Learn how to identify distractions and focus your team on the most strategically important initiatives for your organization.
In a fast paced world, there is no shortage of distractions. Side projects, interesting new ideas, and the crisis of the day can divert resources from key strategic initiatives. In isolation, pursuing these small ideas make sense, but when you put them in the broader context of your strategic initiatives, you get to see exactly how nonstrategic these distractions are. You have to remind people of their priorities. Eliminate these resource-draining distractions. Chasing these ideas prevents your strategy from being executed. Read more
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Do you struggle to get things done because you overthink your work? Try these three tips to overcome “analysis paralysis.”
Many times I’ve heard it said that perfect is the enemy of done. A big barrier to executing initiatives is analysis paralysis. The team gets bogged down on proving their case is 100% accurate and risk-free before they act. That slows down execution and leads to missed opportunities. By understanding the risks you face and making appropriate trade-offs between timeliness and accuracy effects, you can speed up execution and break through analysis paralysis. Read more
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Keep these five things in mind when you’re splitting up the work for your team.
A key task as the leader of a high performing team is how you distribute work across the members of your team. It needs to be done fairly. Note, I didn’t say equally. Work allocation needs to be done fairly because you want perceptions of equality. You want people to work on things they’re good at but also that they’re excited by. There are five criteria to think about when distributing work.
1. Priority
First, consider the priority of the work in terms of the team’s goals and the organization’s goals. Priority needs to drive everything. If a project is a top priority and somebody’s available to do that work, they get that work. And you need to allocate it appropriately.
2. Skill Sets
Second, consider the skill set of the person who you’re thinking about distributing the work to. If they have the right skill set, you’re going to get a high-quality result. This also prevents people from failing. You’re giving them something they can be successful with.
3. Availability
Next, consider availability. All things being equal in terms of priority and skill sets, who is free to do the work? Who has the bandwidth? You shouldn’t be shifting resources from one project to another when you have available resources to pick up that new project. If you start shifting resources around between projects when you have available resources elsewhere, you’re going to lose momentum on that first project and that project might fail.
4. Development Opportunity
Next, you have to think about the development opportunity this project might present for that person because that’s how you’re going to take your team to the next level of performance.
5. Interest
The last consideration is, “Does somebody have an interest in it?” If someone is really interested and passionate about a project, you should let them take it on. They’re going to be really motivated, excited to do it, and hopefully their performance will follow. Now one caveat here: Make sure people don’t just gravitate to the work they enjoy doing and stay away from things that they’re not comfortable with. They’re going to end up getting pigeon-holed and they’ll be very narrow in their focus.
If you think about all these considerations as you distribute work across your team, it’s going to ensure that you tackle the highest priority projects with the people who have the right skills to do them. You’ll be able to successfully execute the project while also developing your team’s skills.
Want to learn more about building high-performing teams? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to build high-performing teams. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!
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Uncover effective methods for assessing candidate integrity in interviews, from questions to integrating AI analytics and the future of virtual hiring.
In the modern hiring processes, the evaluation of candidate integrity stands as a cornerstone, often determining an organization’s long-term success and cultural health. Integrity is crucial in defining the ethical framework and decision-making fabric of potential employees.
Integrity transcends mere qualifications and experience, embedding itself as a vital component of organizational ethos. In candidates, integrity is a harbinger of trust, responsibility, and ethical behavior — qualities imperative for building strong, sustainable business relationships and a positive work environment.
Why measure candidate integrity
Integrity in a candidate or anyone is crucial in determining how they can handle complex situations and responsibilities, particularly when not under direct supervision. Integrity is a fundamental predictor of a candidate’s dependability, honesty, and ethical behavior in a professional setting. Being able to assess someone’s integrity during the interview process is important and not always easy.
Candidates with strong integrity will likely foster a trustworthy and accountable workplace culture, which is essential for effective teamwork. An interviewers ability to assess a candidate’s integrity helps mitigate risks associated with unethical behaviors, which can have detrimental impact one the workplace and morale.
Questions to ask during interviews
When evaluating a candidate’s integrity during an interview, the questions you ask are the key. These conversations should be designed not just to elicit information but also to offer a window into the candidate’s ethical compass and decision-making process to ensure their character aligns with the values and standards of your organization.
Some questions you to ask may include, “How do you define ethical integrity in the workplace?” and follow that up with “Based on that definition, describe a situation where you faced a significant ethical dilemma and how you handled it?” Or “How do you define integrity, and can you give an example of how you have demonstrated it in a professional setting?”
