12 March 2005

Negotiating technique #3 - the leapfrog

This technique is best tried by only the quickwitted, but may work on average speed wits if you have had lots of coffee that morning. It is useful for finding out things that you are not necessarily meant to know.

Prepare by taking snippets of conversations you have had with a certain person you work with on a certain critical task. Work these up in your mind, and imagine the worst possible scenario. Imagine things collapsing in a big heap, and that everyone you work with has a sub-normal level of competence. At the same time, meditate, and achieve the mindset that you alone are the sole expert on this particular matter.

Begin by suddenly appearing behind the person's desk, and request that they "come and speak to you for a sec", and walk off before they can answer "no, actually...". (Startlement and interruption is important for setting the mood of your negotiation).

Start to question them with a series of indirect questions - at no stage should the person see at once what you are actually trying to find out. If their answers are not giving you what you need, this is where you employ the fully fledged leapfrog. Latch onto anything the person says that you can, and make the conversation tangential. Bring up any past failures you can think of (theirs personally, or those of others involved with the project), and imply that the same thing is happening again. If nothing critical is divulged, change the topic again, and repeat. Watch as the person gets more and more exasperated by your sudden changes in topic and systematic wearing down of their self-confidence.

With luck, they will have by now told you what you want to know. If not, wind down the conversation, and start to look busy with something else - the person will get the hint and leave the room.

Sapien watch (1)

This week I witnessed a curious phenomenon in a fellow human being. I don't know what to call the condition, at this stage... maybe something will come later.

Said human being had made a pertinent point at a (rather badly chaired) meeting, then the discussion continued on. I had nothing to add to the discussion, and rather hoped we could just move on to the next agenda item. I looked around to see what other people were feeling about the situation. Pertinent point guy was no longer speaking, but sat there, silently mouthing words and tipping his head as if he was speaking.

I have no idea if he was reliving his moment (in which he made a valid point, but unfortunatley didn't conclude the mindnumbingly boring discusion), or if he was rehearsing for a future conversation he was anticipating having with someone.

01 March 2005

Merry Risa channels Thelma

Well, I seem to have kicked that cold, but only after a whole weekend of doing stuff-all. Good I suppose.

A funny thing happened on Friday. Was having a conversation with someone Senior, to use the phraseology of the day (thanks BSharp). It was a hot day, and we happened to be in an unairconditioned office. Mid-sentence, my contact lens fell right off my eye. Both of us had to stop talking and scrounge around on the floor looking for it, just like Thelma from Scooby Doo when she had her glasses knocked off!

Found the lens, and held it on my finger, only to find that to my horror, senior person picked right up with the cross-purposed and conclusion-leaping conversation. After about 10 minutes of holding the lens on my finger right in front of senior person, I had to interrupt and tell him that if I didn't clean it and put it back on soon, the lens would dry out. "Of course, of course!"

Ah - cheers. To Life and all it throw at us....