by Robyn Keet
As a big-hearted Creative, I would run from negotiations. It’s made me feel uneasy and uncomfortable. To avoid this feeling I would take what was offered to me as “fair” instead of facing the throw-down that negotiations can bring. All I want to do was to create and deliver great work. Sound familiar?
After a few less-than-perfect projects, I realized that if I wanted to grow my business and amplify my creativity, I would need to at least learn the basics of negotiations. What I discovered led me to a new way of looking and approaching the negotiation table. An approach that a big-hearted creative like you and I can use daily and feel good about. This approach embraces partnerships and collaboration towards a common goal. No wasting time on the battle. No unmet expectations. No games. Only great work and harmonious relationships.
It’s investing time together in determining if we have the same goals in mind and if we are the right collaboration to make magic happen. When big-hearted creatives enter a relationship where trust can be fostered, everyone wins. We define negotiation as “to successfully travel along or over” (Merriam-Webster). It’s being transparent, curious, and proactive about our desired results. Allowing both parties to place what they want and where we are heading on the table.
The approach: Asking for more.
Alexandra Carter’s book entitled, Ask for more gives us 5 questions that we need to ask ourselves and our potential collaborators when coming to the negotiation tables.
Let’s walk through them together.
“We make our significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers” - Carl Sagan
Question 1: Tell me more
The first and most vital part of our process is to define the problem or pleasure point you would like to solve. Why are we here?
It’s defining the direction of your collaboration and negotiation. Without properly defining what you want to create and solve upfront, you waste time spinning your wheels trying to find the best course of action. Ask yourself: tell me about this issue. Continue the “tell me more” question until you can’t go any further. It’s like deep diving, you don’t know you have reached the bottom until your feet are on the ground.
“Defining the problem helps you create a solution” - Alexandra Carter
Question 2: What do you need?
Regardless if you are aware of it or not, we are influences by our needs as a human, creators and business owners. We negotiate based on the desired outcome that can quench our needs. We thrive within the autonomy of our creation and therefore we negotiation based on our deepest need. When done right it reflects our ability to find clarity and strength at the negotiation table.
Our needs can be tangible or intangible in nature. Tangle needs are things we can physically touch like money or art supplies whereas intangible needs are those are you feel like respect or a commitment to something bigger. Understanding exactly what we need and in some cases, don’t need allows us the ability to be transparent, curious, and proactive about our desired results.
It’s a deep dive into a collective discovery and understanding of what this collaboration and partnership could look like once our needs have been covered.
Question 3: What are your concerns?
Our concerns are driven by our feelings. How does this collaboration feel within our body? Really sit with it. When we feel expansive, we know that we are in a good place. Otherwise, if we retract, we need to go further in our discovery of what is possible for each party. Walking away at this point is always an option.
The process will be filled with questions, strategic pauses to reflect, feedback on what's possible for us. Covering our concerns before they happen gives us a plan on how we can approach them, if or when they come up.
Question 4: How have you handled this before?
We are more likely to approach the negotiation table when we have experienced something familiar than when we have not. Experiencing something new is always harder. We have no knowledge to draw from. In negotiations, it's exactly the same. When we have the experience to draw from we can predict what to expect and how to steer the conversation to a mutually beneficial result.
So, how do you approach a new experience? Alexandra recommends that we find two familiar experiences and use that information or seek out someone who has approached this topic before and learn from them.
Our aim is to foster transparency, curiosity, and trust in our discussion.
Question 5: What are our next steps?
From questions 1 to 4 we have collected some valuable information. Now it's time to put the puzzle pieces together to see what image emerges. The magic of collaboration is birthed in this question. It’s inviting all parties to contribute to the future-focused ideas and solutions. It’s the final step to form a foundation of trust, productive and lucrative partnerships.
“The best negotiation, relationship, or client interaction start with you — a process of self-discovery that helps you get clarity on who you are and what you want” - Alexandra Carter
As big-hearted Creatives, we have the ability to grow our businesses and amplify our creativity when we embrace Asking for more and advocating for transparency, curiosity, and being proactive about our desired results.
Now I would love to hear from you
Take a few minutes to do your internal check on your current negotiations — How would Asking for more help you in foster trust and building lasting relationships with your clients, suppliers and partners?
Robyn Keet is the founder of Inner Voice Creative. We stand for you, the Creative Entrepreneur. Inner Voice Creative is an agency focused on awaking the Creatives voice in each one of us. We aim to empower Creatives through one-on-one coaching and strategy session, group discussions and DIY Plug-in programs.
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