Power-based Negotiation

Maximizing the power in your counterpart to achieve your goals
by Steven Brown

I broached the topic of power in one of my recent negotiation skills courses. This is a difficult topic to teach because it requires mental gymnastics. In my experience a person forms a concept of power from their life journey, from the people they grow up around, and how they view their place in the world. As children we begin life powerless, and the path to maturity and wisdom is marked by growing our self-empowerment.

Therefore, I firmly believe that to become enlightened one must become empowered. One must master power and its application. In fact, I believe the ultimate achievement of enlightenment is to fully embrace "power with" versus "power over". But I perceive that most people stay in the "power over" domain for most or all of their life.

Therefore, many of my negotiation students find the topic of power to be challenging. One of the most illuminating examples we discuss is parenting of children. I believe that my job as a parent is to empower my children, to show them the power they have available to them, even when that power can be used to get control over me. This discussion usually causes a great disturbance, which is exactly how personal growth happens.

Sources of Power

There is much study on the subject of power. Machiavelli wrote a book called "The Prince", which might be characterized as how to maximize power, when you remove all consideration of ethics. What most published material attempts to do is divide power into consumable concepts, usually through allegory.

Here is a slightly different approach. This is a list of the sources of power, providing a way to self assess, or situationally assess, power.

• Creativity - the more ideas you can come up with the more you can achieve
• Physical - the bigger, stronger, faster, smaller, heavier, etc. the more you can achieve
• Charisma - the more you wow people, the more you can achieve
• Expertise - the more you know, the more you can achieve
• Legal - the more the legal decision structure is in your favor, the more you can achieve
• Printed - what is printed is true, and can help you achieve your goals
• Legitimate - you have been approved by those in authority to achieve your goals
• Vested interest - you have spent {time, money, emotion, etc.} and therefore have a say over the outcome
• Expectation - by setting the expectations of others, you increase their willingness to cooperate
• Relationship - the context of past and future intentions may imply obligation to cooperate

• Style - flair that attracts people increases their likelihood of cooperating
• Resources - your ability to give, share, apply, or leverage resources can be motivating or threatening
• Flexibility - the more able you are to change to achieve the end goal, the more likely you'll find a way to the goal
• Endurance - your ability to last longer increases your likelihood of getting what you want

Using Power in Negotiation

Let's assume for a minute you have a win/win negotiation relationship. What is the role of power in achieving the win/win outcome? I believe power is offered as a gift, an incentive to enrich the total outcome. For example, if you have a vacation home that is empty for the month, and the cleaning people are already paid to show up at the end of the month, it is possible that this house, a resource, could be added to the win/win negotiation as an incentive to get the outcomes you seek. You can apply this abundance mentality to every one of the sources of power when you have a win/win negotiation. It can be an immense pleasure to creatively find ways to offer your power to those that help you win in return!

How practical is this? Aren't most negotiations win/lose and combative? This is an excellent question and one that gets to the core of how one approaches life. If you are oriented to win/win, to abundance, you have a tendency to meet people with offers to share power. You remind people what you have you are willing to share. You deflect the attempts to control you with ease. You can engage people playfully and dance around their attempts to take from you. All the while being open to give, to share, to benefit others while gaining your own goals. This approach to life requires a confidence, a flexibility, a centeredness on ones power.

Personal Growth == Growing Power

At the core of growing in life is changing one's relationship to power. Frequently people choose to disempower themselves, and thus hold themselves at a plateau of achievement and happiness in life. It is self-imposed limits that create the hold. Those limits come from how you view power, the self-talk you use to describe yourself and your place in the world. Words are very powerful, whether articulated or simply replayed as thoughts.

One of the lessons I teach in my negotiation courses is the language of win/win versus win/lose. The words and behaviors of those who seek to control. An educated negotiator listens for these clues when getting started.

Empowering Others

It can be quite a challenge to negotiate for what you need and want while simultaneously helping your counterpart see and grow their power. But that is the life of someone that lives and negotiates win/win.

Do You Suffer From Premature Negotiation?

Ways To Hurt Your Compensation Potential During the Job Interview
by Steven Brown

This week was full of reminders how easy it is to give up power in negotiation for your compensation. I taught an Effective Negotiation Skills workshop and one of the examples I use is an interview scenario where the interviewee is asked "how much do you make?" After a negotiation course, or in my coaching sessions, I universally hear people gasp when they realize how they've been played. Through good intentions, and lack of awareness, many people cooperatively give information, giving up significant power and flexibility in the real negotiation at the time of the job offer.