You may also ask questions related to their trustworthiness, such as, “can you recall a time when your integrity was challenged and explain how you responded?” Or “In your opinion, what is the importance of integrity in this specific role/industry?”
Other questions that could be asked to uncover a candidate’s ethics may include, “Have you ever witnessed unethical behavior in the workplace, and if so, what went through your mind and how did you handle it?” Or “Share an experience where you had to admit to making a significant mistake and how you handled the situation?”
These questions are designed to provide deeper insights into the candidate’s thought process, decision-making, their personal values, and how they align with the organization’s standards. Additionally, role-play-type questions or directly asking what integrity means to them allows you to gauge how thoughtful and reflective they are and how they may fit in your organization.
Beyond behavioral interviewing techniques
When hiring, it’s essential to go beyond traditional behavioral interviewing techniques to thoroughly evaluate a candidate’s integrity. Behavioral questions may not fully probe a candidate’s ethical depth. Integrating innovative methods is key to achieving a more holistic understanding.
Situational Judgement Tests (SJTs) can be invaluable in uncovering how candidates handle ethical dilemmas in real time. Psychometric testing also known as psychological testing or assessment, further enhances this approach by evaluating traits like conscientiousness and honesty, offering a psychological viewpoint on the candidate’s character.
Additionally, discussing real-life ethical challenges or incorporating case studies during interviews helps gauge how candidates have navigated moral decisions in practical scenarios. Integrating AI-driven analytics in interviews also brings a new dimension, analyzing verbal and non-verbal cues to capture nuances that traditional methods might overlook.
These new and advanced approaches enable interviewers to gain a deeper understanding of a candidate’s integrity, which is vital for selecting individuals who align with the organization’s ethical standards and contribute to a principled workforce.
Importance of ongoing training for interviews
Ongoing training for interviewers keeps them updated with the latest interviewing techniques and ethical evaluation practices. Training provides interviewers with current and new methodologies and perspectives, crucial for a comprehensive evaluation of a candidate’s integrity.
Effective training sharpens interviewers’ ability to craft and pose questions that delve deep into a candidate’s ethical reasoning and decision-making. It’s not just about asking the right questions but also framing them to elicit authentic and insightful responses.
Ongoing training also ensures the honing and development of key interviewing skills like emotional intelligence and active listening skills to interpret and understand the nuances in candidates’ responses both verbal and non-verbal and discern their true character. Training helps interviewers learn and sharpen and refine this skill, so interviewers can detect rehearsed answers and recognize inconsistencies.
Ultimately, ongoing training prepares interviewers to adapt their techniques to various interviewing scenarios, including the now prevalent virtual interviews. As remote interviews become more common, interviewers must be skilled in assessing integrity through a screen as adeptly as in-person.
Adapting integrity to virtual interviews and the future of interviewing candidates
Adapting integrity assessments to virtual interviews mirrors the in-person experience and, with the advent of AI and advanced analytics, promises an even more nuanced approach in the future of interviewing.
AI technology brings sophisticated analytics to the table that were previously inaccessible in face-to-face interviews, such as analyzing a candidate’s eye movements, facial expressions, and even the duration they take to respond to complex ethical questions. These metrics can provide deeper insights into a candidate’s sincerity and thought processes, complementing the interviewer’s evaluation.
This integration of AI into virtual interviews signifies a significant leap in how integrity is assessed, allowing for a more comprehensive understanding of a candidate’s ethical makeup beyond what can be discerned through conversation alone. The future of interviewing looks towards a blend of human discernment and AI-powered analytics, ensuring a more complete and accurate assessment of candidate integrity.
Paul Bramson has been described as a powerhouse on keynote stages and in training arenas. He is recognized as a global authority and thought leader in the areas of leadership, sales & communication. With over 25 years of experience, Paul has a unique ability to connect with professionals, leaders, and teams at all levels, providing them with valuable insights and empowering them with the most relevant knowledge and skills. Paul is a true Bostonian, graduated from Boston University, and currently lives in Atlanta, GA.
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Building chemistry between the members of your team is all about personalities, shared beliefs, and trust.
It’s great to have a clear vision, a mission, a nice set of prioritized initiatives, and all the right people. But what starts differentiating a team from a high-performing team is chemistry and trust. These intangibles are some of the most critical elements of building a high-performing team, but they’re also some of the most elusive ones to build and capture.
