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Mastering Workplace Negotiations

Dorothy Mashburn, a leading authority in negotiation, shares some actionable techniques that you can put into practice right now to ensure you maximize your leverage and have successful negotiations in the workplace.

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Dorothy has a fervent mission to champion the underserved in corporate arenas, with a track record of negotiating pivotal deals with global giants and managing international teams. Her unique insights empower minorities and women to achieve their career aspirations. She brings that learning and leadership to everyone through her podcast, Salary Negotiations Made Simple. A podcast dedicated to debunking myths surrounding job search, career advancement, and salary negotiation.

In this blog post, we’re covering the following:

  1. Negotiating Against Yourself

  2. Changing Negotiation Power Dynamics

  3. Negotiating a Starting Salary

  4. Raise Negotiations

  5. Negotiation Strategies for Minority Women

  6. Forging Alliances as a Leader

  7. Staying Aligned with Your Goals During Negotiations

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1) Negotiating Against Yourself

While you’re looking for new opportunities, before salary negotiations even begin, you may find yourself negotiating against yourself

Telling yourself narratives like:

  • I lack the requisite years of experience. 

  • I do not possess the necessary certifications. 

  • How can I compete with those who have more experience?

When these doubts cross our minds, Dorothy encourages us to STOP negotiating with ourselves.

Dorothy explains that so many of us have gotten feedback over the years that we’re too aggressive or too ambitious.

“So what most women and most minority women tend to do is if we have big goals, instead of articulating that, even to ourselves, we stop ourselves. So we don't even allow ourselves to dream big.” - Dorothy Mashburn

This means that you will never reach any of your big goals or dreams.

“Your only job is to dream big.” - Dorothy Mashburn

Dorothy explains that it is somebody else's job to negotiate against you and tell you that your dreams are outrageous.

“You've got to stand up for yourself. And you've got to be the one who's advocating for yourself.” - Dorothy Mashburn

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2) Changing Negotiation Power Dynamics

Dorothy shared a story of her friend who completely changed the power dynamic in a negotiation.

This friend was already earning around $100,000. When her boss asked her for a number for her raise, she boldly asked for $140,000. The request was met with laughter, but she remained undaunted.

Her reply was, “I know you will do your best.”

That is so powerful. She made an ask and was met with laughter, yet her response was to put trust back in that person. I know you will do your best. Ultimately she ended up getting $125,000 and they apologised that they couldn't give her more.

This left a huge mark on Dorothy because it shattered her fears about money and discussion at work and having the courage to ask. 

“Do not fear no because no is your friend. [...] Think no is my friend because that's the beginning of negotiation.” - Dorothy Mashburn

Another point that Dorothy makes is that is it very common to get flustered. You may be feeling a lot inside, but remain calm on the outside.

“If she had said at that time, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, did I overstep, she would have compromised her position. But she stayed calm, she stuck with what she believed to be her value. And in the end, what did she get? A much higher raise than if she had said 110 or 105.” - Dorothy Mashburn

Dorothy explains that there are two things to take away from this story:

  1. Go big

  2. Don’t fear the no

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3) Negotiating a Starting Salary

There's a significant difference between negotiating a raise and negotiating a starting salary. 

“When you're negotiating a starting salary, I will say that you have the maximum leverage, because that is a time when the company has spent a gazillion hours finding the right candidate.” - Dorothy Mashburn

For someone negotiating a job offer, Dorothy recommends the concept of “go big and plan to fail”.

She gives us this example.

If you think you are worth $100,000, generally what happens is you end up negotiating against yourself so you lower that number to $95,000. Obviously the company then counters and you end up somewhere around $92,000.

If instead, you go big and plan to fail, this is what happens.

You ask for  $200,000 which you know you’re not going to get. So when they counter with $150,000 you are so much better off than the original $92,000.

“You've got to do your homework. You can't be an executive in an executive position and walk in blindly and say I want a million dollars. That's just not going to happen.” - Dorothy Mashburn

Dororhty recommends finding three data points to triangulate your salary ask.

  1. A generic website data point: Something like Payscale or Indeed are good options.

  2. A data point from a site specific to your industry: Some sites Dorothy recommends are Levels FYI, Team Blind, and H1B Salary Database.

