Programs

How to Negotiate With More Power and Influence

Photos of this event

In what IFMA President Fred Timm termed the Central Ohio Chapter’s  “best attended program and the best speaker--one who has really motivated us,” Rob Sherman, founder of the Sherman Leadership Group, held the 54 members and guests in the palm of his hands for two hours as he discussed the fine art of negotiating.

Sherman, a principal in the law firm of Karr & Sherman, and author of Sherman’s 21 Laws of Speaking:  How to Inspire Others to Action, centered his presentation on How to Negotiate With More Power and Influence.  He spoke to the chapter March 12 at the Fawcett Center at The Ohio State University.

And while the title of the presentation offered the impression that it might center on contracts between management and labor, Sherman quickly pointed out “We all are involved in some form of negotiations,” and that facility managers have more opportunities to negotiate and more experience in negotiating than most lawyers.

“A negotiation is simply two or more people trying to reach an agreement on an issue,” Sherman said, adding, “If you get in the habit of negotiating the small issues, it becomes easier to negotiate when major conflicts occur.  You negotiate through your many roles as you plan, design, and manage complex facilities.”

These include:

• Purchase and sale of real estate.
• Contracts with vendors on bids.
• Financial forecasting and long-range planning.
• Architecture, engineering, planning, and designing.
• New construction and renovation, and maintenance and operations management.
• Telecommunications, security, general administrative services.
• Emergencies that may occur in a facility.
• Dealing with government regulations and bureaucracies.
• Creating partnerships and facilitating consensus.

Sherman said to be able to motivate people—“You cannot motivate others; you can only create an environment where people become self-motivated.”—you must know your behavior style and be able to recognize the behavioral style of others.  In doing so, “You can adopt and blend your communication style to their style for greater and more effective communication.”

Sherman used the fundamental principles of DISC as a method to better understanding yourself and others by measuring behavior and emotions.  The behavior styles as represented by DISC are D—Driver, fast paced, task oriented; I—Influencer, more assertiveness, people oriented; S—Steady, less assertiveness, more responsive; and C—Compliance, less responsive, slow paced. 

Sherman offered several key points that “have helped me in negotiations and I hope they will help you in yours.”  He said the most effective negotiators:

• Have high aspirations.
• Are over prepared and know the people, problems, and questions with      which they will be dealing.
• Have the skills to recognize and deal with any negotiation tactic.
• Control the process, the agenda and determine how to move forward.
• Always maintain their principles.
• Are aware that fear is a powerful motivator.
• Understand that negotiation is an art and not a science.

He offered 10 tips for more effective negotiations.  They are:

• Distance yourself emotionally from the negotiation.
• Look for alternatives to resolve problems, brainstorm, employ creative thinking, and don’t make critical decisions “on the fly.”
• Clarify expectations because most conflicts can be traced to misunderstandings about expectations.
• Don’t accept opinions and statements at face value.
• Listen—don’t argue positions.  Discover interests.
• Include all relevant parties in the negotiations
• Find objective standards.
• Recognize your power.
• Prepare.
• Understand the negotiation styles of the parties.

The Membership Committee awarded prizes to two members present at the event The winners, whose names were drawn at random, were Michael Cornett, manager of office and building services at Ashland, Inc., a copy of Sherman’s book, and Denise Beard, interior designer, Ohio State, IFMA golf shirt.

Next month’s program will be April 9 at the Fawcett Center, beginning with a continental breakfast and an opportunity to network at 7:30 a.m., and a discussion by representatives of the Central Ohio Transit Authority of area transportation plans and problems at 8 a.m.