Negotiation & Persuasion

Negotiating on behalf of your team: When is your team well-being more important than
upper management’s requests?

Hult International Business School

February 2020
Introduction
Some managers are used to order very difficult tasks in nearly impossible windows of time putting
team leaders against the ropes, because they have to decide whether just accept the task, or else
confront the manager’s objectives on behalf of their teams. This kind of tasks could have
implications such as unpaid extra hours, high levels of stress, demotivation, risk of failure, etc.
Moreover, managers may be used to this behavior because they don’t take into consideration its
implications, or they simply don’t interact directly with the team that will perform the task. These
effects may be worsened if managers also define stressful KPIs to the teams.

So, what actions can be taken by team leaders to maintain motivation and performance?

You could be dealing with bad management

According to Hlupic (2019), bad management can lead to low levels of engagement which is related
to staff turnover, less productivity and efficiency, as well as lower profit. Moreover, as defined in
“The 5 levels of management shift” framework, managers that don’t care about the wellbeing of the
employees lock the organization above “Level 3”, preventing to foster purpose and collaboration as
we see in Figure 1:

Furthermore, according to Lubit (2004), bad management may be caused by emotional intelligence
weaknesses (personal and social competences), as having difficulties to contain anger and anxiety or
to understand people’s feelings. Managers with low emotional intelligence could be classified as we
can see in Figure 2:
The risk of not standing your ground
Leaders that don’t stand for their team’s wellbeing over management decisions, could be perceived
as if they are afraid or are not willing to do so, and may lose the team’s respect over time. Similarly,
as Gallo (2010) mentions, when teams begin to disrespect leaders, start to disengage, respond with
apathy, gossip, avoid team assignments, stop coming to meetings or meeting without team leaders,
turning on them. Therefore, in that case, team leaders should acknowledge publicly their
responsibility to the problem and detailing how they are going to deal with it.

Team leader as a skillful human shield

Acquiring Self-Awareness
Team leaders should be aware of internal or external problems that may affect their teams, making
an effort to prevent or mitigate those threats. According to Sutton (2010), good leaders shield their
employees from distress and distraction (behind the scenes or publicly), knowing how to identify
which battles are crucial to fight and which are less important, Even so, if it is beyond their control
(as layoffs, pay cuts, though assignments), the best ones show compassion, try to relieve fears, and
control negative consequences.

Building relationships and trust

Team leaders should earn manager’s confidence and develop a relationship with them before
discussing better conditions for the teams. As is mentioned by Salacuse (2019), long term
relationships in negotiation require collaborative work and mutually beneficial agreements. These
negotiations engender trust, which is a vital means to secure desired actions from others. Moreover,
people are prone to consider a course of action as less risky -and more acceptable- when it is
suggested by someone of their trust.

Developing communication skills

As Mindtools (2016) states, strong communication is the key to fully understand managers
expectations of the team and the team leader, so knowing what they want will improve the chances
to obtain their approval. Therefore, in order to look after their teams and protect them from
unreasonable pressure, team leaders need skills like assertiveness and win-win negotiation to turn
work away or negotiate additional resources, as we can see in Figure 3:
Being prepared to stand your ground and Take action
Additionally, as mentioned by Sutton (2010), a good leader protects followers from bad
management orders that can undermine their performance or well-being. Therefore, the decision to
comply or resist will depend on what is most helpful, not only to the team but also to the leader.

Furthermore, team leaders should protect their people when mistakes are made, it can be painful
and risky but remarkably effective as well, engendering loyalty by demonstrating -with actions
instead of only words- that the leader is ready to protect his/her team. Similarly, good bosses
protect their teams from demeaning, overly demanding, and frustrating clients and customers.

Likewise, as Stack (2014) mentions, great leaders show to their teams that they care about them,
fighting when necessary for the team’s welfare. In the same way, she suggests actions to shield
teams effectively, that can be complemented with Hoenigman (2018) suggestions to deal with a
difficult environment, as we can see in Figure 4:

Conclusions
As we have reviewed, team leaders should be aware of the menaces to their teams (internal and
external) and consider the risks of not taking action on them, even worse if those menaces come
from bad managers.
Furthermore, team leaders should take into consideration what are the senior managers' needs and
expectations of the team, as well as have a developed sense of their behavior. Similarly, team
leaders must develop critical skills like assertiveness and win-win negotiations, to bargain the best
conditions for their teams and the business.

Finally, these actions may strengthen managers’ awareness of the teams’ well-being prior to making
decisions, giving orders or define deadlines. This mindset may allow not only achieve better results
in the short term but also foster employee’s commitment to the business, improving profitability.
References
 Hlupic, V. (2019). Humane capital : How to create a management shift to transform
performance and profit. London, UK: Bloomsbury Business.
 Lubit, R. (2004, April n.d.). Managers: An emotional intelligence approach to dealing
with difficult personalities. Ivey Business Journal. Retrieved from
https://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/the-tyranny-of-toxic-managers-an-
emotional-intelligence-approach-to-dealing-with-difficult-personalities/
 Gallo, A. (2010, October 25). When your team turns on you. Harvard Business
Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2010/10/when-your-team-turns-on-you
 Salacuse, J. (2019, November 5). The Importance of a Relationship in Negotiation.
Harvard Law School. Retrieved from
https://www.pon.harvard.edu/daily/negotiation-training-daily/negotiate-
relationships/
 Sutton, R. (2010, September n.d.). Managing Yourself: The Boss as Human Shield.
Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2010/09/managing-
yourself-the-boss-as-human-shield
 Mind Tools (2016, n.d.). Team Management Skills. Mind Tools. Retrieved from
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_92.htm
 Stack, L. (2014, August 18). Protecting your team in a competitive workplace.
Productive Magazine. Retrieved from http://productivemag.com/22/protecting-
your-team-in-a-competitive-workplace
Complementary references
 Mind Tools (2016, n.d.). How to be Assertive. Mind Tools. Retrieved from
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/Assertiveness.htm
 Mind Tools (2016, n.d.). Win-Win Negotiation. Mind Tools. Retrieved from
https://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/NegotiationSkills.htm
 Hoenigman (2018, May 20). How to Protect Your Team from Bullies & Bad Actors in
Leadership. Glassdoor. Retrieved from
https://www.glassdoor.com/employers/blog/protect-your-team/