Personalities and Shared Beliefs
Building chemistry between the members of your team is all about personalities and shared beliefs. Make sure everyone on your team is involved in the interview process because candidates will show different sides of themselves to different people. And sometimes, those sides can be unattractive detractors from what you’re trying to build. Read more
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Recruiting the right people involves creating appropriate role descriptions and knowing where to look.
One of the most exciting aspects of building a high-performing team is recruiting people to be members of that team. There’s nothing better than finding that really talented person who wants to come work with you. So as you think about doing this recruiting and finding the right people, you need to understand how to create role descriptions based on the team’s skill needs. Read more
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Building a high-performing team involves hiring people with technical, functional, and cultural skills.
As the leader of a high-performing team, you’re personally responsible for making sure your team has the required set of skills to succeed and execute against all the initiatives that you have on your prioritization list. You need to evaluate your team’s mission. You need to look at the key initiatives. And then, you need to map out the skills and capabilities required to succeed. Read more
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Gain insights on the unique nature of innovation teams and the implications for building and supporting them.
Today’s guest post is by Helene Cahen, author of FIRE UP INNOVATION: Sparking And Sustaining Innovation Teams.
When working with or in an innovation team, it is essential to consider the unique nature of innovation and its implication in building and supporting the team.
Consider the importance of diversity in innovation teams.
Diversity in the composition of the team helps achieve better outcomes. Finding innovative solutions requires multiple perspectives, so different aspects of the problem(s) and the solutions are considered. I once had a client who designed an innovative packaging that the consumers loved when they tested it. However, they did not include manufacturing on their innovation team and discovered after two years on the project that it required manufacturing investments that made the preferred solution unaffordable. If manufacturing had been part of the team, the issue would have been identified earlier, and alternative options, both feasible and liked by customers, would have likely emerged.
In my book, Fire Up Innovation, I highlight the different forms of diversity, including diversity of experiences, culture, and identity, diversity in roles, and diversity of thinking. Having a diverse innovation team helps break silo thinking and better addresses the complexity of the challenge and the acceleration of the pace of innovation, particularly with the growth of AI.
Ensure there are clear processes and tools and good facilitation.
While the discussion around innovation teams is often focused on the outcome, having a shared process and tools that team members know to use, and a trained facilitator, are critical. Team members from different functions and backgrounds may have been trained with different processes and tools or have not been trained at all. There are many innovation-related processes (such as design thinking, Lean Thinking, Agile, etc). While my preference is to use design thinking, the process chosen is not as important as having a known and shared process together with a small list of tools that team members are familiar with. In addition, the role and importance of a facilitator is often forgotten. Whether the facilitator is a team member, an internal facilitator, or a hired facilitator, having a knowledgeable person to facilitate, who has the time to think about ways to optimize the process, prepare and lead the meetings, and manage asynchronous work is critical. Often, internal team members don’t have the time or the skills to do this. Therefore, hiring an external facilitator may save time and money by improving collaboration and moving the project forward more efficiently.
The goals and expectations of the team need to be clear and include the possibility of failure.
It is critical to define criteria for success upfront (so the team can more objectively assess their options throughout the innovation journey) and expected outcomes with precise timing and milestones. It is also essential to acknowledge upfront that innovation is messy, iterative, and likely to fail at times. You may want to consider failures (particularly early on) as part of success, be flexible with the time frame when needed (remember the Challenger O ring failure when issues were identified, but nobody was willing to delay the launch), and embrace failure as an opportunity to learn. The trick here is to build failures by testing early and often and learning from them, which helps avoid costly failures later on when the organization may have invested a lot of time and money.
Adopt a user-centric approach.
No matter how diversified the team is, there will be biases and blind spots. Including the users at the center of your innovation journey ensures that you regularly get input from those affected by the changes created by innovation. The users can be external or internal (if your innovation is focused on internal changes and your users are an internal group). Being user-centric may mean starting with simple ethnographic research where you observe and/or interview your customers or get data about them, test your concepts and prototypes with users, and design pilot programs or small-scale tests once your innovation is finalized.
Protect the innovation teams.
