C-19 negotiations – ACCEPT help, who’s on your team – you’re not in this alone

Part 5 Negotiating during C-19 – ACCEPT help, who’s on your team – you’re not in this alone

This is an adapted transcript from a series of videos I created to help people with practical advice to negotiate during the challenging times we’re currently facing due to COVID-19. – The VLOG can be viewed on LinkedIn HERE

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Let’s make sure that we have the right team around us during a time when we are negotiating some pretty challenging things. I’ve been thinking about how isolated we are – in our heads, as well as in our physicality. So it’s important to identify who is on your team and who can help you through this?

Identifying your team members

I thought I’d lay out sort of five different areas where you can look to build your team from so perhaps get grab a piece of paper and write this down as you go.

1. The first group is the people who help you, but you pay them.
   • Who are those people? An accountant, a financial planner, your insurance company, your telco, your electricity company.
   • All these people could be on your list of advisors, and they can help solve your problems.
   • Some of them can negotiate on your behalf. And some of them can actually just help you through the conversations that you need to have as well.

2. The second group are those you collaborate with.
   • In my business, I collaborate with lots of other business owners on different projects.
   • If they’re doing poorly right now, how can I help them? If they’re doing well, can they help me?
   • Just by having a chat about who’s doing well and who’s not doing so well, can open up a conversation you can work through together to support one another.

3. The third group are around your go to group, your advisors.
   • These are people you go to for any number of different reasons.
   • This could be people for a cup of tea, to have a sanity check.
   • People who are mentors or in that advisory role, a business coach or someone who you go to for a trusted conversation.
   • Whether you go to these people just for some mental health relief, a laugh or whatever it is that you need. Think about all the people that you normally would sit down and have a chat to, and give them a call. See how they’re going and if they can help you with certain things at this time.

4. The next group I thought about was those people who’ve been through this before.
   • Now I know nobody has been through COVID-19. I’m not saying that. But we certainly have a number of stalwarts in our community that have been through this before.
   • Seek them out, ask them, you know, “what happened after the last recession?”, “what happened after the GFC?”
   • Some of these things are a long time ago, but there will be learning to know about – there are people around who can advise on that.
   • I know there’s lots of talk about Spanish Flu and all the innovation and amazing things that came out of the back of that, but I’m struggling to find how that helps me right now. So, it is interesting, but I would seek out people who have been through recovery before.

4A. Community members can also support you at this time.

• There is information and guidance coming from all over the place, and people in all levels of Government are definitely offering a lot of services. So perhaps looking to that group as well.

5. The final group, I wanted you to have a think about is your network.
   • There are a lot of people on LinkedIn or around our networks at the moment who are offering advice. There are webinars left and right. There’s so many of these that are free and people being super generous with their time.
   • Take them up on their offers of help – if there’s a particular skill that you need a hand with right now, try and track someone who has that skill.
   • Try and find 15 minutes in your day where you can ponder – you know what, I actually really need help with ‘this skill’ or ‘this thing’. Perhaps there’s somebody out there on LinkedIn, or through one of your other networks that you could ask for help from – then take it.

You know, for those of us who don’t often accept help, don’t be too proud right now. You can’t be, we need help. And there’s people who are not doing anything. They’re literally waiting to help people because everything’s out of their control.

If you are actually on the other end, that you’re really busy and you’ve got things you need to get through and it’s probably that you need to solve and things you need to negotiate. If you need a particular person to help you with that, look for them and say, Please, may I have your help?

We’re not very good at this as Australians, but it’s this is a one of those times where – if you need a hand from your mate, take it. Everyone’s in this together. So, you know, the overarching message here is you are not alone. If you need a hand with something, if I can do anything to help obviously reach out and send me a note.

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Known who is on your team and who you can accept help from, will give you greater confidence, and help you feel supported when stepping into a negotiation.

Good luck!

About Sam Trattles – Sam has built a career around negotiation – through marketing, brand, and sponsorship roles over 20 years. She builds capability and confidence in your people by creating strategies that deliver positive business results. Unlocking the value in all your deals. Sam is a straight shooter, she is practical and likes to share her knowledge to help others learn to love negotiating (or to at least, not to hate it). Because it’s worth a great deal.