Good morning everyone and welcome back to the Breakroom! What a week this has been, I cannot even begin to tell you how thankful I am for this weekend to be upon us. Packing is slowly taking over the house, I consistently seem to feel both too warm and too cold at the same time, and I cannot tell you how many problems people seem to have this week because they just simply do not pay attention to what they are supposed to do. Quick little hot tip for everyone, for those of you who like to get paid on payday, you not only need to remember to clock in but you also need to review and sign off on your timecard. Just some friendly advice from me to you! Besides that, I want to remind you all we are only one week away from Teeb Con so if you have not gotten your tickets yet, head on over via this link https://mnswca.org/teeb-con-2024 and get yours today, and I will see you there!
On to what happened in the office this week and we certainly have some major developments. It had all started earlier this week when we were all heading out for the day, I remember listening to Karen and Jim talk about was they were doing throughout the week and Karen accused Jim of being agoraphobic because he’d rather stay home watching a sports game then going out for a proper date. I’m sorry Karen, but some of us enjoy a little agoraphobia and avoiding all of the people out there, especially since there are plenty of people who shouldn’t be allowed to leave this house. Suddenly, Roy storms in to the office with this crazed look in eyes like he was out to blood and simply shouted “Halpert!” Well, he starts going right for Jim at this point but it is Dwight who jumped into the fray and whipped out his pepper spray to fend off Roy and knocking him to the ground. I cannot confirm exactly what Roy was going to do Jim, but considering how upset he was over discovering the two of them had kissed I can only imagine it was going to be bad. We have teased Dwight about bringing in his pepper spray all these years but they finally paid off. Is anyone else as safety conscious as Dwight is? We do not have all of the same tools like he does, such as nun chucks or even this throwing stars but we do have a small sword collection so we have authentic swords that can be used, all courtesy of Swords of Northshire. Besides having custom swords they do create replicas from media, including Sokka’s meteor sword from Avatar the Last Airbender. So considering what Dwight could have used in defense, Roy should consider himself lucky that all that happened was that he got pepper sprayed. And fired, I suppose, I do need to mention that this incident resulted in him being let go.
This brings us to the fallout of this entire incident in which now that the warehouse is short one person, Darryl has been working harder to make up for this and he believes he is due for a raise to compensate. But Michael is not worried about this, he knows Darryl is just trying to use this whole thing as leverage. In response, Michael is coming at him with his own tactics of negotiation, courtesy of Wikipedia. So, what are these amazing tactics? First, you should lean back and whisper when you speak because this allows you to take a commanding posture and control the conversation. Second, walking out unexpectantly in a surprise control of force. Third, change the location of the meeting at the last moment; you throw them off guard and let you control the setting. And finally, choosing to decline first; essentially the first person to speak lays it all out there so the second person can respond and therefore control the conversation.
So I went out looking for some recommendations for people out there who need to prepare for their own negotiations. I personally do not get into such scenarios very often, so I was excited to get some new tips. I started with Wikipedia and found an entire page of tactics, but I will only mention a few of my favorites. One is called the Highball/Lowball, and I feel this is one of the most common tactics in the realm of negotiation. The theory is, you make an offer either extremely high or extremely low in hopes that you can ultimately negotiate into the realist number you were hoping for. For example, if you were trying haggle at a flea market you would offer incredibly low in hopes that they will come down a lot lower than if you had tried to come down only a small amount. Another tactic is one we have learned from Andy Bernard, Mirroring; this is where one tries to subconsciously create trust with the other person by mirroring certain actions, mannerisms, and phrases that they use. I know this sounds silly but I think we have all had instances where we found ourselves starting to put trust in someone as the result of us “being so similar” or even some light flattery. Don’t underestimate the ability that people want to innately connect with someone they see as just like themselves. Finally, there is what is called the Flinch; this means is that when someone makes an offer to you that you do not like, you do a physical flinch. Evidently people are more likely to be willing to negotiate their offer if they can see a negative reaction1. For those interested in some interesting, and named, tactics you cannot go wrong with Wikipedia. As Michael Scott explains, Wikipedia is great because anyone is able to go in and update the information so you know it is always up-to-date.
