How to negotiate effectively (and get what you want)

1. Define success: prior to engaging in negotiations determine exactly what you want and how much you are willing to compromise.
2. Understand your weaknesses: we all have weaknesses but if you know what they are you can combat them or possibly utilize them in your favour. For instance, if you tend to get hot headed or take things personally know that you may negotiate more effectively in a setting where you can take a break before continuing negotiations. I always sleep on an offer prior to accepting or making a counter offer if a situation allows because I know that emotions can sometimes influence my decision making.
3. Know your counterparty: this isn’t always possible, but putting yourself in the other parties shoes can increase your understanding of the situation.
4. Never take advantage of an inexperienced counterparty: this may tarnish your reputation and inevitably harm your long term business strategy. A good reputation takes years to build and moments to ruin. The inexperienced counterparty will soon recognize their mistake and the likelihood of developing a long term business partnership after breaking trust will be low.
5. Be confident: this is not the time to be shy. Ask for what you want and always have evidence to support your arguments.

Happy negotiating!

–@nlatter

11 things every YYC business woman needs

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This list is a compilation of my favorite things that I consider to be must haves for any Calgary business woman. They will save you from being late, you’ll be more comfortable in the snow, commuting will be easier and your office will be so much more comfortable!

–@nlatter

Corporate Social Responsibility: Investing Beyond Industry Standards

Sometimes I read books full of stories and ideas that are far from my concepts of reality including enchanted forests, detective fiction or mystical creatures. This time I am reading about real life events that feel a lot closer to home. “[Christine Bader, author of] When Girl Meets Oil: The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist goes beyond recounting  [her] ups and downs in a decade at BP to offer deep insight into the central importance of morality in any job, company or life” – Dan Etsy, Hillhouse Professor, Yale University; author, Green to Gold.

During my time in University and to this day I struggle with my views on environmental, geopolitical and regulatory risk and their influence on the energy industry. Torn between optimism and pessimism I found myself asking more questions and changing my moral points of view each time a different speaker came to our lecture. I have become intrigued to expand my knowledge on Corporate Social Responsibility and keep an open mind while doing so. Since, I have come to the conclusion that CSR can only add value through proactive action inspired by company culture ingrained in core decision making. CSR does not add true value by simply meeting the standards set by industry peers.

Unfortunately, there is no step by step guide for managing environmental, geopolitical or regulatory risk because these are emerging risks forging a new landscape. Christine Bader, in When Girl Meets Oil: The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist, tells her personal story of working towards the management of these risks on behalf of BP. Stories of the risk management failures and successes of energy companies are so often told from a biased perspective. Christine Bader writes from the perspective of an insider motivated by corporate idealism. She rejects the notion of the “ostrich’s head in the sand approach to risk management” and promotes transparent and accountable corporate social responsibility. I find her journey of moral exploration as it relates to her work easy to relate to and highly insightful.

–@nlatter

 

What’s so great about volunteering?

There was a time when I thought that volunteering was for over achievers and people who desperately needed help making friends. Which sounds mean (because it is) but I simply didn’t see the value. This was during a time when my philosophy for how to spend my time and ultimately live my life was highly utilitarian and the things that did fill my time had to have something in it for me. Motivated solely by the generation of my own happiness, I found myself on the outside looking in on volunteering opportunities. My perspective seemed to be that volunteering appeared to be really hard work and you didn’t even get paid for performing. Therefore, volunteering wouldn’t directly benefit me in any way. So then, obviously I wasn’t that interested…at the time.

“The less they pay you, the more they will ask you to do”

The above quote was spoken by a female business leader in my company and there are no truer words around volunteering. The statement really doesn’t seem to exude optimism, initially anyways. It is true that once a volunteer group recognizes that you as a volunteer are competent and reliable the list of tasks requested of you will only grow. So you do need be assertive and learn how to say “no” if it becomes too much. However, this type of reaction from other volunteers truly emphasizes the value that you can bring as a volunteer.

It wasn’t until I started volunteering in positions that related to my passions and put me in scenarios where my skills could really add value to the lives of others that I began to understand how volunteering had the potential to become a highly meaningful part of my life. I began to recognize how volunteering truly was able to increase the quality of others lives as well as my own, aid in the development of my soft business skills and help me to shape my own personal identity beyond my job title.

