2024 | Monthly-ish tips
This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.
A client checked off a Bucket List item this year by attending the U.S. Masters Tournament. For the uninitiated like me, this is one of four men’s major golf championships in professional golf. The mention of golf in a conversation we had after their return got me thinking about a blog I wrote a long, long time ago (15 years, it turns out) that 100% stands the test of time. It’s a great reminder for us all that often the best way to build trust—and quickly—is to do the opposite of what our baser instincts advise.
by Andrea Howe | Jun 23, 2024 | Monthly-ish tips
This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.
I’ve been traveling a lot so far this year. A Southwest Airlines flight attendant recently role-modeled something in their communication that immediately pulled my head out of my phone (in airplane mode, for the record) and got me laser-focused on them. I wrote about this very technique almost exactly five years ago. Today I’m reprising it because I believe it’s a lesson that’s even more valuable now as we strive to find ways to be heard in the face of chronic multi-tasking and short attention spans.
by Andrea Howe | Apr 15, 2024 | Monthly-ish tips
This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.
Back in the day, before COVID forced some major workshop redesigns to accommodate the needs of virtual participants, I used to open every in-person session or keynote with a story. A recent opportunity to spend a day in the same physical room with 60 participants (yay!) had me thinking fondly about my favorite tale of my first-ever client meeting—which also happened to showcase a big professional trust fail on my part. Maybe I’ll reprise “The Shipyard Story” one day. In the meantime, here it is, with an important reminder for us all no matter our professional tenure.
by Andrea Howe | Mar 21, 2024 | Monthly-ish tips
This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.
The last monthly-ish tip focused on what to do in the face of others’ silence. This time I invite us all to reflect on situations where we choose silence, especially in the face of potentially awkward situations, and the way that draws down on our trustworthiness.
by Andrea Howe | Feb 21, 2024 | Monthly-ish tips
This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.
Sometimes you take a communication risk with clients and get rewarded with unexplained silence. For example, you might call for no other reason than to say hello, leave a message when they don’t answer, and then never hear back. So, what if anything should you do about that? In 2018 I wrote about an unconventional way to break the silence, then not long ago I was on the receiving end of a very similar strategy … and hated it. This post is dedicated to what I learned from this experience.
by Andrea Howe | Jan 2, 2024 | Monthly-ish tips
This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.
And … we’re back. It’s “new year, new you” time for us all, which means that any resolutions resolutely declared are within days of faltering, according to psychologists who say we all typically backslide after the first couple of weeks. Relationship-oriented resolutions are no exception. So, I’m once again reprising my plea that we all try something a little different this year.