Often, the systems, measurements, and approaches that make an organization successful at managing its business can limit the ability of a team to innovate, particularly in large organizations. For instance, too strict of a goal in the early phase of innovation (such as a high-income expectation for a new product when it involves a change of behavior and therefore hard to predict) or impatience in delivering results can kill innovation projects too early. Organizations, particularly large ones, tend to be conservative in their decision, focusing (and sometimes overfocusing) on the risk of failure rather than the potential for success. For innovation teams to thrive, it is helpful to have a champion who can protect the team, allowing them to try new things and supporting early failures while focusing on lessons learned. Creating a safe climate for the team (within reason and clear expectations on what success looks like), yet being ready to stop a project if it does not show its potential at some point by not being overly attached to any outcome, can help the team be more creative and willing to try new things without fear of career repercussions.
Remember the unique nature of innovation teams.
Whether you are creating or managing an innovation team or are part of one, remember that innovation teams are challenging because of the nature of innovation and the risk of failure. Yet, you can help support a successful outcome by treating the team in a way that matches the unique nature of innovation.
Helene Cahen, M.S., author of FIRE UP INNOVATION: Sparking And Sustaining Innovation Teams, is an innovation consultant, trainer, facilitator, and speaker with over 20 years of experience helping companies navigate innovation challenges. As founder and principal consultant at Fire Up Innovation Consulting, she guides Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, and non-profits to understand innovation, create innovative new products/services, and build effective teams. She is also a coach for the Berkeley Haas School of Business Executive Program.
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Consistency allows you to be a leader who is predictable and reliable.
Today’s guest post is by Joe Judge, coauthor of Leadership is Overcoming the Natural: 52 Maxims to Move Beyond Instinct.
I once had to give an employee constructive feedback about being too impatient, irritable, and unmotivated at work. He shrugged, apparently unwilling to acknowledge the problem.
In response, I asked, “How does this character flaw manifest with your kids at home?” That question got his attention because it shed light on his unproductive pattern of behavior in a whole new context.
Your leadership style cannot be compartmentalized because your behavior and principles at work inevitably reflect your actions outside of work. Your job, family life, and community relationships are all impacted by who you are at your core.
Even when you’re not consciously aware of it, your unconscious controls your actions. Recognizing your character’s positive and negative aspects that influence your leadership style is crucial.
Your leadership qualities will be under the microscope
Since leaders face constant scrutiny, they must have a steadfast leadership approach, even in minor interactions. Your leadership role is not about reaching a goal or destination but rather about a long and arduous journey, and to be an effective leader, every step you take during that long trek must be marked by consistency.
People are watching every move you make. If you want them to know who you are as a leader, show them consistently who you are as a person.
Effective leadership means avoiding confusion in your leadership approach
Consistency allows you to be a leader who is predictable and reliable. When you are steadfast and authentic as a leader, you craft a consistent narrative over time, allowing you to maintain credibility and develop trust with the people under you.
The people following you need to see consistent behavior from you and know what they can expect. Only when they feel secure enough in their roles can they focus on doing great work.
The challenges standing in the way of Consistency and leadership success
As a leader, you will find that external stressors are the greatest challenge to your ability to serve with consistency. You will also face high expectations for results and performance as the people above and below you will challenge your approach.
All of these pressures will tempt you to retreat, change tactics, and make knee-jerk decisions. However, if you make changes without warning, explanation, or communication, people will wonder if they can rely on your leadership. Quick fixes rarely solve problems, but consistency enables you to maintain influence over your team — even when times get tough.
Effective communication is one of the leadership techniques that most promotes consistency
Transparent communication is pivotal in ensuring your consistency as a leader because it keeps everyone on the same page and reduces misunderstandings. When you communicate consistently, team members see how their work fits the bigger picture. They know what is going on, feel included, feel like their part matters, and stay engaged with your vision. With effective communication, there is no room for an “us vs. them” or an “outsider” mentality.
To communicate with transparency, be open about what’s working well and what isn’t. Share your goals, challenges, and plans for moving forward — especially when things aren’t going according to plan. Remember, your team is counting on a leader capable of consistent direction and guidance.
Effective leadership requires the trust-building power of consistency
Consistency is the foundation of trust because it creates stability and a culture of confidence. When people cannot trust you, they will not follow you.
You can’t lead without trust, and you won’t build trust if you don’t show up consistently as yourself in all areas of your life: work, home, and community. Leaders who don’t practice what they preach are not credible — they are talking heads with no real substance behind their words and actions. Everyone is familiar with this kind of leader, and no one wants anything to do with them.
