Found yourself dreading negotiations? Consider this approach.

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Negotiation

When you think about negotiations, what comes to mind: Management vs Labor? Salary negotiations? The pricing on that new proposal? Too often, negotiations are rife with conflict, winners and losers, and power-plays; it is no wonder that many people find them uncomfortable, and very often avoid them. (Or get taken advantage in them.)

If you have found yourself dreading negotiations, consider this approach:

1) Share perspectives: Instead of meeting to discuss terms, look to understand the other’s goals, constraints, and preferences. Negotiating “terms” without understanding the other’s priorities is like walking in the dark - often frustrating.

2) Identify boundaries: What is the lowest - or highest - you might be willing to go in each of the areas under discussion? If you’re not sure about your boundaries, consider the cost of alternatives. If you know your walk-away point (and stick to it) the resulting deal will never be a bad one, since it will always be better than the alternative.

3) Small greed succeeds: Successful negotiators know that when both sides are happy with the agreement, then the deal will stick. But if the deal is lopsided, the aggrieved party will always find ways to minimize their damage, either by reducing the quality of their obligations, adding nuisance charges, or even sabotaging the deal. Better to leave a bit more money on the table and have everyone happy to overdeliver.

An onerous negotiation often will result in a strained relationship, so why do it this way? A better approach to negotiation is to consider it a “discussion”. The beauty is that even if the other side doesn’t use this model, you can: Ask questions about the other’s goals/constraints/preferences, then share your own. You will both quickly know if a deal is possible or not.

This week’s action item: The winner in a negotiation is often the side with the greatest power. The winner in a discussion gets what they need by helping the other party get what they need. Whether your next negotiation is with your manager, a client, supplier, or family member, make it a discussion instead of a negotiation.

Randall Craig is an expert on Career Planning, Work-Life Balance, and Networking; to find out how his workshops, webinars, and keynotes can help your team or add to your event, contact him through www.PersonalBalanceSheet.com, or by email at editor@ptadvisors.com.

Not Yet

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Have you ever been asked whether you had a particular skill, and struggled to answer when the answer is clearly “no”?

While no one appreciates spin, there are a number of ways to answer, each with a unique nuance:

Answer: Yes: If you are part of the Fake it ’til you make it school of thought, go right ahead and answer “yes”. For everyone else, this is lying; when you are found out, your credibility takes a hit, you could be fired, or worse.

Answer: Somewhat Related: This approach acknowledges that you have some experience in a related field, or at least some theoretical knowledge of the area. If this is your answer, then you must clarify what you mean with examples and evidence.

Answer: No: This direct approach speaks to your honesty and integrity. Yet, it is so absolute that it doesn’t acknowledge any of your complementary skills, ability to learn, or your future intentions.

Answer: Not Yet: In this approach, you acknowledge that you don’t have a particular skill, but provide evidence that you have the skills and the motivation to learn it.

Of course, how you answer also depends on the context, and the strength of your relationship with the person asking the question. The better you know them, the more nuanced your answer can be. If they don’t know you well, the more nuanced your answer, the more it sounds like bad spin.

This week’s action item: If you answered Not Yet to anyone during the last few weeks, commit to actually start the activity that will allow you to anwer Yes. Not only will you feel better about completing your commitment, but you will be improving your value at the same time.

Randall Craig is an expert on Career Planning, Work-Life Balance, and Networking; to find out how his workshops, webinars, and keynotes can help your team or add to your event, contact him through www.PersonalBalanceSheet.com, or by email at editor@ptadvisors.com.

A Great Story

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Have you ever wondered why some presentations seem to grip the audience, and others are beyond dull? The reason is simple: an entire generation of people have been raised on powerpoint and an outline-style presention mode. Think about it: most business presentations are lists of points, sometimes with cheesy clip-art, and maybe with a table of figures or a graph. And when powerpoint isn’t used, the presentation is still a list of points.

Even worse, many presenters follow the best advice of forty years ago: tell them what you are going to say, say it, and then tell them what you said. Following this advice, and using Powerpoint’s “bullet” approach, means stultifying presentations that leave audiences bored at best. If audience engagement is your key goal, there has to be a better approach.

Ironically, we each learn this approach from a very young age, when our parents would read stories with a “moral”. As we listened, we would picture ourselves as the main character. We would be interested in what happens, and empathize with the situation. And at the end, we learned a lesson. Many years later, we often still remember these stories… along with their lessons. This approach - story-tellling - is a key way to capture the audience in your presentation. First tell a story - then connect it to one of your key points. Then tell another story, and connect that one too. And so on.

Story-telling is effective because it elicits an emotional response. Think about the best speakers you know: they usually will speak to your head, and also your heart. (And then bridge their story to their point.)

While many business presentations might not seem like the venue for story-telling or emotional connection, many people consider your passion for the subject an indicator of it’s importance. If you are not passionate, then your audience will assume that your presentation isn’t important to you either. (On the other hand, there is nothing more annoying than an “always on” presenter. Use only the right amount of emotion, humor, and story-telling for the situation - and for your personality.)

