According to Emily Gregory, the vice president of development and delivery at leadership training provider VitalSmarts, training is most effective when it goes beyond defining what isn’t allowed, and provides alternative actions.

VitalSmarts, a leadership training company released findings from a study of more than 1,300 people showed that 3 in 5, or 60%, of people are overcommitted, with more on their to-do list than they can possibly finish.

If you don’t say no, you can end up with more work on your plate than you can handle. That’s happening to a lot of workers, according to a new survey from VitalSmarts, a leadership training company.

Consider this: Numerous best-selling and highly referenced books like Crucial Conversations and The Speed of Trust delve into the importance of having honest and brave dialogues in the workplace.  

Ask an open-ended question to start the conversation, listen for clues to determine whether the error was caused by motivation or ability, and then provide targeted feedback and coaching. Identifying these influencers can increase work performance and efficiency, according to Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler’s book “Crucial Accountability.”

Three in five people said they’ve agreed to take on more tasks than they can actually get done on their to-do lists, according to a new VitalSmarts study.

Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High (McGraw-Hill Education, 2011) by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler

The first thing to do when preparing for a crucial conversation is to reset your motives. You can radically change your motives by thoughtfully answering a simple question: What do I really want?

The routine, good work we do day in and day out can easily be tainted by one bad day, one bad interaction or one bad blowup. While this fact should keep us vigilant to controlling our tempers and tongues, VitalSmarts’ latest research shows that many leaders struggle to hold it together when the pressure is on.

According to new research from leadership training company VitalSmarts, one out of every three managers don’t handle “high-stakes, high-pressure situations” very well.