Trait 26: Negotiation - Professional Development Key of the Week
- Erica Hughey
- Dec 8, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 4
This week, take some time to remember who you are, remember that you’re the best. You’re the G.O.A.T., the greatest of all time. Trait 26 offers the ability, and ego, to influence others with your willpower. If your heart is in it, you can sell water to a whale. As a natural salesperson, you are designed to withstand rejection and eat no for breakfast. When you hear no, you just figure that you’re talking to the wrong person, and not that it’s impossible. This makes you a valuable part of the team because you have a heart for marketing and your ego doesn’t bruise easily as you understand it as a costume you put on to accomplish the mission at hand. You are designed to attract attention and broker a deal. You contribute to the team by finding the most efficient way to get the greatest outcome, capitalizing on the ROI.
Perhaps on past performance reviews or on your grade school report card, you received comments to tone it down and to not be so showy. Never mind that, they just didn’t understand that it is part of your superpowers, and you need that big ego energy to make a mundane but necessary business transaction seem transformational or even magical. You are eager to be on the front line for the team but be mindful that to sustain your integrity and reputation, its best to wait to be called into action to use your persuasive skills to make a difference, like being on special teams of a football team. To ensure you are only making promises that you can keep, apply the old business adage… it’s best to under promise and over deliver.
This skill comes with a lot of cleverness. By taking the time to assess what others want and need, you are able to effortlessly pitch new ideas to your team and your customers, enchanting them. It’s important not to let this intoxicating gift of persuasion turn into a misuse of power and pride. This can easily become a slippery slope as competitiveness and individual pride are encouraged and celebrated in the business world currently although the tides are beginning to shift towards social responsibility and values-based operations. Although the energy from this trait is designed to attract attention, being boastful is not your best move. So don’t talk about, just be about it. Bragging about being the best will draw unfavorable attention in lieu of fascination which will lead to repulsion and rejection.
Your interpersonal interaction style is more of an artform and if you learn to use your pride with creativity and integrity, you’ll have the Midas touch. This type of artisan communication allows you display your cultural intelligence, transcending geographical, racial and social differences so you can connect with whoever that needs what you are selling, be it a product or a program. You thrive with this skill by becoming invincible by practically becoming invisible. By becoming invisible, not making it about you, you allow others to experience a win/win situation whenever they encounter you and thus, they enjoy doing business with you. You are brave enough to operate as such because you have a light-heartedness about you and don’t concern yourself with what other’s project onto you, be it their expectations or beliefs.
The first and most effective step to empowering your team and encouraging engagement is to start with yourself. An analysis of your career design chart provides you with insight into your communication style, interaction strategies and decision-making processes. Understanding this about yourself ultimately benefits the team by understanding and leveraging team dynamics which improves collective productivity and satisfaction. Embracing how you are designed to thrive isn’t just about increasing productivity, however, it is about cultivating a healthy work culture where everyone feels value and understood. Are you ready to unlock your full potential? I can show you where your keys are.
