Employee Retention: What Employees Want: Pillar #1 Clear Goals from Tina Greenbaum on Vimeo.
This is the first in the series about Employee Retention: What Employees Want. We’re talking about Clear Goals – both in the direction you’re going as an individual employee and the direction of the company.
To view the rest of the series on Vimeo as it is published, click here.
Highly-motivated people have a strong tendency to push themselves to the point of burnout — it makes sense that they would. These individuals aren’t only setting deadlines for goals—they’re going to extraordinary lengths to meet them. However, deadlines aren’t always met easily: life happens, obstacles pop up, and, inevitably, stress creeps in.
The deadline-driven professional might say this, and, as predicted, plow through the work, thinking that any other method will only cause delay and more anxiety, possibly resulting in them missing their deadline altogether. Often when we try to plow through these feelings and “get the job done,” the result is not only burnout but depression or prolonged anxiety, along with higher risk of stress-related diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc.
However, understanding that stress hormones affect our physical ability to work through problems motivates us to deal with the root of the anxiety, first. This is less about solving the dilemma at hand, but instead about identifying what exactly is causing the stress. In other words, it’s an opportunity to invite a third-party mediator, so to speak, within your mind—an “advisor.”
This neutral advisor can pose the following vital questions:
Usually, stress begins to loosen its grip on the body, and we can ask the most crucial question: “What’s the most powerful action I can take to create the best possible outcome in this situation?”
The thing is: the body expresses everything that is registered by the mind. High-stress situations put the brain on high alert; subsequently, flooding the body with stress hormones that affect one’s ability to process thoughts.
Proactively dealing with these physical symptoms allows the solution to come swiftly and efficiently, as opposed to when we try to force our way through a clouded mind.
Stress is a daily occurrence for many hard-working people. You can feel it in your body. It’s essential to pay attention to physical symptoms and to notice tension or aches in the body, mood, as well as appetite changes.
It is essential, in these moments, to ask questions like: “Why do my muscles hurt? What happened to my mood? What can I do to improve this?” (Often, stretching and snacking can be immediately helpful.)
Additionally, we all have times of the day in which we are most productive. Getting to know your body is the only way to take advantage of situations that bring you energy and avoid those that deplete you.
In conclusion, physical symptoms of stress are an excellent indicator that it’s time to ask questions and identify their source. Handling these physical symptoms is an important aspect of taking care of ourselves, mitigating adverse effects, and increasing energy and clarity; — essentially avoiding burnout altogether.
If you’ve found this article helpful, I highly recommend that you download my 5 Tips for Mastery Under Pressure, which cover the topics of focus, relaxation, dealing with negative self-talk, how to visualize, and how to transform and channel fear.
“Control, like power, is perceptional. Thus, the more you exercise control over power, the more powerful the perception will be.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert
The perception of power is a two-way process in a negotiation; the projector sees it from one perspective and the receiver views it from another. Based on the reaction of either, the perception gets revised and the loop continues. As a negotiator, to control the perception of power, control its flow.
There are potential perils to losing one’s temper in a negotiation. It’s the pitfall of losing control of the negotiation process. When a negotiator’s mind becomes hijacked by anger, it becomes less capable of reasoning. That can lead to unintended consequences. Even if you should become angered during a negotiation, maintain control of your emotions. Don’t allow your anger to be sensed or shown. The better you control that display, the less insight the other negotiator will have of your thoughts.
Power can be an enhancer or detractor based on the order of your offers/counteroffers. To enhance your power, depending on the circumstances, consider whether you’ll lead with your weaker or stronger offers. By controlling the order of your offers, you’ll have greater control of the negotiation. To enhance that effort, consider how you’ll escalate or de-escalate the pressure brought by the order of your offerings. You’ll be exercising the control of power and therein will lie the leverage you’ll gain from doing so.
You derive power based on what’s important in a negotiation and to the degree you can fulfill the other negotiator’s desires. That means, you must align your offerings to match the needs of that negotiator. As an example, if you think the other negotiator’s main interest is monetary, and he’s really interested in the betterment of society, you’ll waste your efforts by attempting to maximize his monetary gains. Your perspective will not match his value proposition.
Always know definitively what is most important to the other negotiator before attempting to sway him with powerful offers. To do otherwise is to weaken your position and the power that it assumes.
