Episode 164 – Negotiation and Persuasion- Strategies to Success

Manage This - The Project Management Podcast

The podcast by project managers for project managers. Two important interpersonal skills for project professionals to sharpen are negotiation and persuasion. Before you embark on your next stakeholder negotiation or try persuade an unyielding team member, take a listen to Carlene Szostak as she talks about successful negotiation and persuasion. Table of Contents 01:45 … Meet Carlene02:38 … Types of Project Negotiations03:40 … The Traits of a Good Negotiator04:38 … Preparing for the Negotiation Process05:45 … Finding the Why07:29 … Listen Well10:26 … Enhance Your Negotiating Power12:43 … Dealing with Unethical Tactics14:59 … Reading Body Language16:12 … Negotiating for a Project Extension17:02 … Traps to Avoid in Negotiations18:48 … When Negotiation Stalls21:57 … Kevin and Kyle23:13 … Factors for Successful Persuasion24:40 … The Right Mindset for Persuasion26:37 … Dealing with a Confrontational Person28:46 … Persuasion vs. Manipulation30:46 … Tips to Persuade an Owner or Stakeholder32:31 … Challenges Facing PMs Today34:01 … Contact Carlene34:30 … Closing CARLENE SZOSTAK: ... Well, with technology and with the ability to reach people regardless of where they are in the organization, those walls have come down. And people that are in the position of power want to hear from the people closest to the projects. So therefore the permission has been granted. All we have to do is step into it. WENDY GROUNDS: Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers. My name is Wendy Grounds, and with me in the studio is Bill Yates. And we’re so glad you joined us today. If you like what you hear, we’d love to hear from you. You can leave us a comment on our website, Velociteach.com; on social media; or whichever podcast listening app you use. Our guest today is Carlene Szostak. She’s a business leader, she’s a consultant, author, and an educator. She’s an established senior leader with a broad range of experience managing people, process, and technology. So we’re going to talk about negotiation and persuasion. BILL YATES: You know, Wendy, one of the things that we’re talking about is the importance of getting to know the other person that we’re negotiating with. And one of the books that I’ve read on negotiation is by Chris Voss. It’s “Never Split the Difference.” In that he offers some questions that I think are helpful for me when I’m thinking about a negotiation, and what does the person on the other side of the table want? Here are some of these questions. This is just food for thought. “What about this is important to you? How can I help to make this better for us? How would you like for me to proceed? What is it that brought us into this situation? How can we solve this problem? How am I supposed to do that, that thing that you’ve asking?” These are just some questions that are food for thought for those that are trying to get in the mindset of that person on the other side of the table. Meet Carlene WENDY GROUNDS: Carlene, welcome to Manage This. CARLENE SZOSTAK: Thank you so much for having me. WENDY GROUNDS: Won’t you tell us how you got into project management? CARLENE SZOSTAK: So my career started with the NFL. Again, that had nothing to do with project management, but that experience segued me into working for a Fortune 50 company that had multiple moving parts. And our senior leadership did not believe in project managers. We hired the team, the team did the work, and that’s it. And one very excited and future-looking leader on the C Suite came in and said, “Well, why don’t we just test the model?” I had the opportunity in my region to actually get a project manager to work for me, and they opened our eyes on the things that we didn’t even consider we had to do or think about. And ever since then I have been passionate about making sure that organizations have project management influence in anything that’s touched that makes a diffe...