The idea for this blog, as well as for my training and coaching business (www.aprilgilbert.com), came from the many friends and acquaintances who have, over the years, asked me for strategic advice, tactical coaching, and tips on important negotiations in their lives. Sometimes, the need is immediate and they must have advice in the next 30 minutes. Other times, I have worked with them over days, weeks, or months. But always, they end up feeling more confident, empowered, and skillful than they did before and, almost always, they get closer to what they want.
Some of the topics I have coached on include career, personal, and professional advice such as raises and promotions, dealing with abusive bosses or difficult co-workers, responding to poor or unfair performance reviews, getting appropriate severance pay when a position goes sour, strategies to use before, during, and after a marital breakdown, and tips on negotiating the purchase of a business.
My hope is that this blog will be a quick dose of fun and confidence to help you with your life negotiations and introduce to you some of the basic concepts behind being a good negotiator. It will come out once every week or so with brief thoughts and ideas pertinent to the negotiations in your personal and professional life. It will never be more than a few paragraphs and will always give you ways to learn more about the topic.
I hope this will also be a conversation as I look forward to hearing back from you about your own negotiating challenges and approaches. What have you negotiated in your life recently? What do you have coming up? Let me know!