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Best Practices Body Language Entrepreneurship Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

‘Body Language Hands’ – How to Immediately Win More Negotiations

“People use their hands to add meaning to their words. To capture more of their meaning, listen to their hands.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

Do you observe the body language of someone’s hands when you’re negotiating? To win more negotiations, you should listen to their hands! Hands convey a lot of hidden information in a negotiation.

There’s so much information conveyed by the way someone uses their hands. People use them to show appreciation by clapping. They display their hands to exhibit displeasure in other ways (i.e. sitting on their hands).  They also use their hands when speaking? Hands give insight into the thought process that someone has. As someone is speaking, their hands add or detract from the message they’re delivering; you do the same when you’re conveying information, too.

When there’s a difference between someone’s words and their body language, pay more attention to their body language. It will disclose someone’s intent more than their words. Consider the following lightly when conversing with someone. Consider it more strongly when you’re negotiating.

Hands close to the body:

The closer someone has their hands to their body, the more guarded are their thoughts. You’ll see this display when someone senses perceived threats to their well-being. Their hands are in that position to protect themselves from perceived indifference.

If you see this in a negotiation, it may behoove you to put the other negotiator at ease. Based on what caused him to display his guarded gesture, you may have to address that point before you can induce the comfort you seek to invoke in him.

Hands with interlocking fingers :

When you observe a negotiator in this position, he could be displaying a demeanor that states that he’s not open to your offer, suggestion, or counteroffer. To confirm your observance, consider questioning him about the meaning of his display (e.g. I noticed you have your hands closed and your fingers locked. That usually means that someone (use ‘someone’ to avoid ‘you’ – the latter may make him defensive) is not open to something that has occurred. Is anything wrong?). Then, note his response. If he unlaces his fingers and opens his hands, while saying everything is okay, ask him to proceed. Two things will have happened. One, you will have altered his body language, which will entice him to become more mentally receptive to you and your offers. Two, you will have given him the lead in the negotiation. Based on what he does with it, he’ll give insight about what caused the initial display that you brought into question. And, he’ll give vision to what he’d like to discuss. That will highlight what’s important to him.

Hands pushed away palms out:

Take special note of this gesture because it indicates that the originator wants no part of what caused him to display the gesture. You can note future discernment by the degree that he forces this gesture outward. Also, be aware of this gesture when the other negotiator voices his assertion that he’s in agreement with you. In this case, his body language belies his true feelings. Believe that more than his words.

There are other hand gestures that give insight into a negotiator’s thought process. We’ll leave those to discuss at another time. For now, note the signals mentioned above. In so doing, you’ll be more perceptive. That will assist you in winning more negotiations … 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/

#Negotiator #Business #Management #SmallBusiness #Money #Negotiating #combat #negotiatingwithabully #bully #bullies #bullying #Negotiations #PersonalDevelopment #HandlingObjections #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #psychology #NegotiationPsychology

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

But Wait, There’s More – Negotiation Insight

“Never forget that you have the power to choose what you wish others to see in you.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

When do you reflect upon where you are in your life? Does it occur when you’re beset by misfortune or when you’re in a state of exhilaration? It’s a thought that warrants attention because you’re always being moved by your thoughts. And, your thoughts transfer into actions.

When you’re in a certain mental state, note the words you use to represent that mindset to yourself and others. Words have power. Thus, the way you use them will influence your actions and that of those around you. When you muse to others and yourself about what you’re thinking or how you feel, you’re giving insight into your personality. That insight allows others to assess who you are, what you might do in a situation, and how they might interact with you during those times.

Anytime you’re not feeling normal, whatever that might be for you, and you don’t wish to expose it, cloak it by displaying a different demeanor. If you’re a frequent reader of my writings, you know you’re always negotiating; that means, what you do today impacts tomorrow’s opportunities or lack of. You don’t have to consider your actions as being a negotiation. Nor do you have to consider air as a vital part of life. Nevertheless, both are truisms.

To achieve more, you must be mindful of how you represent yourself to others. The more you wish others to perceive a certain persona, the more aligned your actions should be with that persona. If you leave people with the thought that there’s more to you than they know, you’ll have them in a state of wonderment that states, but wait there’s more. That will heighten their intrigue of you, which will serve to increase their interest … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations?

Predictability vs. Unpredictability

During a negotiation, a collage of thoughts, words, and actions will attempt to drive the negotiation down different paths. The predominant collection of that makeup will determine your success; another consideration will be your past demeanor. The latter will serve as input about how you’ll respond to certain stimuli.