What Is Premature Compensation Negotiation?

The quick answer: any giving of information about your current compensation, or willingness to agree to any of the terms, before the job is offered in writing. The key triggering event is the written offer. This can be in an email, a scribbled note, or a formally presented letter of offer.

Until you receive some form of written offer, you don't have an offer. It is that stark. Some people get tricked by the "verbal offer". But until it's in writing, you don't possess an offer. And possession is what then hands you the power to accept or reject the offer. It is only when you have that power that you can negotiate.

Why Can't You Negotiate Before The Offer?

Well, you can attempt to do so. But then your not really negotiating over the job offer. Instead, you're simply looking for recognition. A premature move is really just a request to acknowledge other power: credentials, successful job history, high compensation, attractive spouse, fast boat, etc. You might even have top notch clothes and a perfect set of teeth! You're really just trying to get them excited about you - and there's nothing wrong with THAT!

Except when that request for recognition hurts your written job offer. If your real reason for meeting with these people is to advance your career and compensation, then you have to carefully choose what will maximize their attraction to your strengths, versus give away information that limits you later.

What's An Example of Premature Compensation Negotiation?

Q: What's your salary?
A: I make $125k
Comment: they might have paid you $160k, but why should they now?

Q: Will you be moving if we offer you this job?
A: I might have to move near here whether I get the job or not.
Comment: Why should they offer to pay for the move?

Q: This job range is $80-90k. Will that work for you?
A: I'm OK with that
Comment: Well, there you go

Example of a way to respond instead:

Q: How much will you require to accept this offer?
A: I usually discuss compensation when you are ready to hire me - are you offering me the job?
Comment: focuses back on the process of deciding to find the win/win

How Do You Handle Premature Compensation Negotiations?

Ah, that is THE trick. Because these questions are usually very difficult to avoid - in fact, every HR person is required to ask these questions! - it can feel very aggressive or uncooperative to not give the information requested.

And therein lies the problem. These hiring professionals are out to save the company money: your compensation, and the costs to find the right candidate and get them on board. There's a certain amount of cooperation you'll need to exhibit or you won't even get in the game.

You'll have to use your judgment on that. And the more flexible you are, the more you can resist such questions.

Actually the best way to handle these questions is to deal with the hiring manager. It is nearly universal that the screeners and HR helpers are the ones wanting you to pre-negotiate. When you work with the hiring manager, it is more likely you can manage the dialog and focus on what they need and what you bring.

Needless to say, there's a school for hiring staff on how to manage interviews. You need to understand these dynamics too, and that takes study and practice. The first step is understanding how to recognize the games. The second step is learning how to handle their tactics. Fortunately, whenever you feel confused or under pressure, you can always refocus on what they're looking to hire, and what you bring to the party.

Conclusion - Focus on Value

That is the universal way to handle such difficult questions. Focus on the value you bring to the position, and what's valuable about the opportunity to you. Then ask them to make an offer in writing, and you'll "give it your full consideration." Anything else, and you risk giving away information unnecessarily. When you're forced to do so, then just understand that you're making the choice, and accept the consequences. Move on and keep focus on win/win outcomes.

Top 10 Negotiations of a New Manager

It's Not Just About Managing People
by Steven Brown

As a negotiation trainer I have found that people who are thrust into new positions have the most need for help. New relationships must be figured out, and in particular, determining the power dynamics. First time managers can easily identify that the people they manage require leadership and negotiation skills they must master.

There are peer groups and new expectations from management that can catch new managers by surprise. While I have seen a few managers lose their jobs due to their personnel management, the biggest challenges are often those from "above".




















Figure 1

Figure 1 shows the 4 constituents a first time manager must negotiate with. Fortunately most new managers either lead teams or manage vendors or partners, but not both. Management, processes, peers, and organizations are certain to have expectations when stepping into a management position.

I recently conducted a survey of the "top 10 negotiations of a first time manager". The respondents were colleagues from my various educational, professional, and personal networks. I'm posting the results here to seek continued feedback and refine into a true top 10 list.

1. Employee compensation packages, work hours, etc
2. Employee annual objectives
   
3. Personal compensation increases
4. Mid-year benefit (eg - tuition/course, etc)
5. Merit pay and spot-bonus for employee (negotiated with manager)
6. Promoting employee rank amongst larger organization
7. Vendor contracts, terms, pricing, including failure terms
8. Project objectives, deliverables, timelines, resources, dependencies, etc
9. Thrown into a vendor/partner negotiation mid-process
10. Improving standards of performance for inherited team

Let me know if you agree, or have other suggestions!

Branding Thought Leadership

Leveraging New and Old Media
by Steven Brown

Today's business climate can lead to a hyper-focus on top line revenue, but it's just as important to watch the bottom line and operations. Reducing costs, or avoiding them, can make or break profitability. Corporate Travel costs are often the easiest to target, and the hardest to control. But what does that have to do with personal branding?

For Ellina Arakelova, having a comprehensive vision how best to control Corporate Travel expense is her unique value. She invests time to be educated on innovations in technology, as well as the travel industry. Her vendors recognize her willingness to work with them early in their programs - if she is satisfied then nearly all their customers will be as well.

In short, Ellina is a Thought Leader in her industry. Her recent article outlining a successful travel program is an example of what Thought Leaders do - they think ahead and influence others to emulate their example. By definition there is a small percentage of people who are Thought Leaders, which can be a significant advantage when competing, and is an important consideration when investing in your personal brand.


What is Thought Leadership

I spend time with thought leaders of my customers. They inform me of the scope of the problem they need solved, the solution they would like, and the value it provides them. I trust their judgment, and I return the favor by helping promote their visibility as thought leaders.

Wikipedia describes a Thought Leader as:

"a futurist or person who is recognized among peers and mentors for innovative ideas and demonstrates the confidence to promote or share those ideas as actionable distilled insights."


How Does Thought Leadership Impact Personal Brand

Thought Leaders define markets and are an instrumental part of influencing a wave of change that provides opportunities for profits. In Malcolm Gladwell's book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, such leaders are called Mavens, "people we rely upon to connect us with new information".

If you're an individual wanting to define or enhance your brand, being a Thought Leader is certainly a position to consider. It is in the early period of trends that differentiation versus existing or competitive offerings is the primary decision making criteria for purchase. This role is highly valuable for companies that are seeking to gain benefit by being innovators in your area of expertise. In the case of Ellina mentioned above, her company wants to control travel costs and is willing to be more innovative to do so.


Establishing Your Thought Leadership Position

It's not simple to become a Thought Leader. Some people are born to it, others are willing to work for it. The key attributes of a Maven are information and insight. Having early access to information, usually through personal experience, is a requisite. However, the most important characteristic of a Thought Leader is one who is plugged into the unique requirements for a segment in the market place. They are aware of some unique value proposition that requires a shift in understanding or offering. In order to become a Thought Leader you must identify a domain where you have such advanced awareness and knowledge.


Communicating In a Noisy Mediaplace

Equipped with knowledge, one must then nurture a communication forum. Before the internet the forums were limited to books, newspapers, magazines, tv, radio, conferences, or other such mass media. The internet facilitates many forms of community creation where such thought leadership can be demonstrated. Twitter is the latest innovation, enabling thought evolution at the speed of light.

Others, myself included, are using blogs for creating and making thoughts easily accessible to an audience. Sometimes it's important to use more traditional media because of the endorsement their brand provides. The lower frequency can enhance the credibility of the voice, as in the case of USA Today publishing the interview about travel program management.


First You Must Have Thought

In my experience working with Thought Leaders the most important behavior they exhibit is continuous communication. They have thoughts and they share them, check them, and learn. Their pursuit of knowledge is tireless, and their willingness to put themselves out there is routine. Once there is thought and an openness in communication, the media forms will be simple decisions on the path to Maven-ness.

Personal Brand Tip - You Are What You Read...

... & Why Setting Up An "Alltop" Account Is A Good Thing !...
by David Bookout

Read, be more interesting, succeed !!! If your an entrepreneur, individual contributor, or team player in a large organization you'll want to check out this useful tool.

I watched an introductory video this weekend on FREE Market Research, and validated a long time suspicion that it is really easy to find out a few basic things relative to market size, competition, etc. - more on this later. Then I thought about all the people that have told me "We don't have any competition" - which, when you think about it, is a pretty lame thing to say. Here's why - the very first thing anyone does when they are being pitched to is think - "what similarities does this idea have to anything I already know about?" - then, what I call the "slotting process" begins. The idea pitcher has lost control, and the idea catcher is down their own path trying to compare.

Now, if your a blogger, or a micro blogger the difficulty is fresh content that's relevant to the Personal / Product / Service / Company Brand your building.

