Maintain High Expectations

Bob Johnson became Wisconsin’s hockey coach in 1966, the same year I came to campus as a freshman.  Bob Johnson built Wisconsin into a national hockey powerhouse, a status it enjoys today.  Under Johnson’s tutelage Wisconsin won several NCAA championships before Johnson moved on to the National Hockey League’s Calgary Flames where he won two Stanley Cups.

Johnson, affectionately known throughout the hockey world as “Badger Bob,” was incurably optimistic.  Each morning his secretary would ask when he arrived at the office, “How are you today, Bob?”  His answer was always the same, come rain or shine.  “It’s a great day for hockey!” he’d respond enthusiastically.  His infectious, incurable optimism was his secret weapon that he used effectively to recruit players, to maintain perspective when the chips were down, and to persevere when defeat seemed inevitable.

Skilled negotiators, like Badger Bob, are incurably optimistic—and for good reason.  Many studies reveal a simple truth—those who expect more get more.  Combining high expectations, persistence and a can-do, problem solving attitude produces magical results.

You will be surprised how often you get more than you expect simply by asking for more.  Oliver Twist had it right in asking, “May I have some more, Sir?”  Like Oliver, you may not get more every time, but you won’t get more if you don’t ask.

Yes, you may have to stand your ground against inevitable pushback to benefit from an optimistic offer.  You may have to work to avoid yielding too much ground, something you should address in crafting your concession strategy.  You may have to assert yourself by defending your offer, something you should be prepared to do before you make your optimistic offer.  If you hang in there and stay focused on your objective, an optimistic offer often pays off.

I’ve developed a simple training exercise to illustrate this point.  Each participant is asked what salary they would ask from me, a prospective employer, to fill a job with a given salary range.  Optimistic negotiators usually ask for a salary somewhat above the given range, but not ridiculously so.  They accompany an “extreme” offer (meaning somewhat outside the reasonable range) with soft language (e.g., “I’d like something around $X”) to signal me that they understand they are high and are willing to move.  They then wait for my response.  Making an optimistic offer this way is often effective, particularly when the offer is accompanied with a reason for being high—“I’m the best you can find.”

Courses that build negotiation skills:

How to Facilitate Like You Know What You Are Doing

by Chris Sheesley, Principal, In-Accord, Inc.

Have you ever been in an unproductive or uncomfortable meeting? Most of us have, and it's often because those who lead meetings aren't trained properly (or at all) in meeting facilitation. If you are responsible for facilitating meetings, here are some tips to make your meetings more productive and engaging.

Like so much of your work, meeting management begins with planning. Some theorists suggest a 2:1 ratio, that is, for every hour spent in the meeting the organizer should spend two hours in preparation. While this is not realistic for many people, it is important to at least predetermine why you are having a meeting and then create an understanding of how to measure success in the meeting. Additionally, good facilitators not only understand what issues will be covered, but how each issue will be handled by the group. Active agendas give the facilitator some leverage to keep the process moving forward.

Once the meeting has started, the facilitator becomes a unique fusion of both Master of Ceremonies and the Invisible Hand. That is, you must lead from the front, while also allowing the group to find its own way. The facilitator has to remain constantly vigilant about the need to take care of the People, the Process and the Product. Let’s look at each of these facilitator responsibilities.

The “People” part involves your responsibility to help individual participants become comfortable enough to actively engage in the discussions. The “Process” points to your responsibility to ensure that the group follows the agreed upon plan of action. Finally, the facilitator has a duty to make sure that the “Product” is arrived at in an efficient and cooperative way.

Some of the hardest challenges are the unexpected road bumps that participants place in your way. While this brief article can’t explore these many situations, there are techniques for coping with most of these problems. To achieve greater expertise and comfort as a facilitator, proactively gain new insights and practice your meeting-leading in a safe setting such as in a training session or with small groups of well-known peers.

Coming soon: A new 2-day workshop from Chris Sheesley to help meeting facilitators be more effective.  This course will help team leaders reach stronger consensus - and reach consensus more quickly.  Contact Gary Hinkle at 503-293-3557 for more information.

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