Andy Kaufman keynote speaker on leadership and project management

A leadership development resource from the Institute for Leadership Excellence & Development Inc.
Volume VII Number 2 On the Horizon This Issue: Be Confident in Conflict Are you prepared to deal with conflict? Special Offer Save $1,000USD on a site license of our e-learning offering! Offer extended to April 14! Project Management workshop Does your organization struggle with delivering projects? Check out our Real World Project Management workshop. Card Corner: Another Success Story Check out this story showing again that Send Out Cards is an easy-to-use, inexpensive way to make a difference, build relationships, and even make money. E-mail Help! Does it feel like your e-mail is out of control? Could members of your team use it more wisely? Get a copy of Andy's book that will help you and your team better use this critical tool.	[Confidence in Conflict] [Special Offer] [Workshop] [Card Corner] [The Institute Online]
	Be Confident in Conflict by Andy Kaufman Words: 582 Estimated reading time: <2 minutes How do you feel when you’re about to walk into a conflict discussion? Recently I was awaiting the arrival of a contractor who put an addition onto our home. We called for this visit in response to a bill he sent, requesting final payment. Normally this would be a pretty straightforward discussion: he did the work; we pay him. But that wasn't the situation. Though the overall quality of his work was good, there were some specific things that were not done correctly and would be expensive to rip out and replace. His follow-up on punch list after punch list was spotty. And one last point: work on the project ended nearly four years ago!
	It's You vs. Them, both wanting different things. How prepared are you to deal with conflict?	Despite the situation we actually like this guy on a personal basis. We spent many months—too many months—sharing coffee over our kitchen table. The relationship is important to us, but what he was asking wasn't acceptable.
	There was a knock at the door. There was palpable tension in the handshake greeting. “How will this end up?” I wonder to myself as we sit down at the kitchen table. Though the scenario may be different, it’s only a matter of time before we’re in this situation. It’s You vs. Them, both wanting different things. How prepared are you to deal with conflict? I’ve had the opportunity to help people from all around the world learn to deal with conflict more effectively. One of the early lessons we work on has to do with conflict styles. We use a conflict-handling model outlined by Kenneth Thomas in “The Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology”. Thomas identifies five specific conflict handling modes or styles: Competing, Collaborating, Compromising, Avoiding, and Accommodating. Most of us tend to rely on one or two of these styles most of the time. Can you think of someone that tends to consistently run from conflict? That’s the Avoiding style being over-used. How about someone who tends to just give in too often? That’s Accommodating in action. There’s no inherently right or wrong style. In our keynotes and workshops, we help people understand how to align the best style to the situation, significantly raising their confidence and success in dealing with conflict. By the way, our contractor discussion went great. I used a combination of Competing and Compromising. He used Compromising and Accommodating. He walked out with a check for far less than he wanted. But he also left with a smile on his face—the relationship was intact. Taking Action Want to become more confident in conflict situations? Here are my recommendations: Get expert insight. Click here to learn about our e-learning program called Beyond the Rock and the Hard Place: How to Deal with Conflict More Effectively. Get the confidence you need to deal with conflict more effectively. Don't miss the special offer below. Learn more about you. Click here to take our online conflict assessment. Learn which styles you over (and under) rely on. Better yet, have your team members take it as well. You will get insights to help your team be more effective. Join the conversation on our blog. Click here to visit the Leadership in the Real World blog. Post a comment with some of your biggest sources of conflict, and most important lessons you've learned about handling conflict. You don't have to love conflict but we can help you more successfully navigate it with confidence. I look forward to helping you.
	To your success, Andy Kaufman Speaker, Author, Consultant President, Institute for Leadership Excellence & Development Inc.
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	You know that managing conflict is an issue for your team or project. Interested in help? Let me make that decision easier for you! Between now and April 14, 2008, we've reduced the site license of our Beyond the Rock and the Hard Place e-learning offering by $1,000USD. The normal price of $2,995 was already a great deal: less than the price of an in-house workshop. But now your entire team or your entire organization can get access to the learning for $1,000 less, if you buy between now and April 14, 2008. Click here to learn more.
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	Does Your Organization Struggle with Delivering Projects? Does your organization struggle with delivering projects on-time and on-budget? Are you interested in helping your teams work together to deliver projects more reliably? Perhaps you’re interested in pursuing certification as a Project Management Professional (PMP)? Check out our Real World Project Management workshop. It provides a common vocabulary and understanding of what project management is, why it matters, and key foundational concepts important for all levels and roles within your organization. We work with business professionals around the world who are struggling with how to deliver projects and lead teams. We help you get focused, take action, and achieve stellar results. From workshops delivered at your company to one-on-one coaching for project managers and sponsors, c ontact the Institute today for details on how we can help you and your organization deliver.
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	Card Corner: Sales Success Story One of the biggest secrets often not taught about business is this: it's all done on relationships. Send Out Cards is an easy-to-use, inexpensive way to make a difference, build relationships, and even make money. Here's another Send Out Cards success story from Jeffrey: Andy, just wanted to say thanks for the welcome card from SOC the other day! And thank you for introducing me to this service. I think it may have already helped me reach half of my sales goal for the year by sending a couple of key contacts a simple card!! Thanks again! What are you waiting for? Try it out today! In fact, you can send a card for free, on me. Click here, then click on the banner with the moving arrow. The system will walk you through sending a card. Even better, contact me and I'll personally walk you through the system. Send Out Cards can turn your good intentions into reality.
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	Stay in Touch! Horizon Time is written by Andy Kaufman and is available via e-mail or on the Web for all who register. You are invited to forward this to anyone interested in growing their leadership skills! If you have any difficulty with the hyperlinks in this newsletter, you can view it online at: http://www.i-leadonline.com/newsletter/0802.htm. You can access past issues of Horizon Time by visiting www.i-leadonline.com/NewsletterIndex.asp. If this was forwarded to you by a colleague and you would like to automatically receive issue, click here. For more information on Andy Kaufman and the Institute for Leadership Excellence & Development Inc., please visit our web site. You can contact Andy by phone toll-free at (866) 88 I-LEAD (866-884-5323), or by e-mail at andy@i-leadonline.com. Editors and Newsletter Writers! Would you like to use some of the material from this newsletter in your newspaper, magazine, newsletter? You may by including the following credit line: "This article is used by permission from Andy Kaufman's newsletter 'Horizon Time' available at www.i-leadonline.com." Please call or send an e-mail to let us know you used the article. This information cannot be used for resale in any manner. Horizon Time contains hyperlinks to web sites operated by persons other than the Institute for Leadership Excellence & Development Inc. (I LEAD). Such hyperlinks are provided for your reference and convenience only, and I LEAD is not responsible for the content or operation of such web sites. A hyperlink from Horizon Time to another web site does not imply or mean that I LEAD endorses the content on that web site or the operator or operations of that site. You are solely responsible for determining the extent to which you may use any content at any other web sites to which you might link from Horizon Time. Copyright © 2001-2010, Institute for Leadership Excellence & Development Inc.