Research shows that men initiate negotiations about four times as often as women do.
Today at day two of ABI’s “Power and Influence” TechLeaders workshop, hosted by Google, this group of technical women is honing skills and learning some negotiation techniques. The workshop facilitator Jo Miller, CEO of Women’s Leadership Coaching, is teaching attendees that negotiation is something that they already know how to do and asked women in the room to share their top tips.
- Create a win-win situation
- Don’t think of it as a negotiation
- Don’t show your cards first, be emotionally detached and maintain a poker face (for extra credit: learn to play poker)
- Understand the other person’s motivation
- Be willing to walk away
- Do your homework ahead of the negotiation
- Talk about the value you bring
- Do not wait to be asked
- Don’t take it personally when someone says no, be persistent and push back
- Ask yourself, “What would the other person care about?”
- Make sure you do your research your opponent’s position (sometimes they’ll tell you what they’re triyng to achieve)
- Understand that you have an ability to bring the to table — don’t sell yourself short
- Make sure you’re negotiating with someone who has the power to negotiate
- When working with a distributed team, negotiate which responsibility you will have
And, if you’d like to read additional tips from Jo Miller or ask her a leadership question, read her latest “Ask Jo” column.