In a negotiation and in every aspect of your life, people will believe of you what they see. Sure, they’ll color their perception based on their biases. The rub is, if you don’t present yourself based on how you wish to be perceived, they’ll fill in the blanks without your input. Don’t wonder as you wander. Show others what you want them to see in you.

People like predictability. But, if you want to win more negotiations, they’ll be times when it behooves you to be unpredictable. During such times, leave others wondering if there’s more to you to uncover. Doing so will serve your benefit. They won’t be able to completely figure you out. Thus, they’ll lack the ability to predict what you’ll do next. That’ll serve to foil their negotiation plans. To keep them off-balance, create a state of mind for them that says, but wait, there’s more.

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/

#HiddenValue, #More, #Aware, #Success #Emotion #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #liars #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

Your Uniqueness – It’s Not Just Coffee

“If you want to stand out, don’t stand in a crowd.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

How do you separate yourself from the masses? Are you someone that glides in the strides of the crowd and then wonder why others don’t recognize your uniqueness?

It’s Not Just Coffee:

People lined up for miles to get their car washed. Most didn’t grumble because they knew they’d get a cup or two of that delicious coffee. It was a special blend that wasn’t served anywhere else. It was more than just coffee; some said it was a slice of heaven. Patrons told the owner, they didn’t really come for the car wash, they came for the coffee. The coffee was the establishment’s uniqueness. What’s your uniqueness?

Your Uniqueness:

As shown through your fingerprints, you have uniqueness in you. Some people are afraid to display their uniqueness for fear of how others might judge them. Some don’t even recognize that they possess traits that would endear them to others.

By not embracing and using the uniqueness that was bestowed upon you, you’re shortchanging yourself and those that might benefit from your gifts. If it’s fear that’s stopping you from displaying the inner person that you’ve incarcerated, what are you fearful of? Even if others should mock you, their mockery does not have to become your reality. Even if others reject you, you do not have to reject yourself.

Your Mind:

Everyone wants to be liked and appreciated. That desire is what keeps some people in society’s zone of safety. It becomes the self-imposed boundaries that surround their mind. It keeps them grounded when they could be soaring high in the sky.

Embrace the endowments that have been bestowed upon you. They’re gifts from a higher source. Shrink not from ‘the bigger you’. Allow it to escape from the small façade in which it currently resides. You’ve already outgrown that space.

Fear Not:

Fear not your greatness. It’s waiting to be exposed. Once you release it, you’ll find a greater life, more self-fulfillment, and a higher sense of purpose awaits you. Once you break the shackles that restrain you from a higher calling, you will embolden your uniqueness. Then, you’ll take the form that you were destined to be … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations? 

In a negotiation, a negotiator’s fears can be sensed. When he holds back an offer that stems from a lack of self-assuredness, doubt, or courage, he displays the lack of commitment he has for the offer. That can leave him in a precarious negotiation position. That can become an extremely difficult position from which to free himself.

During a negotiation, your uniqueness signals that you’re a negotiator that knows how to negotiate effectively or one that diddle-daddles. Your persona and reputation are at stake. How do you want them to precede you in your next negotiation? Will it be one that people speak of as being unique or will they say, “yeah, he’s just like coffee – you can find what he’s offering everywhere.” It’s your call. Make it a unique one.

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/

#Uniqueness #Think #Success #Emotion #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #liars #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

You’re Better Than You Think

“Your perception becomes your reality. Control your perception to control your reality.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

When receiving feedback indicating that you’re not good enough, how do you handle it? When others deny you entry into their group, what emotions does that conjure up in your mind? What’s your predominant thought?

No matter the outcome, when negativity befalls you, never let that outcome become the ultimate belief that defines who you are. Challenge yourself. Think that you’re better than you’re thinking!

Limiting Beliefs:

Once you accept beliefs, they become your reality. They shape the way you view, assess, and determine the validity of information that aligns with your beliefs. Therefore, your beliefs become the trigger that determines your acceptance or rejection of information.

Knowing you control what you believe, allows you to exercise control over your beliefs. The mitigating factor that you consider subliminally is how others view you based on your acceptance or denial of information. Be aware of that factor. Reckoning with it allows you to be more subjective. You successfully proffer your reality if you shape its meaning to support the vision you have of yourself.

It’s your life we’re talking about. You can’t give control to others such that you allow them to completely control you. If you allow their thoughts of you to be the overwhelming factor by which you make decisions, you won’t be your own person, you’ll be theirs.

Triggers:

Know what triggers your limiting beliefs. Test their validity. With the passage of time, new beliefs become prevalent; you accept them as being valid. Are your beliefs valid?