You can’t be a different person at home, at work, and with your friends, so observe how you interact in these environments and become the person who best serves your family, neighbors, and co-workers. As you lead with consistency, you’ll create trust and loyalty. You’ll inspire a team ready to do their best work and stakeholders confident in your vision.
Joe Judge is the coauthor of Leadership Is Overcoming the Natural: 52 Maxims To Move Beyond Instinct (CLICK HERE to get your copy). Joe has spent his entire adult life working with people. As a young pastor within the Lutheran Church, Joe was introduced to Leadership Development through a partnership with the Center for Creative Leadership. In 2000, Joe joined Staub Leadership Solutions in Greensboro, NC, where a year later he was made both partner and president. Joe’s specialty is in helping individuals, teams, and organizations successfully align behaviors in order to achieve their stated objectives.
Dr. Michael Merrill is a distinguished physician executive, author, and educator with a multifaceted career. Dr. Merrill holds the position of Chief Medical Officer at Brook Health, a provider of remote care services. Additionally, he imparts his knowledge by teaching a leadership course at D’Youville University. Dr. Merrill possesses master’s degrees in epidemiology, journalism, and business, showcasing his diverse and extensive expertise. Dr. Merrill offers a unique perspective on healthcare leadership, making him an invaluable resource for navigating the complex healthcare landscape.
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Learning common negotiation pitfalls now can help you avoid them in the future.
In any negotiating process, there are some major pitfalls that you want to avoid. Here are the four most common ones I’ve seen:
Not Knowing the Players or the Process
The first pitfall is not knowing the players or the process. If you don’t understand the people across the table from you, as well as what the overarching process is going to be for that negotiation, you’re going to probably give up more value than you should. I’ve done that personally. I entered a deal and I didn’t really appreciate the entire process. There were many more rounds of negotiating than I was prepared for and the problem was, with each round, I gave up a little bit more value. By understanding the structure, the process, and the players, you can avoid this dynamic. Read more
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Over 97% of employers think social skills can significantly impact an individual’s job performance. But are those same leaders practicing what they preach? Is their leadership truly empathetic and capable of inspiring loyalty?
When I ask fellow executives which values guide their leadership, nearly every response is some reiteration of “courage, vision, and perseverance.” While these traits are certainly admirable qualities for any successful leader, their importance often overshadows the softer social skills necessary for organizational well-being, such as empathy, integrity, and authenticity. In fact, 86% of employees report a more sustainable work-life balance when working under leaders they would describe as empathetic. Those employees are more productive, more content, and much more likely to stick around for the long term.
So, what are these executives doing right? How do successful leaders demonstrate empathy to their employees and inspire greater retention as a result? Overall, there are five distinctive traits that define empathetic leaders, and it is these applied behaviors that empower their leadership and inspire long-lasting loyalty from their team members.
1. They make empathy a priority.
As a leader, empathy is your bridge to understanding the needs of others, and it is an essential characteristic for those who hope to get the very best effort from each individual. That said, empathy is certainly not automatic, and even successful leaders are sometimes clueless about how to demonstrate empathy to their employees. More often than not, this failure is rooted in their refusal to make empathy a major priority within the workplace, which inhibits the evolution of compassion both inside and outside each respective team.
The consequences are very real, and can have profound effects on any organization. Nearly 60% of employees have previously left jobs because they did not feel valued by their supervisor, and 85% of those employees believe empathetic leadership increases productivity across the board. By neglecting empathy, an executive is not only creating a less welcoming workspace, but they are also directly undercutting the bottom line.
2. They pay really close attention.
There’s listening — then there’s active listening. Only one is actually meaningful to your employees.
Carl Rogers, one of the founders of humanistic psychology, once wrote, “We think we listen, but very rarely do we listen with real understanding and true empathy.” When the COVID pandemic first started to change the world in 2020, many executives issued universal messages of encouragement to all their employees: “We’re all in this together.” Of course, this statement is fundamentally incorrect and does nothing to consider and accommodate for the realities of each team member. Even when we’re all getting wracked by the same storm, it’s important for empathetic leaders to understand we are all weathering the situation from very different boats with very different resources and demands. The only way for a leader to achieve this level of understanding is through active and inclusive listening.
3. They connect with people — not with process.
When successful employees first move into leadership positions, they can sometimes lose their ability to connect with others. Thanks to newly developed power dynamics, many up-and-coming leaders make the mistake of establishing connections with the workplace itself, as opposed to the people behind the process. These leaders are capable of extraordinary understanding, but only as it applies to the needs of the process — or the end result. When it comes to understanding the needs of actual team members, their empathy and concern is unfortunately MIA.
