Performance feedback – it’s a phrase almost guaranteed to fill managers and employees alike with a sense of dread. That’s disturbing, but hardly surprising when you consider the negative way in which most feedback in the workplace is delivered. As a learning and development professional who passionately believes in quality performance conversations, I can’t emphasise enough […]
It’s a complaint regularly heard by physios: “I tried to get fit but ended up getting injured.” Maybe you lifted weights the wrong way and strained a muscle, or ran too far too quickly and broke down. It’s one thing to have the right mindset, but experts know that mindset is only the beginning. Collaboration is […]
Birds do it. Bees do it. Even Justin Bieber and Karl Lagerfeld are doing it. Everyone’s talking about collaboration at the moment. Deloitte Access Economics estimates that the ‘collaborative economy’ (the value of greater workplace collaboration) is worth a staggering $46 billion in Australia alone. So much of this talk is focused on using the […]
When the authors of the classic negotiation text Getting to Yes* penned the advice ‘focus on interests, not positions’, they couldn’t have chosen a simpler way to describe what in practice can often prove challenging. The guideline ‘focus on interests, not positions’ serves as a powerful remedy to the tendency for negotiators to focus on […]
Is there a place for emotions in negotiation? People often say, “I’m a professional, feelings don’t matter.” “Good decision-making is objective. Emotions just get in the way.” Or my favorite, as tribute to the Godfather, “It’s not personal. It’s business.” But bets are that you’ve sat in a meeting, fuming on the inside not sure what […]
I am in the process of organising my wedding, and recently had an interesting negotiation over the final contract with our preferred photographer. Part of the package that they put forward included 100 thank-you cards. We had already organised to get our thank-you cards printed with our invitations, so had no need for this.