The more you control the triggers that shape your thinking, the greater your ability will be to control your thoughts. That will allow you to control your thoughts to your advantage.

When you feel besieged by doubt, when you think you’ve reached the summit of your possibilities, shun such thoughts. First, cast them aside and then cast them out; they’re limiting. Doing so will allow a new spectrum of possibilities to become exposed … and everything will be right with the world

What does this have to do with negotiations?

Doubt is a silent partner that rides the mind of every negotiator. “If I do this, what will she do? If I don’t accept the offer, will I lose the deal? She’s a much better negotiator than I am. I better give her what she wants.”

If you allow such thoughts to cloud your decisions, you will disadvantage yourself in the negotiation. Instead of focusing on your potential losses, consider what she might have to lose; better yet, focus on how you’ll maximize your gains. In her mind, her position may be more tenuous than yours. You’ll never realize that advantage if you’re stuck on your limited belief thinking. You’re better than that.

So, in your next negotiation, consider all the accomplishments you’ve achieved in the past. You may not have received everything you sought, but you should have received something that allowed you to feel good. Feeling good about some aspect of the outcome will enhance your beliefs about your abilities. From there, continue to build upon the positive perspective you have. That will continuously enhance the belief that you’re better than that.

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/

#Better #Think #Success #Emotion #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #liars #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

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Best Practices Growth Skills

How to Edit Your Own Work

You’ve written a report, speech, newsletter, or other document. You’ve put a lot of time and thought into it. You have an investment in it. Now you need to edit it.

You can find lots of practical advice about how to edit your work. However, none of these suggestions will work for you until you address issues that have plagued the best writers who ever lived.

You’ve Worked Hard on This and You’ve Lost Perspective

This happens to every writer. It means that you’ve immersed yourself in your subject matter. Even when you haven’t been writing, you may have been thinking about the piece and getting great ideas about what would improve that troublesome middle section.

When you mentally write “The End,” you have to mean it—for a while. Put some distance between yourself and what you’ve written. Your involvement and identification with what you’ve written has to loosen before you edit it. Otherwise, you’ll feel as if you’re amputating pieces of yourself when you pick up a pen to make changes.

Repeat “This Is Not Me.”

Even when you do allow a period of time—which will vary, according to your time constraints—to pass before the editing phase, you may feel attached to what you’ve written. This will especially be true if you’re new to writing.

As you gain experience in writing, this feeling will dissipate. It’s normal to feel attached to the first big report or speech you’ve ever written. Once you’ve written dozens, the attachment fades.

You can speed up the process of detachment by telling yourself that this paper isn’t your child or pet. It isn’t your car. It’s a vehicle for you to express facts, ideas, and principles. Do it to do this accurately and in a way that communicates with other people.

It’s a tool for doing that.

Be Ruthless

With the concept of “tool” in mind, approach the editing process as if you’re not the writer but the reader. Many writers find it helpful to read their work out loud. You must do this if you’ve written a speech.

Be honest. Make notes wherever you think your phrasing is awkward. Flag anything that’s unclear. Notice if you repeat words or if your language is too formal.

Being ruthless means boldly making changes that will make your work shine. Consider these style elements.

Make your writing to the point.

If you want to explain why you were drawn to the area of finance, don’t describe all the careers you hated before you discovered the one you loved. It’s like a road trip; detours make the journey longer, and you forget where you were going.

Make paragraphs short.

Limit a paragraph to one idea. This gives the reader the opportunity to pause to absorb one concept before reading another. I recommend a maximum of four sentences per paragraph. Don’t exceed ten lines of text. Your reader needs a brief place to pause before moving on.

Go easy on the adverbs and adjectives.

This is a subject in itself. To give you an idea of this rule’s power, compare the effect of “spoke loudly” versus “shouted” or “very attractive” as opposed to “beautiful.”

Strong verbs and nouns also give authority to your writing. When you have a point to make, you need that authority. If, for example, you’re presenting industry statistics, you don’t write, “These figures suggest.” You write, “These figures confirm.” Be definite.

Walk Away From Your Work. Repeat “This Is Not Me.” Be Ruthless.

These principles will help you hone your writing. Practice will sharpen it into a  powerful tool to serve you.

Pat Iyer is a ghostwriter, editor, and online course creator. She serves the C Suite through the C Suite Network Advisors group. Contact her through her website Editingmybook.com

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Best Practices Growth Human Resources Leadership Skills Technology

How Gamification Can Alter Our Behavior

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?

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

Exercising Control Will Make You a More Powerful Negotiator

“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.

Temper:

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.

Presentation Order:

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.

Know What’s Important:

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.

