Getting Along With Others On Your Project Team

If you are on a project team at work, it can be an absolute nightmare if you find that you do not get along with most of the people on your team. Especially if this project will be lasting for a while, and if you will be with these people each day, it is vital that you get along with them. Even though you might not care for everyone on the team, you can still get along with them (even the worst of them!) by following these tips.

You need to recognize, first and foremost, that it is not always important for you to prove that you are right. This can be especially difficult if you are on a team with a "know-it-all" who tends to frequently be wrong, but it is important to keep in mind nonetheless. Oftentimes, the majority of the members on a project team will be absolutely wrong about something, but this "something" will be something that has no real bearing on the project; you will begin to notice this as you realize that you do not always have to prove you are right. In essence, this will lead you to start picking your battles, learning to only correct the rest of your team at those times when it is necessary.

Picking your battles also extends to other situations, such as those conflicts and frustrations you will encounter and experience with the way others on your team work. In the end, if you only assert your strong opinions on a matter when it is actually important to do so, it will be better for both yourself and the project. Especially when you are around the same people every day, it can be difficult to be "the bigger man," but this will pay off in the long run.

Being the "bigger man" also extends to those times when someone else on your project team tries to take credit for work they did not actually do. In the end, your superiors will come to realize who did the work and who did nothing!

Being on a project team is supposed to be all about completing the project well, but it often turns out to also be about surviving to the end! When you follow these tips, you will be able to do more than just survive to the end of the project; you will also be able to thrive!

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Customer Loyalty: The Backbone of Any Successful Business

The true strength of any successful business is customer loyalty and any business owner will attest to this. There are many other benefits that are essential to a thriving business that can emerge from high customer loyalty. The question becomes how do you increase customer loyalty? There isn't one answer, but rather a combination of different methods that can help build customer loyalty. Many of these facets an how to employ them are included in a book released by the Harvard Business Review which details their importance.

Harvard Business Review on Increasing Customer Loyalty.

Customers that come back to buy again and also bring their friends with them to buy is the main idea behind the customer loyalty plan. This is a pretty simple idea, but executing it is not. To start on the path towards this kind of success make sure that your employees enjoy their jobs. If your employees are happy their happiness will spread throughout your business and to your customers. Your customers will then get the feeling that something good is happening at your business.

Turning negative situations that arise into positive ones is another step to take. Training in this skill will be needed by your employees, but since they are happy they should learn quickly. There is tremendous opportunity to deepen a relationship when a customer has a problem. Start with the idea of never saying no to a customer, make sure that they know you are making an exception just for them, and then exceed their expectations for a solution. Customers who emerge from this situation satisfied will refer in addition to remaining loyal.

Certain steps can be taken to increase customer loyalty, which has been learned by the Harvard Business Review through extensive research they've done.

The above ideas are just the beginning and the book goes into much more detail on the subject. Customer service is the focus of many aspects of customer loyalty, but the book points out others located in different arenas. All the topics concerning customer loyalty are reviewed to help you build a well rounded plan.

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Studying In Order To Advance In Business

Many people go through their whole careers thinking that the only way to get a promotion is to "know the right people," or to "just get lucky." While there is a small sliver of luck when it comes to advancing in business, however, most people give this sliver far more credit than it deserves! In fact, the place where many fail in business is not in luck, but in a failure to be prepared to take advantage of (or even recognize!) their opportunity when it shows up at last. If you are a small business owner, an employee at a large corporation, or even a manager who is hoping to move up higher in the ranks, you must come to understand the value of studying to advance in business.

If you are a small business owner, this study should take the shape of understanding what your competitors are doing. This study should go beyond simply the things you competitors do poorly; you should also take a good look at the things your strongest competitor does right!

If you are an employee in a large corporation, it can often feel as though it is impossible to ever get noticed. It can seem as though it is absolutely random whether an employee's hard work gets rewarded or not, as there are so many employees who are so similar to one another. This is the easiest position in which one can forget to keep studying, as it seems like all the study is yielding no dividends. But if you continue to increase in knowledge and expertise regarding the corporation for which you work, you will be prepared to seize your opportunity when it comes - and the law of averages holds that this opportunity will come in time!

It is very easy for managers to sit back and forget that there is still more to accomplish. But as a manager, it is important that you not only continue to study to open up doors for advancement, but that you also study in order to enlighten those in your charge!

Take thirty minutes each day to study a bit more about your business and the business around you, and you will be pleased with the growth of your knowledge and with your ability to seize your opportunity.

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