What should you do when the opposing negotiator’s position is as powerful as yours? You can feign weakness to get him to display the sources of his power; remember, power is perceptional – that means, you’re attempting to get him to display why he thinks his position is powerful. Once you acquire that insight, you’ll be in a better position to adjust and implement your negotiation plan to address his perspective.
On the other hand, you can adopt a power position by displaying your sources of power. If you do, be sure that your power will supplant his. If it doesn’t, once again, you’ll weaken your position.
In a negotiation, when you’re in a power position, if you use it wisely you’ll enhance its abilities. Conversely, if you’re perceived as being overbearing, you’ll diminish your power’s strength. In that case, others will eventually team up to combat your unruliness. They’ll fortify their barriers to thwart your power. Always be mindful of the flow of power, the source of that flow, and what it will take to control it. Doing so will allow you to enhance your negotiation efforts … and everything will be right with the world.
Remember, you’re always negotiating!
After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com
To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.TheMasterNegotiator.com/greg-williams/
#Control #Negotiator #Abilities #Power #secrets #Mistakes #Management #SmallBusiness #Money #Negotiating #combat #negotiatingwithabully #bully #bullies #bullying #Negotiations #PersonalDevelopment #HandlingObjections #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #psychology #NegotiationPsychology
During this unique period of technology-driven transformation, the education sector has so far been slow to embrace the power of digital tools that can be used to accelerate learning. Spending time, energy and money protecting and defending conventional teaching methods only postpones the inevitable and keeps the transformative power of digital disruption, when used wisely, from taking training and education to a new level of success.
The problem is that whether it’s a child in a classroom or an adult in a corporate training environment, the young and old have one thing in common. Our attention span is now officially lower than a goldfish now that external stimulation from digital, social and mobile access has reshaped our world.
Recent studies have shown that the average smartphone user checks their phone over 100 times a day. Checking any one of our four to five screens for emails, messages and notifications every few minutes is finally starting to take its toll on our ability to focus on a task at hand. This is forcing a dramatic rethink of how we can help people of all ages learn, comprehend and retain the knowledge they need to take their lives and careers to the next level. In a world littered with distractions, it seems that providing a dynamic, immersive, engaging and social experience is the key to accelerating learning.
One powerful way to accelerate learning for both business and education is to add gaming elements (gamification) to teaching and learning. Why gaming? When you play a game, you are not alone; there is a social element combined with a competitive element that forces you to both engage and concentrate, and that is a powerful combination if you want a student to learn something. It is also a way to make education and training fun as well as creating a personalized experience.
In the past I have written many articles about implementing gamification elements into learning, especially for younger students who grew up playing video games. In this article, I want to take a look at how gaming can be applied in a simple way to both change behavior and achieve goals—in this case, the success organizations are getting from the use of a simple wearable, the Fitbit activity tracker.
On its own, wearing a wristband that counts your daily steps is relatively simplistic, and some would even say uninspiring. But, when it comes to technology, it’s not the tool, it’s how we use it. In this case, by setting up internal contests within organizations that are not only competitive but also have prizes, in some cases as simple as virtual badges for walking a certain amount of miles a week, seems to create positive and healthy behavior changes. One large organization is currently having a competition for its employees to climb Mt. Everest in the steps they take and track their progress with their company-provided Fitbit. There is a virtual map that shows where each employee is along the journey. A major health benefit is that employees are losing weight, lowering their cholesterol levels, and some are getting off their medications to lower their blood sugar levels.
I have also run across a few organizations that have taken this a step further by allowing employees to add friends to a leaderboard, and once again it’s all about snatching glory by rising to the top on a cold dark Wednesday evening that is helping both Fitbit and its users lose weight and achieve their performance targets.
Most of us are naturally competitive and can’t resist comparing ourselves to others. When a company hosts a walking competition and measures their employees’ performance and progress with a wearable activity tracker, it’s usually the “who will finish at the top of the leaderboard” aspect that typically captures the imagination of everyone involved.
The success of Fitbit alone is a testament to how this simple form of gamification has become very big business. Being assigned goals and then being rewarded for achieving them with a virtual badge or small prize illustrates how even this simplified principle can produce fantastic results in changing behavior. There is even an argument based on some early research that indicates momentary gratification from screen-based media can increase our visual-spatial intelligence.
