Simple, yes; Easy? No way!
The December 19, 2024, entry from the Sora Calendar. It features a quote from Galileo that is simple, but far from easy.
THE BACKGROUND
Earlier this year, I was given the opportunity to participate in an innovative networking event put on by the Club Canadien here in Toronto. I joined two other speakers, sharing insights on “problem solving” for attendees who would rotate among our three sessions. My challenge was to engage a couple of dozen professionals for 20 minutes on “Negotiating,” and (cue the Mission Impossible theme) this was all taking place in French.
From years of skill development, personal involvement and Business school teaching on the topic, I have a good breadth of experience on the topic. Rather than making me a savvy negotiator (I am OK), this has given me a deep understanding of the discipline. I think I am borrowing from the intro of one of the many texts that I have read (and taught) on the topic, by summarizing the main points of Negotiation as:
Gaining a deep understanding of your own interests (e.g. what you want out of the interaction or series of interactions);
Gleaning the interests of the other party, to the best of your ability; and
Navigating the myriad of psychological biases that impede or diminish the quality of an eventual agreement.
Borrowing from the adage, “if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough,” this may provide a good starting point to discuss Negotiating (and, yes, I covered all of them in the allotted time). That said, I think that participants may have left with more questions than answers.
Although straightforward as topic areas, each of these offers multiple rabbit holes to descend.
In the first part of my session, we explored “negotiation” situations where people did not get what they wanted. One example was not receiving a desired raise.
Q: So did you quit?
A: No.(Somewhat perplexed)
Q: So the conversation was about more that just the raise, yes? (Somewhat rhetorical)
Of course the conversation was about more than money! Money is a very convenient—yet incomplete—stand-in for many underlying interests.
How badly do you need the income?
What else about it do you enjoy/find valuable/creates potential future opportunities?
Etc.
Often a teaching point in Negotiating involves having/creating a good BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement). If your “best” is not very good, you can work on bettering it. This means that you can actually say, “No” when you don’t get what you want. Figuring out “what you want” (plus, understanding the interests of others “on my side,” and managing their expectations, etc.) is tough enough. What if the other side is not clear on what THEY really want? And, what if they are simply telling us stuff to increase their chances of serving their best interests?
Note: One rabbit hole is clearly labelled, “GAME THEORY - Descend at your own risk!”
Add in the cognitive biases and we quickly se that simple does not mean easy.
THE NOW WHAT (How and When)
Let’s talk specifically about collaboration between Boards and Executive Leaders in the not-for-profit space. In this context, we are balancing inclusivity of opinion (i.e. we want to hear from a variety of people) with decisiveness (i.e. we don’t want to talk in circles). Executive Leaders usually have the better grasp of operational realties, but the Board is tasked with providing strategic direction… and maybe with testing the boundaries of previous operational realities.
Mirroring our description of Negotiations (in much less than 20 minutes AND in English), here is the simple description of what this kind of Collaboration requires:
Shared idea of the overall direction;
Shared means of gauging progress toward that direction; and
Shared understanding of the behaviours required to maintain both inclusivity and decisiveness.
As with the above context, each of these can quickly become deep and murky.
With a new program, we devote time to these areas to clarify, but also to acknowledge and address the complexities of each. With a better appreciate of the context (i.e. what makes it simple), we can better work with others in the far-from-easy task of making our collaborative interactions more productive, impactful, satisfying, etc.
Look for program details (soon), including pricing and schedules, on our webpage: