“Oh I can’t accept that (offer, situation, timeframe) as it wouldn’t be fair to my team.” If you’re negotiating with someone, be on alert if they start to reference their family, department or team. They may be getting greedy, under the guise of looking out for their group.
Recent research out of Harvard confirms earlier studies that showed negotiators are more “selfish” when they can attribute their behavior to their group rather than to themselves. This latest research raised the possibility that men, in particular, engage in such behavior. The researchers had participants play the “Dictator Game,” in which Party A is given a sum of money to allocate between himself and Party B, who has no power – Party A’s decision is final. When men played the role of Party A as part of a two-person team, they were significantly more selfish than when they were acting alone. Female participants were less influenced by being part of a team.
Fortunately, most of us don’t have to deal with dictators, but when it comes to negotiating, be aware of who you’re dealing with. They may be taking one for the team.
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Makes me proud to be a woman. Sort of. Thanks for this revealing information, Colette!!
Interesting point! Scared to admit how many times I've heard that in negotiations. And I will often use it myself to let the person I'm talking to "off the hook" in an uncomfortable situation where I have quoted more than they have. I always say, "Go back and talk to your team and crunch your numbers, and make your best offer." This allows them to regroup. Probably not the best negotiation tactic. I pretty much suck at negotiations!
I'm with Kelly – I suck too. But, now I have someone that can speak for me and when someone asks about my fees, I turn them over to her. Sounds like I'm passing the buck so to speak, but she is much better at asking for what I'm worth and negotiating in smaller increments as opposed to me caving!!