In either circumstance, and many more that I could illustrate, the critical component is what you know. A key component to making you an interesting person is your ability to converse with others on a variety of topics - and this doesn't mean that you have to know everything - that are interesting to them. I've found that Alltop is a way to quickly get connected to top stories in a variety of categories that you control !!

No, the Alltop folks don't pay me, and here's the fifty thousand foot view:



=> Alltop Is A Super Aggregator - of the RSS Feeds your probably already following with a REALLY slick way to organize the content headings, which give you one, simple place to get everything you want.

=> A Variety Of "Categories" Of Interest - that you can choose from: Work / Health / Culture / Interests / Tech / People / Good / News / Geos / Sports

=> Hundreds, and hundreds of "Topics" - are within those categories, and are searchable either alphabetically, or by category.

=> Complete Control - within your account. Add, subtract, and reorganize the information configuration anytime you want.

So, now that you know the Alltop secret, don't get caught behind relative to what's going on in the world around YOU, your company, your team, and your goals => Enjoy !!!

© Copyright 2009 - Effetti, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

The image is my.Alltop.com/EFFETTI

The Twitter Effect / Affect...

... is growth in excess of 1,000% on Twitter a good thing? ...
by David Bookout

When I first got on Twitter Guy Kawasaki started following me. I thought that was pretty cool. Then I realized that with nearly 80,000 ( it's 93,049 now ) other people that Guy was following I WASN'T EVEN a bug on Guy's windshield. So, now what?

Well for me, I wanted to research how Social Media could impact the ability of companies to make money, here is what I see so far:

01 - Expanding Circles Of Influence - The amazing thing about Twitter, that is different than LinkedIn, Facebook, Plaxo and other Social Media tools is that it is OPEN. You can "connect" to anyone you can find, you just need to have enough social graces to stay connected and build a relationship. Just like life. This is Twitter's power, and why Facebook has been moving towards their micro-blogging model.

02 - It's ALL About Mood - The "mood" on Twitter is awesome. When the stock market was diving last week, there was nary a mention. Negativism on Twitter is almost non-existent. If you find someone is too negative, and there are a few, you can either "block" them, or "unfollow" them so they don't show up on your windshield.

03 - You Still Have To BUILD Relationship - This takes work in life, and it takes work on Twitter. What is most amazing is the "feeling" that you can build new relationships on Twitter. So, it's no wonder that in these difficult times Twitter growth is amazing.

04 - There Are Wonderful Opportunities - Which I'll be commenting on as things unfold.

If your jumping in, here is what I suggest you do:

A - Set Up Your Accounts Now - Do this on Twitter, and Facebook to ensure you get the "handles" you want, and nobody "squats" on an essential "identity" for you, or your business. Once you've set up Facebook you may want to take a look at the "pages" portion, which is currently where you can get a "vanity page", while they are trying to work thru how to handle vanity urls like Twitter offers.

B - Define What YOU Want To Produce - Then keep that VERY PRESENT somewhere as you begin to experiment with the tools, because it's VERY EASY to burn a huge amount of time. Actually, I'm thinking about writing a piece on "Getting Off Twitter - A 12 Step Program" => You heard that here first ;-) !!

C - DO NOT Sign Up For Everything You See - Just like life, there are ALOT of offers, particularly on Twitter where people are offering "get quick" this, and "free" that.

D - Relax, Observe, Experiment, Have FUN - Spend a little time, particularly watching the leading posters, see what they do and emulate.

Thanks for reading !!

© Copyright 2009 - Effetti, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

The image was found on, and may be © Copyright to MatchVideoZine.com

As an AIG bonus recipient, what would YOU do?...

I'm NOT much for public political commentary, but I do enjoy a good debate with friends. However, I'm changing tack here because "I'M MAD AS HELL AND I WON'T TAKE IT ANYMORE" !!

To me, my current thinking about what is happening at AIG is that it is an outrage and a cop out. As best as I can tell people that lost a record $62B ( BILLION ) dollars are getting bonuses in the form of cash money given to a near bankrupt company by the American taxpayers. How can anyone, with a even a hint of a conscience, take that money ?

If your a recipient of such bonus funds, THE best thing you could do for yourself and your company is return it, all $165MM !!

You all know who you are.

If you won't return the money, then let's ALL get the facts straight, and ALL act accordingly towards AIG's current, and future offers in the marketplace - JUST SAY NO !!