Over the years we have been told that television and even calculators would make us stupid, so we shouldn’t be too surprised to see many pointing the finger of blame at technology again. It’s true that for many low-level jobs, employees no longer need to know how to add or subtract, much less multiply and divide, not to mention reading a map. Our smartphone can deliver answers almost before we even think about the question. In reality, technology is not stopping us from thinking, but it is changing the way in which we look for, process and retain information.
We might not want to admit it, but thriving on instant gratification and frequent rewards has almost become a way of life. As we drift from screen to screen on up to five devices, we shouldn’t be too surprised to learn how we increasingly need to visualize content to digest fully or comprehend subject matter.
I often hear people even likening their work experiences to that of a video game. Many find parallels with gaming characters by learning and mastering skills so they can “level up” in life just as they would in a video game. If these unconventional methods can engage audiences but also teach persistence and resilience, is that such a bad thing?
In this fast-paced digital world, classrooms often run the risk of feeling uninspired, dull and dare I say boring to students of any age. Engaging with users to provide a fun, personalized learning experience that is also interactive, game-like and competitive is the secret recipe to capturing our attention.
Gamification is often misunderstood or seen as either too complex to implement or just another gimmick. But these examples of using a simple form of gamification to accomplish a goal illustrates that it is possible to start small and learn to walk before you run. The next time you’re in a meeting, take a quick look around the room and notice how many already have wearable tech attached to their wrists as they discuss achieving fitness goals and even winning company competitions.
It is estimated that 13 million wearable activity tracking devices will be integrated into employee wellness programs by the end of 2018, and most will involve a competition to get increased engagement. Has your organization created a competition to achieve a group or individual goal by using a wearable like a Fitbit or Apple Watch yet?
It happens to the best of us—We get stuck, we can’t move on with our work, and we want to scream and pull our hair out. Entrepreneurs have all been there, and often. That place is called Frustration. What we learned about frustration is that it can completely cloud your vision. You’re blind to solutions and alternative paths that you can’t see. All you see is red!
A lot of entrepreneurship is just a hustle. You have to push yourself through times where you seem to be getting very little back for the amount of effort and money you put in. It’s almost like moving the RMS Queen Mary with your hands. You could push for years and years before you eventually conquer the inertia and it finally moves. For most startups, this type of frustration doesn’t seem to stop. It’s to be expected—it comes with the territory.
But there is another all-too-familiar kind of frustration. It happens when trying to work with authority, compliance, or other types of legal paperwork. Their overly generalized approach to management and regulation can become extremely frustrating, especially if you don’t have every bit of information that they need. Or, if the agencies that have the information shuffle you around between other agencies that are even less helpful. Hours, days, and even weeks can go by before you finally hear from someone—if you do at all. And meanwhile, you have deadlines to meet.
What can you do when you’re stuck in a situation like this?
Here’s our 5 tips to deal with frustration:
1. Take a Break. Put your focus on something else—something that you can do in a shorter period of time. Something that brings immediate results. This will serve as a reminder that you indeed are It’ll encourage you to get back to the bigger issues—later.
2. Go for a Walk. Just stop for a second. Get some exercise and fresh air. And don’t you dare bring your phone! Walking without distraction will clear your mind and give you a fresh perspective, even if only for a little while. The change of scenery will cheer you up.
3. Ask for Help. If you’re dealing with an agency, ask their supervisor for help. Describe the issue, recall the steps you’ve taken so far without seeing results, and ask them what you could do differently. See what advice they’ll offer. Tell them you’re frustrated. You could get lucky and connect with someone who actually understands—someone who will be able to help!
4. Ask About an Extension. If you’re really getting nowhere, see if you can get a deadline extension. This way, you can give up for a while, and come back fresh and ready to face the issues ahead. You’ll be much more likely to make some headway once you’re able to see the big picture without your blinders on. You’ll be able to think objectively and will embrace suggestions. Sometimes even just the time you’ve committed can turn persistence into stubbornness, which makes frustration even worse.
