Negotiating
FountainBlue's February 15 When She Speaks event was on the topic of ' Negotiating for a Win-Win'. Below are notes from the conversation.
We were fortunate to have such a spunky, amusing and seasoned panel. Although they had a wide range of educational backgrounds and professional experiences, they had much in common.
They are confident, strong and passionate, honest and hardworking team players.
They each have a track record of success negotiating on a wide range of projects, working with a wide range of stakeholders.
They strive to understand objectives and perspectives and work collaboratively for a win-win whenever possible.
They learn from both successes and failures, from all others around them.
They are persuasive leaders who know the facts and leverage the data to realize a common goal.
They are well-networked leaders with a hard-earned, high-impact brand.
Below are some best practices shared:
Know yourself well, and what's important to you and why. Then you can negotiate best for the things that matter most to you.
Do your homework before the negotiation.
Know what you're willing and not willing to do and what the overarching goals are and why.
Research who's involved and what their background and motivations might be. This might be done online (LinkedIn and Google are your friends) or it might be a conversation with those-in-the-know.
Be clear on where you can give a little and where you can't be flexible.
Bundle the issues together, rather than make it a single point of negotiation. It's easier to manage a give-and-take from there.
Know your walking point. Adopt a strategy on what would happen if you reach that walking point.
Collaborate with your own team to strategize on how to work a negotiation. Collaborate with the other team to help ensure a win-win.
Play different roles (like good guy/bad guy) to help manage a negotiation.
Manage your emotions.
Don't take things personally.
Take a time-out/break if things become productive.
If things get personally, try to re-set to a new and more social environment, like coffee on the side.
Be curious about the high emotions of the other party.
Accept and acclimate to the things that might push your buttons.
Listen more than you speak.
Don't insist on a resolution when emotions run high.
Silence is your friend.
Make time for in-person conversations or phone calls or videos calls.
Men might find it easier to negotiate on their own behalf, but women might find it easier to negotiate on behalf of someone else.
I'll close with the input of our executives as they launched our event today - keeping being that agent of change by connecting with, engaging with, and learning from each other, in community, about everything, including how to better negotiate for a win-win.
Please join me in thanking our gracious hosts at Western Digital and our panelists:
Facilitator Linda Holroyd, CEO, FountainBlue
Panelist Charlotte Falla, Vice President and General Counsel, Samsung Research America
Panelist Nancy Gilbert, Director Pilot Operations, Lam Research
Panelist Windi Hary, Senior Vice President Global Clinical, Quality and Regulatory Affairs, HeartFlow, Inc
Panelist Angela D. Roach, Executive Director, Associate General Counsel - Employment and Immigration, Maxim Integrated
Panelist Kristin Robinson, Director and Senior Legal Counsel, Ethics & Compliance, Western Digital
with opening remarks by Siva Sivaram, Executive Vice President, Memory Technology and Roger Crockett, Vice President, Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion, Liming Wang, VP of Finance, Manufacturing Finance and Christina Lewis, MBA, Finance Director, Devices BU at Western Digital. See bios at https://www.tikkl.com/fountainblue/c/negotiation2019.