For my next source, I went right to the Harvard Business school for some of the skills needed in negotiation that are important to cultivate. Their six skills are:
- Communication: Besides being able to speak clearly, this allows you to set specific goals and limits that are expecting when you walk away from the negotiations.
- Emotional Intelligence: Business isn’t always emotion-free and it is important to be able to understand your own emotions to keep them in check, but it is just as important to be able to read those of other people.
- Planning: You should never go in with some sort of plan of attack. You should have a game plan, as well as various options prepared for the different routes these conversations can go.
- Value creation: It is important to have a clear idea of all the values attached to the topics at hand. Too often people are focused on getting as much as possible that they are only setting themselves up to be disappointed, often because they do not have a clear idea of their personal value.
- Strategy: Similar to planning, you should be able to explain your decisions and support them. It is great that you want a raise and believe this is because you work hard, but can you support this based on what others in your field are paid at your level? Be prepared to have concrete evidence to support yourself.
- Reflection: Look back at past negotiations and be able to learn from them. Be able to understand what you have done right, as well as what you have done wrong2.
So what can I personally give you as the key details you need to prepare yourself for a negotiation? Information is key, you cannot simply go in with “I believe I have earned this” because large companies have evidence to support their decisions. Using asking for a raise as an example, you would want to have salary information for your particular position and years of experience for your location to support that you deserve to have an increase. You can find this information from a variety of sources including job postings and job boards or from websites like GlassDoor. Additionally, for larger companies you should be prepared that it is not as simple as your leader simply saying “yes” to you asking for a raise. These decisions often have to go through various chains of command which could include HR Business Partners, Labor or Employee Relations, not to mention Compensation. This leads into my second tip, you have got to remain cool. In most cases, once you start to lose your composure or bring too much emotion into the situation you overplay your hand and will lose leverage. Finally, if we are talking about a raise perhaps one of the strongest tools you can have is the ability to walk away. If you can find a similar job that you can apply for, or even have a job offer in your pocket, this really does set the board where they can either give you a raise or let you walk away. Keep in mind, this tactic is not for everyone. You risk leaving a sour taste with your leader and company that you are giving them this option, or they might call your bluff and then you have to decide if you are truly willing to up and leave.
Michael and Darryl’s negotiation goes about as well as one might expect anything of Michael’s to go and that is off the ropes. He had everything in control for awhile, but then Darryl noticed that Michael was wearing a woman’s suit (not for the first time) and he lost his composure as the entire office joins in laughing at him. It is funny how Michael accidentally let this happen, his first clue should have been the lack of pockets. It is ridiculous, by the way, that most women’s clothing has little to no pockets. I love my pockets in clothes and seriously struggle when I have small pockets in my clothes. In retrospect, we really should stop assigning gender to clothes and let people wear what they want. Maybe adding some gender neutral to clothes will make things like pockets a bit more equal. Michael tries to regroup and is simply honest that there just isn’t money in the budget, and it comes out that evidently Michael is incredibly underpaid considering his tenure with the company and title. Darryl sees this as why he cannot get a larger increase, and talks Michael into negotiation for his own raise increase. Cut to Darryl, Michael, and Toby road tripping to New York so Michael could meet with Jan to discuss his own increase. Now, Toby didn’t get into too many details when he talked about it but evidently Michael had a mild meltdown and actually tried to threaten Jan that he would withhold sex if she did not give him a huge raise. Toby said something about needing to retain notes in the event of a deposition; when talking about Michael Scott and Jan, that is probably a safe bet.
And that, everyone, was the highlights at the office this week! Our big topic of the week was certainly the art of negotiating. Between Michael Scott, Wikipedia, Harvard, and myself we have provided a nice series of tips and tactics for those of you to use in preparation of a negotiation. But what about yourself? If any of you have your own negotiation tips from your past experience, feel free to let us know in the comments!
I hope you all have a great weekend, and until next time I’ll see you around the Breakroom!
- Negotiation. (2024, July 1). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negotiation#Tactics ↩︎
- Miller, K. (2023, May 11). 6 Negotiation Skills All Professionals Can Benefit From. Harvard Business School. Retrieved August 15, 2024, from https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/negotiation-skills ↩︎