5. Welcome Different Approaches. Stop for a minute and look at what you’ve done so far. Is there an alternative path to take? Did you miss something along the way? Don’t forget—frustration is caused by lack of progress over an extended period of time. Try tackling the issue in short bursts instead of one long marathon. Shorter time periods will help you ease your frustrations while keeping you focused on your goals.
We can’t prevent frustration all the time, but we can lessen it by understanding when and where we aggravate it ourselves. Take the necessary steps to manage it and save all of the yelling and hair-pulling!
For more, read on: http://c-suitenetworkadvisors.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/
It’s no wonder that stress is at an all-time high. If the 24-hour news cycle isn’t bad enough, on the job we have to deal with downsizing, upsizing, rightsizing, mergers, acquisitions, buyouts, corporate scandals, and the list goes on and on. Not to mention, you and your team members may be facing personal issues, family issues, team conflicts, mid-life crises, work crises, the list goes on!
In our culture, if we don’t feel fantastic, we just pop a pill… anti-depressants, sleep aids, pain meds, heartburn relief, diet pills, well, you get the picture. Pharmaceutical companies thrive on this negativity.
Sorry for being such a “Debbie Downer” — but I would like to suggest a different approach.
Here is the big idea: lighten up! Now, I know what you’re thinking — “Yeah, but Jen, you don’t know how serious my job/business/position/problem is!”
Well, I’m not suggesting goofing off all day, playing practical jokes on your co-workers, or making fun at someone else’s expense. What I am advocating is working hard, doing a good job, and enjoying yourself along the way. (Radical idea, I know.)
When you incorporate humor, fun, and celebration with your team members you may:
Take your job seriously and take yourself lightly.
Your work may not need to be as serious as you’re making it and you may not need to be such a party pooper.
What’s that? You say that the nature of your work is too serious to bring in any kind of fun? Well, I say that’s all the more reason you NEED to bring in fun. I know folks who work in healthcare settings where they are treating cancer patients and terminally ill children. Now that can be pretty grim and depressing work — if you don’t provide opportunities to lighten things up. Their patients don’t need caregivers who are grim and depressed. Rather, they need to be around people who are upbeat and positive.
Take a tip from the Southern Louisianians. They typically need no excuse for a party. Mardi Gras, for example, provides a time for everyone to come together, forget their differences, and celebrate with a certain abandon and “joie de vivre.” Everyone you meet is festive and happy to share in the celebration, hence the common expression, laissez les bons temps roulez! (Let the good times roll.)
Leaders, YOU create the work environment.
You set the tone for what is and is not acceptable. Why not create an environment of laissez les bons temps roulez year round? Why not create an environment where people want to come to work?
Give a booster shot to your fatigued, overworked, apathetic, unappreciative, cynical team members without spending a lot of green.
Those are just a few things you can do to introduce some lightheartedness into your work environment. Have some fun! Mais cher, laissez les bon temps roulez!
Jennifer Ledet, CSP, is a leadership consultant and professional speaker (with a hint of Cajun flavor) who equips leaders from the boardroom to the mailroom to improve employee engagement, teamwork, and communication. In her customized programs, leadership retreats, keynote presentations, and breakout sessions, she cuts through the BS and talks through the tough stuff to solve your people problem
For more resources on leadership and employee engagement, be sure to sign up for our monthly Ezine and you will receive our report: “7 of Your Biggest People Problems…Solved.”
You might also like:
The Duct Tape Activity: 5 Requirements of a Successful Team
Leaders: Do You Have Employees or Team Members?
“Never issue threats without considering the consequences. The consequences may leave you threatened.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert
Do you attempt to move others to action with threats? And do you think about the unintended consequences of your intent?
Implement the following thoughts when considering whether to use threats to persuade someone to adopt your position, carry out your wishes, or acquiesce to your demands
When considering how you’ll project your power, remember the perception of its potency is determined by the perception of the receiver. Don’t project an image that’s too strong or weak for the situation. You’ll run the risk of being perceived as someone that’s overbearing or meek if you do. Suffice it to say, if your body language is misaligned with the persona displayed, you’ll detract from the strength of your persona and message.
Some people rail at threats, while others acquiesce to them. Thus, you must know a person’s propensity to move, based on the application of your threats. If you use threats to chide someone and they view them as a challenge, you may unlock their stubborn beast. That could further cement them in their current position. If that was not your intent, you may have unforeseen consequences to confront. Always assess a threat’s probability of success to determine its viability.
