Be prepared to deal with defensiveness. For example, when a person is accused of poor performance, the first reaction is usually denial—a defense mechanism. Attacking the person’s defenses (for instance, by saying things like, “You know the real reason you’re using that excuse is that you can’t bear to be blamed for anything”) is usually counterproductive. One approach is to postpone action. For instance, give the person a few minutes to cool down after being informed of unsatisfactory performance. Then focus on performance (“‘sales are down’) rather than on the person (you’re being defensive’).? L01