15 Tips for Prickly People:

1. Consider your response to rights vs. needs vs. wants.
2. Stick to issues and behaviors.
3. Say what you mean in specific terms (we can’t read minds).
4. Avoid debate.
5. Establish emotional boundaries (standards of behavior).
6. Invite critical feedback.
7. Develop respectful responses to disrespectful behavior.
8. Do not shoulder the blame for criticisms that are not yours to own.
9. Listen with respect and respond with care.
10. Initiate contact with, “Specifically, how can I be helpful to you?
11. Maintain your focus on, “We can work this out.”
12. Be congruent – words, tone actions.
13. Give people a way out. Establish choices.
14. Count to 10. Use silence to increase your calm. It’s valuable to “leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.”
15. Breathe. Fully breathe for calm and for conveying steadiness and confidence.


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