In every situation, there are consequences to adopting one action versus another. When considering if you should utilize threats to coerce someone into adopting your will, consider the consequences they’re willing to undergo to deny your request. You should question the timing of your request, too.
If someone can subdue your consequences, due to alternative ways of escaping punishment, you will weaken those consequences. Your threats will be less impactful and less likely to move someone to the action you seek.
Know the person’s demeanor as it shifts in the moment, the probability of what they might do if you’re too stringent, and their tolerance for pressure. If you know that, you’ll have a better idea of how far you can pursue the conquering of their will.
There will be times when to look forward, you should reason backward. Thus, in some cases, if you start with the end in mind and work back from there, the action you should adopt in a situation will be waiting for your discovery. Once you assemble a winning plan that outlines the best ways to utilize the power of threats, you will be on your way to being perceived as a more powerful person in every situation you’re in … and everything will be right with the world.
What does this have to do with negotiations?
Anytime you wish to make a threat stronger in a negotiation, use it when your subject is reliant upon your good will. If they don’t have avenues of shelter to avoid your threats, you’ll be in a stronger position. They’ll be more likely to accept your mandates. By delivering your mandate with a voice of authority, you’ll increase the perception of its strength.
Threats affect the actions of all negotiators. To be more efficient in your negotiations, understand the mindset of the other negotiator, what she’s attempting to achieve, and how you might help her obtain it. With that, think about the different ways you can use threats to move her closer to your goals.
Remember, you’re always negotiating!
After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com
To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/
#Threats #Consequences #Success #Emotion #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #liars #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions
Have you ever looked back at something you did, such as a decision you made or something you said, and wondered why you did it that way? You may feel surprise or regret. It might not even be a big deal, and yet, you spend a lot of your time thinking about it.
Now if it were a big decision that did not work out as intended, you might even beat yourself up about it. Mentally of course. And it might also affect you emotionally. Now don’t get me wrong, reflecting is a good thing. It’s how you reflect that is the issue.
Do you ask yourself one of these questions?
Both questions can get you stuck in a story you are telling yourself about who you are and why you did something. We waste so much time looking back and wishing we’d done something different, or looking ahead, worrying about the outcome before we even figure out how to do it.
Looking back with regret and ahead with fear, both get us stuck, wasting time and affecting not only our productivity and performance, but also our emotional, mental and physical health and wellbeing.
The mind believes what we tell it.
Consider the classic story about two monks walking on the path at dusk, talking about how their journey might get dangerous if they do not make it to town before it is dark. All of a sudden, one of the monks point toward the bend in the road ahead, stops and says, “I think there is an animal there on our path.” The other monk stops and looks and says, “Yes, I see it. It is sitting there waiting for us. Maybe it’s a tiger.” So they jump behind the tree to hide. As they peek out from behind the tree, the animal is still sitting there waiting for them. As the night comes, they are more and more scared, and they stay behind the tree, peeking out from time to time but as it gets dark they can no longer see the road. Eventually, they fall asleep behind the tree from sheer fatigue.
The next morning as the sun rises, the two monks talk about what to do. As they look out from behind the tree, they realized the tiger is still there waiting for them, except the tiger is not a tiger, but a boulder on the side of the road.
Our unconscious mind is our best friend. It protects us from harm and helps us get what we ask for. It will do what we tell it to do and it will try to find the answers we are asking for, often without our help. Even in our sleep, our unconscious mind works on our questions. That is why it is so important to become mindful about how we interact with our unconscious mind.
Have you ever gotten up in the morning feeling a pit in your stomach, but you are not quite sure why? All you know is that a pit in your stomach tends to warn you that something is not quite right or maybe even dangerous.
Some scientists say our mind is in our gut, some say our second brain that is in our gut. Point is – our brain and gut are interconnected, because all the neurotransmitters in our gut send messages to our brain. It is part of our warning system, the one that has kept us alive for centuries, however it is also how we mis out on taking charge of our thoughts. Now we tend to call it our mind because it is the consciousness of mind, rather than just the organ that is the brain.