Power Dilemma:

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

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Best Practices Body Language Entrepreneurship Investing Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

Threats, Consequences: How to Make You Powerful

“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

How You’re Viewed:

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.

Threats:

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.

Consequences:

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

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Entrepreneurship Health and Wellness Human Resources Management Skills Women In Business

Why Asking Better Questions Can Fuel Your Performance

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.

Two questions that get us stuck:

Do you ask yourself one of these questions?

  1. Why did I do it?
  2. What if…?

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.

What does the mind have to do with it? 

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.

What is the change we can make?

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.

The mind-gut connection

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 mind is extremely powerful

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.

Ask for what you want

So what is not working about the questions I shared?

  1. Why did I do that? Your mind will give you all the reason why you messed up.
  2. What if I do that? Your mind will come up with all the reasons why it might not work, if your question comes with a grain of fear or dash of doubt.

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.

We need mindfulness

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.

Use AAA

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:

  1. Learn to ask questions.
  2. Learn to listen.
  3. Learn to act, not react.

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

Categories
Best Practices Growth Industries Management Skills

Cognitive Excellence Is The New Benchmark of Business Performance

By Daniel Burrus and Neil Smith

(In this blog series on how elevating cognitive performance is a game changer for organizations, I’ve invited Neil Smith, CTO at Think Outcomes, to join me in writing on this important topic due to his expertise and the cognitive performance software his firm has created.)

Today, business performance is measured by transactional throughput and is commonly captured in a set of transactional metrics such as revenue, investor ROI, manufacturing capacity, service level performance, available to promise, etc. Commonly, the operations of a business are defined as the transactional activity. Yet, the definition of a business operation encompasses both its transactional operations and its cognitive operations. To break through current ceilings of business performance, the processes in both the transactional operations and the cognitive operations must execute with excellence.

Transactional Operations of an Organization

Commerce activities represent the transactional operations. Professionals are involved in planning and management of tasks to execute customer, supplier and employee transactions. Task-oriented processes occur before, during and after the customer journey. ERP, SCM and CRM software helps professionals responsible for transaction management execute transactional operating processes.

Examples of Transactional Responsibilities

  • Manage sales transactions
  • Manage marketing campaigns
  • Procure products and services
  • Fulfill orders
  • Capture accounting activity
  • Schedule materials
  • Manage inventory turns
  • Plan for distribution
  • Forecast financial performance
  • Service customers
  • Manage human resources
  • Compensate employees

Executives have invested significantly to evolve the processes on the transactional side of their businesses.

Cognitive Operations of an Organization

The cognitive operations comprise teams that think and communicate perspectives for a living. These teams are internal and external to the organization:

  • Senior executives, senior managers and other professionals
  • Management consultants, board members, lenders and insurance providers in the services ecosystem
  • Investors, analysts, supply chain partners and business partners, who are part of the extended enterprise
  • Regulators and educational institutions, who are standard setters

In a cognitive operations, professionals think critically, collaborate, communicate with their stakeholders, make decisions, advise other professionals and monitor uncertainties. As professionals perform mindful work, they often experience gaps in their knowledge that lead to uncertainties. Uncertainties stall decisions. Cognitive processes represent the work that takes place in their minds.

Cognitive operations exist across industries, such as oil and gas, life sciences, private equity, management consulting, environmental management, asset management, space, insurance, banking, aerospace, defense, healthcare, government and education, etc. Below are some examples where critical thinking, stakeholder communications and performance advisory occur in life sciences for their cognitive work:

Examples of Cognitive Responsibilities in Pharma

Chief Medical Officer

  • Develop corporate strategy
  • Brainstorm with clinical key opinion leaders around clinical challenges
  • Create quality control measures for clinical trials
  • Ensure performance among clinical and regulatory teams
  • Collaborate with health authorities
  • Communicate with regulatory authorities
  • Perform due diligence research on business development opportunities
  • Monitor investment in clinical programs

Chief of Staff

  • Improve processes to enhance operational efficiency and effectiveness
  • Identify Hard Trends to strengthen the accuracy of forecasts
  • Prepare CEO for stakeholder meetings
  • Ensure innovative qualitative and quantitative measurements

VP, Drug Process Development

  • Apply anticipatory thinking and new tools to transform processes
  • Demonstrate process reliability
  • Verify process effectiveness
  • Build process control strategy

VP, Drug Manufacturing Process

  • Ensure a stable design environment
  • Assess drug degradation
  • Link material attributes and process parameters to CQAs
  • Demonstrate linkages between process and product reliability
  • Track outcomes for each changing state
  • Establish feedforward and feedback controls
  • Anticipate and monitor failure conditions

VP, Corporate Development

  • Craft risk-managed pricing
  • Evaluate portfolio implications
  • Analyze integrated due diligence

VP, Supply Chain

  • Use new tools to transform supply chain processes
  • Communicate supply chain risks and opportunities
  • Simulate implications of a supplier failure

Professionals in the cognitive operations either accelerate or constrain their cognitive performance based on their mind-set and the technologies they use for their mind’s work.