My favorite volunteer experience thus far has been becoming involved in Junior Achievement. Junior Achievement is a non-profit organization that has been inspiring and preparing youth to succeed by providing opportunities to learn financial literacy, entrepreneurship and work readiness skills by engaging programs through the help of dedicated volunteers. I became involved as a Company Advisor. Five to six advisors were assigned to teams of 25 high school students to assist them in starting and liquidating their own business while competing for Company of the Year with other teams of students just like ours (the picture on the right features a few of our student team members). I get really excited about entrepreneurship and to see that the students were so eager to learn and involve themselves in the program got me excited to attend every week. I did find the experience highly time consuming (especially once I became Lead Company Advisor because our lead lost interest) but it was a sacrifice that was very worth while. Some say that being busy is relative and that once you are doing something that you love you develop time affluence because you are enjoying yourself and thriving in your work. It was simply fantastic to be involved in a team setting and really get to know the other advisors and students in such a meaningful way by sharing an experience. I could recognize that my efforts were making a difference and I was able to make powerful contributions to the group.

Volunteering has taught me networking skills, informal leadership skills, and has provided me with new opportunities and an expanded perspective of other individuals circumstances. For this I am forever grateful and I hope that along the way I have been able to inspire others to pursue community involvement through volunteering.

–@nlatter

 

The best leaders know how much they don’t know

This past weekend I spent some time out in Kananaskis sleeping in a bunk bed surrounded by 60 other business students each also out of their comfort zone. The experience was definitely unique. I didn’t know what to expect but I did recognize the value in developing soft business skills to become a better team member, which drew me to participate. Little did I know that I was a leader and I would need to set goals upon my return home in order to realize my leadership potential.

I was reminded of many important ideas…

• Not everyone follows the same path or contributes in the same way
• First a leader must lead themselves
• Leadership takes many forms beyond directive leadership

I thought that I would be learning about leadership qualities and leaders that I should aspire to become. Instead I spent a lot of time this past weekend learning about myself. Learning about what I value, how I work with a team, how I can enhance the leadership qualities I already posses. As a leader I bring value through knowledge, rational thinking, forward thinking/ planning, organization and inclusion of others. I realized that these traits may tempt me to work with people who possess the same skills that I possess. In reality I would be best to work with a team of other individuals who have skills different than the skills that I have. The creative type might get a headache working with someone who likes to work with checklists but the best final project would come from the collaboration of both of these qualities.

Besides all of the things I learned about myself my favourite part of the weekend was the communication norms that we had established as a group at the beginning of the weekend. The group respected each others ideas, welcomed meaningful conversations and strived to work together. We did not have preconceived ideas about each other and valued the unique contribution that each person was able to bring to the table.

I left leadership challenge weekend more well prepared to be a good team member moving forward and inspired to develop my leadership potential.

The value of mentorship

To my mentors,

Without your guidance I do not know where I would be today.

My education has been a journey and having people that are open to sharing advice, answering questions and supporting me has been invaluable.

If I have learned anything it is that you can have more than one mentor. Plus, people are busy, so if you can spread your attention between a variety of people you can see more perspectives and relate to different mentors in different areas of your interest. A mentor does not need to be the perfect match and have absolutely everything in common with you. Of course, it is nice to have some common ground in areas to relate at first but as you learn and grow together in your mentorship relationship you will find value in ways that you didn’t realize initially.

2 favorite tips my 4th year mentor shared with me:

• If someone asks to sit down with you at a networking event, always say yes!
• When you first meet someone engage with them by giving them your full attention because first impressions are extrmely important

I know that these tips may see simplistic but when you are at a networking event and there is a lot of commotion it can be challenging to make the most of each encounter. Her tips resonated with me and now help me remember these important things in the heat of the moment. In addition to these tips my mentor taught me how to be a successful woman in the business world. How to make my presence known when I am in a business meeting, to know that my voice matters, and to have the confidence that my thoughts add value to a conversation.

Fostering a relationship with someone that is really interested in mentoring can be so rewarding. Whether it is your first professional relationship or you are very experienced with professional relationships a mentor will be there to listen, inspire thought provoking conversation and help you to realize new opportunities you may not have considered previsiously.

I highly recommend mentorship programs and I hope to give back as a mentor one day myself.