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UNDERCOVERCOACH ‘Deal or...


THE UNDERCOVERCOACH BEGINS A THREE PART SERIES ON NEGOTIATING IN THE WORKPLACE.


IN THIS EDITION THE COACH EXAMINES INTERNAL AND INFORMAL NEGOTIATING AT WORK AND OFFERS THE FIRST THREE OF HIS ‘LAWS OF NEGOTIATING’. IN THE NEXT EDITION HE LOOKS AT ‘NEGOTIATING WITH SUPPLIERS’ AND IN PART THREE THE COACH PROMISES TO GIVE US SOME TIPS ON ‘NEGOTIATING PAY AND CONTRACTS’.


‘I NEEDED TO NEGOTIATE THINGS OTHER THAN PAY’


I frequently hear that there is no room for negotiation in the workplace. Working conditions and pay rates are generally set by employers or negotiated by a union leaving little or no scope for individual influence.


I can relate to this view because for many years I worked for an employer who negotiated with a union who acted on my behalf. National pay rates were agreed leaving me little or no scope to be rewarded for my good work or my good effort or my good attitude. Even when more flexibility was introduced in later years it was subject to budget cuts, strict limitations and if that was not enough every boss seemed to interpret things differently. I quickly realised that I needed to negotiate things other than pay, even little things, in order to feel that I was in some way being rewarded for my efforts.


WE NEGOTIATE EVERY DAY


So what are the little things that we can negotiate internally and informally? Well it seems to me we negotiate every day. We negotiate with our partners, ‘you do this and I’ll do that’, with the children, ‘if you are good – then we will go to the cinema’, with colleagues, ‘okay, I’ll help you with that - but it’s the last time, OK?’


We seem to be making little deals all the time when people need or want something from us. Sometimes they just want little things and at other times it is bigger things like our financial help with a car purchase, or taking on the task of looking after an aged or infirm relative.


With some of these issues, particularly family matters, we do little or no negotiating, bartering or trading because it is usually a matter of duty. Interestingly though we are often keen to discreetly check that everyone else has been approached, everyone else has been given the opportunity to ‘do their duty’. I wonder if we then gauge our contribution, our level of sacrifice against that of others. I suspect we do. This brings us back to ‘if you do it – then I’ll do it. So perhaps we are even negotiating this type of thing as well. This brings me to my first law of negotiation, which is a simple one.


16 www.windenergynetwork.co.uk


THE UNDERCOVERCOACH’S FIRST LAW OF NEGOTIATION:


‘PEOPLE WANT SOMETHING THAT YOU HAVE BUT ITS VALUE HAS NOT BEEN AGREED’.


For example, your new employer wants your skills and experience but until you negotiate a deal or accept his/her offer there is no agreement on the value of your skills and experience.


Employers make this an easy example for me to quote by using it over and over again when they are recruiting. How many vacancy announcements have you seen that say that your ‘salary is dependent on your experience’? Now if this is true for employment then maybe it’s true for other things as well.


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