Professionals in the transactional operations benefit from software architectures for their responsibilities. Yet professionals in the cognitive operations don’t have the same capabilities to perform their jobs. Rather, they have their job descriptions, their experiences and their minds; they utilize multipurpose software in the form of spreadsheets, presentation software and word processing documents. Leaders and managers do not have a software architecture designed to elevate their cognitive responsibilities. Nor do they have a way to think through their uncertainties in a Socratic manner. These issues are critical for a cognitive operation to advance and gain a competitive advantage.

In working across organizations for decades, we’ve seen a theme in which leaders and managers who seldom take enough time to think through uncertainties the first time around is high. Yet there seems to be enough time to revisit the topics a second time as problems arise. Beyond time pressures, confusion persists around how to think through uncertainties. The lack of clarity regarding how to manage uncertainty has led leaders and managers to spend more time managing the crisis and less time managing new opportunities. By learning to identify the Hard Trend certainties that will happen, anticipatory leaders learn to innovate with low risk and have the confidence certainty provides to make bold moves.

What is Cognitive Excellence?

Anticipatory leaders and managers exhibit cognitive excellence through a constant flow of insights and foresights that resolve uncertainties. These professionals become a critical resource to highly effective cognitive operations. They are go-to professionals, whether they exist in an organization, in the services ecosystem or as part of the extended enterprise. Organizations need to instill these anticipatory capabilities in their professionals to achieve greater business performance.

“Past performance is not a predictor of future results.”

This performance caveat is attached to any investment in the stock market, and it applies in business too. Future performance is dependent on anticipatory skills and cognitive excellence. Professionals face change all the time. Some say change is the only constant; in fact, it’s accelerating at an exponential rate, which creates additional uncertainties as well as new certainties! It’s challenging to achieve cognitive excellence in the minds of professionals consistently today without anticipatory skills and software that:

  • Define the cognitive gaps
  • Illustrate aberrations in future performance through measurable evidence
  • Trigger questions of uncertainty in your mind
  • Move you from uncertainty to greater certainty

That’s why cognitive excellence doesn’t just come from experience. It comes from advancing the capabilities of professionals with:

  • Anticipatory leadership skills
  • A responsibility architecture for their cognitive work
  • An agile and anticipatory mental framework to help them address change across situations
  • Software spaces to perform their mind’s work

The ability to nimbly address questions of uncertainty through a repeatable Socratic process greatly enhances leaders’ and managers’ capabilities to perform at a very high level as key contributors to their organizations and their clients’ organizations. This is how professionals can transform the performance of their businesses.

As professional teams elevate their cognitive capabilities toward excellence, their organizations transform into highly performant cognitive factories. Professional teams leverage each other’s thinking through a uniform process to visualize performance patterns for their minds, where they gain insights and foresights. Anticipatory professionals not only pre-experience their own uncertainties, they also help their stakeholders pre-solve their questions of uncertainty, too.

The cognitive era is shaping the coexistence and interdependence between humans and machines. This new era demands leaders to advance the capabilities of their cognitive processes. As machines learn, humans must focus their time and attention in areas where machines are far less effective. Professionals need to redefine and reinvent their business models, markets, products, services and processes to provide the next level of value for their clients. Anticipatory leaders and managers need to focus their time on the layers of both uncertainty and certainty where future state thinking is needed and reassign current state thinking to others. That’s how they’ll continue to differentiate their personal and business brands. Professionals need to accelerate their learning and get comfortable with uncertainty through the use of higher certainty frameworks. It’s imperative for organizations to get on board with elevating their cognitive performance. Waiting will cost organizations the value of cognitive insights and foresights, while your competitors grow their knowledge.

Machine learning is causing a shift in the workforce — an emerging crowd of retrained professionals whose jobs are increasingly occupied by machines. This requires cognitive professionals in their current roles to manage the knowledge gap between themselves and their new human rivals. They accomplish this by advancing their cognitive skill sets, learning to become anticipatory leaders and through the use of technologies built the way they think about uncertainties.

Learn how to elevate your planning, accelerate innovation and transform results with The Anticipatory Learning System and how to maximize the cognitive performance of your team with Cognitive Performance Software.