Our unconscious mind also does not really understand the difference between something happening in real-time or a story being told about what could happen. Now this is actually a good thing if we use that knowledge mindfully. It is how athletes train themselves to break records and it is why visualization can be extremely powerful. It is also how we can bury ourselves in anxiety and fear. It is how movies draw us into the experience that is happening on the screen. And it is how we can create change.
So what is not working about the questions I shared?
Of course, we have to be aware of the possible dangers and things that can go wrong, but we should use it as information to plan what to do about it if it does not work, rather than fuel stories about why we might fail.
Mindfulness helps us ask better questions about we need to focus on to get what we want.
Our mind automatically looks for danger. In today’s world, we call it “what is not working” or the negative. Studies have shown that 70% of our mind-activity automatically looks for “danger.” It worked great when a tiger was lurking, but that tiger is not a boulder in the office hallway. That tiger has become your boss, your teammates, your clients, your projects, your problems.
Most people go to work every day spending far too much time looking for what is not working and who is not doing what they were supposed to do. The modern-day version of the tiger is stress.
Acknowledge & Accept: This happened and it did not work. Accept how you feel about it, but don’t get sidetracked into telling stories about why it happened. This part is important because this is where we tend to get stuck in wishing it were different… if I had only… then…. Or telling stories like… see that happened because I am …. (usually something nasty we tell ourselves like stupid and not good enough).
Ask: How can I…. What will help me…. What do I need so I can…. And notice what your gut is telling you. Learn to trust the connection between your gut and your mind. Not intuition, but information based in your unconscious wisdom.
Act: Choose the best way forward, even if it is not within your comfort-zone, to get the result you want.
Mindfulness in action means:
You can use this to work with yourself and with your team. When we can bring more mindfulness into the workplace, we can learn to work better and perform at our best without burning out. We can nourish relationship and fuel a culture where we spend our time working on solutions to problems rather than getting stuck in the problems. A culture that feeds our need to belong, contribute and be successful.
To learn more about how to re-think performance and create a culture of care: jeanettebronee.com
Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash
Most HR professionals believe that a manager’s most important job is to give feedback to employees. Yet most managers are so poor at it which means the feedback is infrequent, poorly timed, of poor quality, or all three. Why?
Research by Watson and Wyatt states that 43% of employees don’t get enough feedback to improve their performance. Sibson Consulting reports that HR professionals are frustrated because managers don’t give constructive feedback and 58% of HR professionals give their number one feedback tool, the annual performance review, a C grade or below. Study after study point to managers who are poor at giving feedback as the major reason why performance appraisals fail. Studies also show how companies with managers who delivery effective feedback generate 47% higher return to shareholders. (Online Recruitment Resource, 2007)
There is no hiding the fact that we all must improve our feedback skills especially since feedback is required for learning, to improve performance, to reduce stress, and to improve employee retention and employee engagement. There are at least four important reasons (barriers) why feedback is poorly done now.
First, what managers call feedback is not feedback at all. It is criticism. Feedback is data from a process that is used for learning. Opinion and criticism are the same. Most managers say they are giving feedback but instead they give their opinions about the employee behaviors or individual performance. We all know that no one likes unsolicited criticism from anyone. This barrier frustrates and causes discomfort to both employees and managers and that frustration creates a barrier preventing the truth and learning.
Second, current HR polices require managers to give the feedback. Why not give employees the ability and autonomy to collect their own data? Employees who collect their own data and can manage their own processes are more motivated and engaged. Requiring managers to give the feedback means they must be the inspector, spy, the micro-manager, or the omniscient judge. This is a very challenging, if not impossible role to fill. Why not provide autonomy and trust to employees instead?
Third, the work environment most often discourages open and honest feedback. Any feedback (or opinions) from our managers often has consequences attached to it. For example, managers often control employee pay raises, bonuses, or performance appraisal ratings. Anything that might damage those ratings might want to be hidden by the employee. How can managers give feedback to something they can’t see? This type of work environment can be threatening and can act as a poison to the life of useful and honest feedback.
Fourth, I believe most managers intuitively know they should not and cannot evaluate individual employee behaviors without understanding how the work environment, the processes the co-workers interact and impact the employee. This is one reason many managers avoid giving feedback to employees. Attempting to provide feedback on the behaviors of employees without studying the entire system (the context) is like trying to explain how to use a towel to a fish.