This week’s action item: Before your next presentation, go over the stories that you think will best illustrate your points. If you deliver a standard presentation over-and-over, consider whether your “signature” stories need to be updated. Everyone wants a great presentation - but this can happen only if you have great stories.

Randall Craig is the author of Leaving The Mother Ship, the best-seller Personal Balance Sheet - a Practical Career Planning Guide, and several other books. He is an expert on Career Planning, Work-Life Balance, and Networking; to find out how his workshops, webinars, and keynotes can help your team or add to your event, contact him through www.PersonalBalanceSheet.com

Social Media Risk Takers

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Just about everybody has heard about Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and YouTube. Avid users talk about connecting with family, networking with past colleagues, and meeting new contacts.

Social media sites do allow this to happen, and much more. You can post photos, blogs, “status updates”, job history, family relationships, event listings, and just about anything you can imagine. The more you post, the more “value” that you give your connections. Family can see their pictures. Your professional connections can see your credentials. And recruiters, researchers, HR professionals, and your boss can see this too. The question is, do you want them to? And if the answer is yes, how do you mitigate the risk, and avoid embarassment or finding yourself disqualified from an opportunity. Here are some suggestions:

1) Put yourself in the shoes of each potential audience type. If there is something that you would rather they not see (for whatever reason), then do something about it.

2) Imagine your closest friend or a parent. Is there anything online that you would be embarassed if this person saw, either in your postings, or others’ comments? If so, you’ll probably need to do something about it.

3) Is there something that a client or your manager - either current or former - might dispute as being not completely true? You probably should do something about this as well.

So what can you do about these and other issues?

- Use privacy controls to only expose what you want to who you want. Pretty much every social media site has decent privacy controls, and they are often upgraded with little or no notice. That being said, each site’s terms and conditions also change with little or no notice, and many have now been changed to allow paid “search” access to your profile - even by people you do not know.

- Only post accurate information, and avoiding exaggerations, omissions, or other white lies. You wouldn’t be inaccurate in your resume; doing so in a public forum is even more foolish.

- Only post information (status updates, photos, notes, etc) that supports your personal brand.

- Delete inappropriate or low-value posts from others that creep onto your social media profiles.

This week’s action item: Pretend that you are a prospect, client, recruiter, supplier, or business partner. Look at your own LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media profiles through each of their eyes. Are there any red flags that may cause concern or signal risk? If so, then follow the strategies above to mitigate your risk. You will want to expose enough of yourself to add value… but not so much that you risk disqualifying yourself from opportunities that others might bring to you.

Randall Craig is the author of Leaving The Mother Ship, the best-seller Personal Balance Sheet - a Practical Career Planning Guide, and several other books. He is an expert on Career Planning, Work-Life Balance, and Networking; to find out how his workshops, webinars, and keynotes can help your team or add to your event, contact him through www.PersonalBalanceSheet.com

Mastermind

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What would it be worth to you if you could have four times more education, five times the experience, or six times the number of available hours that you currently have? How much better might you do if you had four mentors, four coaches, and maybe even a built-in personal advisory board?

All of this is possible, and more, with a Mastermind group. A Mastermind group is a self-formed group of 4 to 6 people who get together on a regular basis (usually monthly or quarterly), and “multiply” the efforts of each individual member. Masterminds can be used by senior executives, entrepreneurs, job seekers, or just about any group of like-minded individuals. While each Mastermind group is unique, they typically form several different reasons:

Accountability: Mastermind participants commit to business or career goals, and must report on their progress to the group at the following meeting.

Sharing of best practices: Each member describes how they are currently solving a defined issue, and everyone learns from mutual experience.

Professional Development: The group can decide on a learning objective, and either have one person assigned to deliver it or bring in an outside speaker on the subject.

Business Development. This might mean sharing leads, referrals, development of products or new business ideas.

What makes Mastermind groups so powerful is the effect of leverage. If each person puts one idea into the collective pot, then with six members, each person would get a six times return on their “investment”

The key to a successful Mastermind group is to recruit the right candidates, then make sure that everyone’s reasons for participation - and the groundrules - are synchronized. One technique to do this is to draft a charter that spells out the goals, membership selection criteria, frequency of meetings, and standard agenda. As each new member is recruited to join the group, they should agree to the charter, or not join the group at all.

This week’s action item: If you are interested in forming a Mastermind, draft the charter and identify your first member this week. If you are not sure if you want a long-term commitment, then you can still use the concept of leverage: it is just as powerful on your project teams, task forces, and committees. Just don’t forget to draft the charter so everyone is pulling in the same direction.

Randall Craig is the author of Leaving The Mother Ship, the best-seller Personal Balance Sheet - a Practical Career Planning Guide, and several other books. He is an expert on Career Planning, Work-Life Balance, and Networking; to find out how his workshops, webinars, and keynotes can help your team or add to your event, contact him through www.PersonalBalanceSheet.com