Truly empathetic leaders apply this heightened level of understanding to every individual. This tactic takes a lot more work, and it certainly demands more nuance, but the results are undeniable. After all, 76% of people with highly empathetic senior leaders report often or always being engaged, compared to only 32% of people with less empathetic senior leadership.
4. They play the long game.
Empathy doesn’t develop overnight. It is something that is slowly demonstrated through your considerate actions as a leader. There is not ONE thing to do or say that will make you an empathetic executive. There is no SINGULAR shortcut you can take to acquire a detailed understanding of your team members. With active listening, the right priorities, and the right connections, empathy will certainly develop naturally, but that development will operate according to its own organic timeline.
Simply put, you can’t fully understand even one of your employees in a short amount of time, much less an entire team of diverse professionals. Empathy is essential, but it isn’t immediate. The most successful executives accept this fact from the very beginning.
5. They are prepared to struggle.
Though unquestionably essential to sustainable success, developing true empathy for your employees isn’t exactly easy. Demonstrating empathy places new demands on your time, and understanding begets misunderstanding, meaning more mediation and one-on-one followup from every executive. This is why any comprehensive effort to become a more empathetic leader will not only take time, but it will also include establishing more inclusive processes, managing conflicts, and facilitating more transparent communication.
If you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, then you probably can’t become a truly empathetic leader without buying out the whole chicken house. That said, you’ll have enough omelets to feed an army, and that army will be a loyal team of employees who feel authentically heard and understood.
Start your transformation.
Want to be a leader who inspires loyalty? Establish yourself as an empathetic executive. With the right priorities, the right connections, active listening, and just enough patience, your leadership can be empowered by its own empathy — its own ability to understand the needs of every team member. With such empathy and authenticity, your time at the helm can be both highly productive and radically transformational.
Atlanta-based Dr. Sam Adeyemi (SAY: Ah Day yeh me) is CEO of Sam Adeyemi, GLC, Inc. and founder and executive director of Daystar Leadership Academy (DLA). More than 45,000 alumni have graduated from DLA programs, and more than 3 million CEOs and high performing individuals follow him on top social media sites. Dr. Sam’s new book is “Dear Leader: Your Flagship Guide to Successful Leadership.” He holds a Doctorate in Strategic Leadership from Virginia’s Regent University, and is a member of the International Leadership Association. He and his wife, Nike (say Nee keh) have three children. Learn more at SamAdeyemi.com.
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During a negotiation, you can change your approach. You don’t have to maintain your initial approach or your initial position; you can change it at any time.
During a negotiation, you can change your approach. You don’t have to maintain your initial approach or your initial position; you can change it at any time. Your opponent won’t maintain their approach or their position, so along the way, throughout the deal, determine your counteroffers and your approach and how it might change and how those changes might benefit your position.
For example, you can become more or less aggressive. You can become cooperative. You might change your anchor. In the initial negotiation, you said the price was here, but you know what? The price just went up or the price went down. You can add negotiating points along the way. Just because you didn’t ask for something right out of the gate, doesn’t mean you can’t add it later on.
Beware of getting locked into a single negotiating approach. Your opponent can and will use that against you. We were involved in a very contentious negotiation at one point. In the beginning, we were very collaborative, but our opponent was very combative. We knew the main points we wanted. They were price and deal structure. We also knew that time was our friend and their enemy. Throughout the negotiations, we continued making concessions and we stayed collaborative the entire time, as long as price and structure were acceptable to us.
But time passed, and the other party changed structure and they got very aggressive at one point. But the thing they missed was so much time had passed that our position was going to change because time was now on our favor. We turned around and got very aggressive in that negotiation and based on the structure and pricing at that point, we pushed very hard for additional concessions. The other party was caught by surprise by our change in approach and overall, it worked out much better for us. Our willingness to take our collaborative approach and set it aside, understand the impact of time and how it had changed, and change our approach to be more aggressive, drove a lot of value for our organization.
As you’re going through your deal process, think through the approach you’re taking now and if there are changes that you can make, as well as what the impact of those changes might be. Be willing to change approach, but only do so when you fully understand the benefits and the risks of doing so.
Want to learn more about strategic negotiation? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to perform better in negotiations. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!
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