Thoughts and Insights by Michael Gregory

How to Negotiate with Negotiators That Don’t Care

Not all negotiators believe in fair play and some actually negotiate in “bad faith”. You may be left with the perspective that the other side knows what they are doing is wrong, immoral and not appropriate, but so what? They really don’t seem to care. This can be very frustrating. The question is why and is there anything you can do about it?

Defensive Rules for Negotiations

In negotiations we initially tend to focus on our position, our side, our perspective and our interests. These are in general offensive perspectives. In this article I am going to suggest considering defensive perspectives. This begins with preparation, facts versus perceptions and rephrasing or reframing the other side’s commentary.

What Should You Do to Manage Conflict in the Workplace?

The stats are out there on conflict in the workplace.   So what can you do to help de-escalate others in the workplace.  This blog post provides some insights and recommends another article from the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation for further reading.

Business Valuation and Conflicts with the IRS

Today the focus is on the IRS, business valuation and how to overcome differences of opinions with the IRS.  Although our society reinforces confrontation, winning and overpowering the other side, I am offering a way to reduce stress, save time, save money and work to resolve issues with the IRS.  This method does not always work, but in my experience it works nearly all the time.  As such consider the approach offered as a way to resolve your business valuation issue with the IRS.  I also ways to proceed should the recommended approach not work. 

Fairness in Negotiations with the IRS

When working with the IRS recall that one of your rights in the IRS Taxpayer Bill of Rights  (#10) is for the system to be just and fair. This article discusses this issue related to a recent business valuation case to resolve an issue.  Stay positive, remain professional, focus on the facts related to the issue, listen to understand the IRS representative's perspective and work to resolve the issue. 

The Importance of Relationships in Negotiation

Before beginning or even entertaining a negotiation, thought should be given to understanding the other party, a social media search, building a relationship, listening to the other party and educating the other party.  These are all elements that are needed before beginning the actual process of negotiating to enhance the chances of success.

How to Keep Your Team Focused During Uncertain Times

In this article I offer a practical example of how to keep the team focused during difficult times and share with you an article from the Harvard Business Review Amy Gallo. Her aticle offers some good insights on “How to Keep Your Team Focused and Productive During Uncertain Times”.  .

How to Keep the Best People

What do managers need and want to enhance effectiveness? The same things their employees want! According to the Gallup Poll nearly one third of Americans are not engaged at work and that’s a three year high.

The Rise of Artificial Intelligence Makes Emotional Intelligence More Important

In “The Rise of Artificial Intelligence Makes Emotional Intelligence More Important” by Megan Beck and Barry Libert the authors make a strong case that skills like persuasion, social understanding, and empathy are going to become differentiators as artificial intelligence and machine learning take over our other tasks.

Understanding and Using Different Negotiation Styles

Reading “Understanding Different Negotiating Styles” by Katie Shonk from the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation blog, it struck me that I wanted to share with you another way to look at negotiating styles other than the way these were explained.   She categorizes negotiating styles as individualistic, cooperators, competitives, and altruists and she offers some interesting statistics.  She has some very good insights and I recommend her article, however, I want to present some information for you from a different perspective.