If we are really interested in giving better feedback we must realize these four barriers exist and must be removed first. Many HR professionals continue to be frustrated by the lack of quality feedback and yet these four barriers continue to exist and will continue to create that frustration unless we shift the way we think about feedback and we address them. All the management training in the world will not remove these barriers. The barriers are endemic in the work environment and so they must be first recognized and then removed by courageous leaders with the right management theory.
Wally Hauck, PhD has a cure for the “deadly disease” known as the typical performance appraisal. Wally holds a doctorate in organizational leadership from Warren National University, a Master of Business Administration in finance from Iona College, and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. Wally is a Certified Speaking Professional or CSP. Wally has a passion for helping leaders let go of the old and embrace new thinking to improve leadership skills, employee engagement, and performance. See other resources here.
Online Recruitment Resource. (2007, December 5). Watson Wyatt study reveals six communication secrets of top-performing employers. Retrieved from www.onrec.com: http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/watson-wyatt-study-reveals-six-communication-secrets-of-top-performing-employers
For more, read on: https://c-suitenetwork.com/advisors/advisor/wally-hauck/
“Leverage occurs in every negotiation, even when it’s not invoked.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert
“We need to destroy their lead negotiator’s leverage to weaken his abilities to negotiate effectively.” Those were the words uttered during the planning stage of a pending negotiation.
When planning your negotiation, do you consider how the lack of leverage can destroy a negotiator’s abilities? Leverage adds weight to a negotiator’s efforts. It can be the difference between a mediocre outcome and one that’s substantially better.
The use of leverage can constrict the implementation of a negotiator’s plans. Therefore, be watchful of when its usage might be employed against you and how/when you’ll employ it. Since its implementation will alter the flow of the negotiation, you should calculate the timing of its usage to maximize the benefits derived from it. Be aware that all forms of leverage do not bear the same weight. Thus, always examine the different forms of leverage you’ll use, and determine which ones will be most impactful when assembling them.
There are several occasions in a negotiation when you should consider using leverage.
1. Ponder using it when you don’t wish to discuss points that will drastically alter your negotiation plan.
2. Use it on defense to inject a point as a challenge to the opposing negotiator from implementing his.
3. Consider how you can inject leverage as a surprise to observe the other negotiator’s reaction. That reaction may uncover hidden elements that you should discuss that your negotiation counterpart would rather keep undisclosed.
Park it – When thinking about leverage attempts used against you, consider whether you should address the premise that’s raised. In some cases, it may behoove you to say, “let’s put that aside for now.” If your request is successful, it will negate the need for discussion about the premise of the leverage attempt. Thus, it’s a way to deflate its charges.
When the other negotiator attempts to wiggle free of your leverage usage, you can use your first effort to pin him to a position. As an example, if you ask if he’d like to accept offer one or two, knowing both are bad, and he said no to either, then you could make another offer that was better or worse than the first one; your offer per better or worse would be dependent on what you were attempting to achieve by your offers. He could reject your third offer but then you could feign exasperation and state that you’re really attempting to be amenable; the implication being, his position is untenable.
I attempt to be transparent when negotiating. That means, while I attempt not to mislead, I don’t disclose every aspect of my negotiation position.
During your negotiations, realize that some negotiators will be as transparent as seeing through a stain-free glass. That will be the exception, not the rule. In some situations, your opponent will outright lie. Be prepared to refute his lies with bona fide rebuts that are greater than his. Using that form of leverage will heighten your position and diminish his if he’s willing to accept your pronouncements. That will cause him to think twice about pursuing that line of deceit moving forward.
In your future negotiations, consider how you’ll use leverage to enhance your efforts. The better you become at identifying when, how, and at what points you’ll employ its usage, the better your negotiation outcomes will be … and everything will be right with the world.
Remember, you’re always negotiating!
After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com
To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.TheMasterNegotiator.com/greg-williams/
#leverage #Destroy #Abilities #Power #secrets #HiddenOpportunities #Mistakes #Management #SmallBusiness #Money #Negotiating #combat #negotiatingwithabully #bully #bullies #bullying #Negotiations #PersonalDevelopment #HandlingObjections #Negotiator #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #psychology #NegotiationPsychology
