Five things to do to be assertive

Assertiveness is an activity, something you do rather than something you feel. It allows you to be confident and direct when interacting with others without being abrupt, aggressive or passive.

The following five points, used together, will greatly increase your ability to act in an assertive way whenever a situation calls for this type of response.

1.  Maintain or enhance self esteem
2. Listen and respond with empathy
3. Ask for help and encourage involvement
4. Share thoughts, feelings and rationale
5. Provide support WITHOUT removing responsibility

 Imagine points 1 and 5 are bookends, point 1 keeps the interaction away from being aggressive behaviour. Point 5 keeps the interaction from being passive behaviour.

Points 2,3 and 4 are analogous to the three interpersonal ‘books’ on the assertiveness bookshelf; held together by the two bookends 1 and 5.

The five points are known as the ‘key principles’ and are produced courtesy of Development Dimensions International Ltd (DDI)

Voki Vincent!

I am experimenting in this posting with the use of avatar-making software. If it works it gives us another dimension to creating small bits of learning such as interview snapshots etc.
Let’s see how this works!!!!

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Do you work ‘in-time’ or ‘through time’?

I have worked with many people on outcomes relating to improving in the way they manage their time. Success in the short term has been positive and widespread; success over the mid to long term however is a different story. Sure, there are some people who,

Welcome to the Blog…

Welcome to the DMU Staff Development Blog. I’m Vincent Cornelius, HR Training and Development Advisor (many of you will know me already!), primary author for this Blog.

The purpose of the Blog is to provide all DMU staff access to tips and hints relating to developing a wide range of your interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. It is also part of the Pathfinder Project, looking at the use web2 technologies can be; in this case within staff development.

I will post a number of ‘initial threads’ for each of the categories over the next few days, after which I will update the Blog on a weekly basis.

You can post your comments and questions and this is a dimension I really am keen to see develop. This way I can ensure postings best meet your needs.