How to Avoid Being Submissive - a Management Skills Training Course

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As a taster I'm offering a free training video covering one of the most popular training needs,
"How to give honest feedback without causing offence“.
Plus: I’ll also send you a set of case studies that will show you the typical sorts of people who have attended our training and benefited from what they learnt.

After that, if you’d like to take a deeper dive and explore how you can personally make best use of these skills, I’m offering you a FREE initial coaching session to help you assess whether this training can help you become really good at dealing with people, especially in the situations you are currently finding hardest to handle successfully.

Is this training course right for you?

Proven training that gives managers, leaders and professionals the exact steps you need to be taken more seriously at work.

Discover how speaking assertively and with integrity can earn you more respect.

Stop being submissive.
Learn how to make your views known in a positive way so others will take you more seriously.

Be more assertive WITHOUT being aggressive.
Get cooperation more quickly so you'll be more successful.

No longer say 'Yes' when you want to say 'No'.
Speak with integrity. It takes courage as well as skill, but as you build more trust you’ll feel better.

If you're a woman working in a male dominated environment find a better way to influence others than by talking like an aggressive man.
People will be less put off, and you won't have to pretend to be someone you're not.

Have more confidence to speak up at meetings.
Find your honest voice and let others know what you really think and feel. You'll be more trusted and respected.

Stop suppressing your feelings and views about what's going on at work out of fear that nobody will listen to you, or that noone will take any notice of you.
As you make a bigger contribution your views will begin to win the respect you deserve.

Stand up to difficult people without antagonising them.
As you become more skilled at creating cooperation out of conflict you'll earn more respect, and you're more likely to make them change their mind.

Disagree in a way that's honest but won't get you a reputation for being difficult and negative.
As people's respect for your views will grow you'll be taken more seriously and become more influential.

There are times when you need to take a stand, but don't know what to say and how to say it gracefully. You're nervous it might damage your reputation if you're clumsy.
If you can find the right words it’ll impress people, and it will give your confidence a great boost.

Are you sick and tired of biting your lip to stop you speaking your mind?

Arrange a free initial coaching session and develop your confidence to stand up for yourself now!

Sign me up for a FREE initial session!

What you'll take away from this course

Might your need to learn how to avoid being submissive be met by this
London UK management training & leadership development course
called Skills with People?

You'll be able to stand up to for yourself and disagree successfully without being aggressive.

Earn respect by being confident at speaking your mind.

You’ll be more assertive, which is a way of making people take you seriously without being either aggressive or submissive, and without jeopardising your relationships.

You'll no longer feel obliged to say 'yes' when you'd like to be able to say 'no'.

You'll have the confidence to speak your mind in meetings.

You'll be able to disagree without starting a fight or getting into conflict.

Being assertive calls for courage as well as skill. We'll help you find the honest words you can use, and that will help you find the courage. We'll show you what to say, and help you practice saying it over and over until you become really good at it.

Are you a manager, leader or a professional hoping for more confidence to be assertive?

Arrange a free initial coaching session and we'll show you how - now!

Sign me up for a FREE initial session!

A practical guide - how to avoid being submissive

How emotional intelligence can help you avoid being submissive

On the "Skills with People" training course we'll provide you with a set of emotional intelligence, and help you practice them over and over until you become confident and fluent using them. You'll be able to avoid being submissive when you've learned how to give honest voice to your own feelings, even if this isn't what you're in the habit of doing. On the course you'll get plenty of practice and coaching at saying things like:-

“I feel bad about not supporting you, and I mean you no disrespect, but I'm not at all comfortable with what you’re asking me to. I believe it risks damaging our relationship with this customer”.

Usually if you stand up to people in a frank and assertive but not disrespectful way they'll take you seriously. But let's suppose they don't. Suppose they say:-

“I don’t care how you feel – you're going to do what I want anyway”.

Once again we encourage you to trust you feelings and put them frankly into words:-

“Now I'm even more worried because you don't seem to be taking the risk to the business seriously”.

Of course this approach doesn't work every time, but nine times out of ten it brings them to their senses.

Points to notice about this way of avoiding being submissive

The key to it lies in being able to put your feelings into words. The words we'll teach you to use will be very precise and honest. They'll include three elements:-

First, describe simply and accurately what feeling you are experiencing (e.g., "I feel bad", "I'm not at all comfortable").
Second, say precisely what the feeling is about (e.g., "about not supporting you", "about what you're asking me to do").
Third, give the reason why you feel like this, in other words, what really matters to you (e.g., "because I believe it'll damage our relationship with the customer", "because I can see we're taking a big risk if I do this").

Feelings are facts, and you're the world's top authority on the subject of how you feel. No one can contradict you. So one of the results and benefits of speaking in this way is that it makes argument extremely unlikely. You can speak like this with honest conviction and people will take you seriously.

As you practise this approach to avoiding being submissive and to standing firm on your beliefs and convictions, your confidence and assertiveness will increase.

What's difficult about this way of avoiding being submissive?

The big difficulty most people encounter in being assertive and avoiding being submissive is that they're not used to putting their feelings into words. It's not that you can't do it, but that you've been brought up or conditioned to avoid doing it. You may have an unconscious fear of doing it. You may have carried with you all your life some wrong assumptions about the best way to handle feelings, for example, that expressing feelings is a sign of weakness, or that people will take advantage of you if you do. If so, the Skills with People course will develop your emotional intelligence, and help you lay aside old mental habits that are getting in the way.

What you'll discover on the course is that far from being a sign of weakness, your feelings are the source of your personal power, authority and integrity, that you are perfectly able to express them, and that when you do people will take you seriously. Once you've mastered this idea there'll be no more need to be submissive when what someone else wants you to do goes against what matters to you.

For more information on this website relevant to avoiding being submissive you might also find our pages on managing conflict and negotiating relevant and helpful.

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Why a FREE initial coaching session will help you

Have a foretaste of what you can get from the course.
It's a no commitment way to see if this training is relevant for you.
Gently explore in a safe, un-pressured atmosphere where we can diagnose your training needs, answer any questions and give you something practical you can use right away that'll help you handle a difficult situation more successfully at work.
Learn what to say, and how to say it to achieve the results you want.
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