  3. Check-in with your alumni association: Ask your network who graduated around the same time as you and who have the same type of skills and experience what their pay range is.

Another resource I want to share that was so helpful to me is an app called Fishbowl. You can join different communities and anonymously ask questions to get great community-led feedback. It served me really well when I was leaving a 16-year corporate career and moving to private equity.

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4) Raise Negotiations

Dorothy explains that you may have limited leverage with raise negotiations.

“But you still have leverage, because you're still a high performer potentially, and you still have a lot to give to the organization. You have to be a little bit more strategic.” - Dorothy Mashburn

Even if it is not the performance review period, you should still start preparing for those negotiations now.

Dorothy gives us this example:

You’ve been working on a big project that is going to be delivered in a few months and is a big deal for the organization. Start having those conversations with your manager now.

“Talk about how the company is going to benefit from your work, and then say my hope is that this is going to be a great result or great impact for our organization going forward. Based on that, I would like to start talking about next steps for my own career.” - Dorothy Mashburn

If your manager says it’s too early to be having that conversation, ask when it would be a good time to have it and then bring it up again.

“So that during next year's performance review time, they don't have a chance to tell you that we never budgeted for you. So you've got to think two or three steps ahead.” - Dorothy Mashburn

Then when you do start negotiating your raise, if they aren’t able to give you what you want, start asking for other things.

Think about your next steps and what you need to get there.

Do you need executive presence?

Do you need communication skills?

Then ask for these things.

“I asked for a 25% increase, but we weren't able to get it. I'm really excited about keeping my career trajectory going and my growth going, how about we invest in a leadership coach for me?” - Dorothy Mashburn

Start investigating what else you can do to benefit yourself.

“At the end, if you don't leave, you're still a more energized, excited coached individual who can keep adding value to the organization.” - Dorothy Mashburn

Negotiation is beyond just the money. Yes, we want the money and we should ask for the money but there's more to it in these conversations. You’re building a portfolio of skills as well.

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5) Negotiation Strategies for Minority Women

Minority immigrant women have a lack of social and political capital in the workplace. Dorothy mentions a few negotiation strategies we can utilize.

1. Don’t Discount the Hard Work You Have Already Done

Dorothy explains that even though it can be a hard climb in the workplace because we don’t have that social net, the good news is that if we fail we don’t care as much because we’ve done really hard things before.

“It's a bit of a freeing thing if we accept it because, in a way, we're not bound by ‘normal’ societal boundaries. We can aim big.” - Dorothy Mashburn

Dorothy explains that we can reach out to people we've never talked to before and ask them questions like: 

  • Will you be my social capital? 

  • Will you be my sponsor? 

  • Will you be my mentor? 

  • Will you talk about me behind closed doors when talent management discussions are happening? 

“You have unlimited freedom as an immigrant woman, we just have to unleash it. Because, again, what do you have to lose?” - Dorothy Mashburn

Dorothy also mentions the social conditioning that we didn’t get as immigrant women.

“You do have a lot of power and potential. [...] That mindset needs to change for a lot of us. We have to start thinking that we do have power.” - Dorothy Mashburn

2. Deliver Results

Another strategy Dorothy mentions is results. Results are so important but don’t get stuck solving a problem in your organization that no one really cares about.

“The reality is to do work that the company values, and then relentlessly deliver results.” - Dorothy Mashburn

3. Forge Alliances 

Nothing is stopping you from forging alliances across your organization.

Reach out to people and tell them that you appreciate their leadership style and would love to meet for a coffee or a Zoom chat. Start building those relationships.

Dorothy explains that when you deliver something of value to that leader you can ask them to send a quick note to your manager because you may have been working in the periphery of the main goals that they may not even know what you’re doing.

“Then reciprocate. That's the power of influence - reciprocity. You cannot deny that pull of reciprocity.” - Dorothy Mashburn

4. Find Sponsors

You've got to have sponsors. 

“So much of talent management happens behind closed doors among a few power players. So who's speaking about you?” - Dorothy Mashburn

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6) Forging Alliances as a Leader

If you are a leader, you can extend a hand to forge alliances with people who are coming up behind you in your organization who may not yet recognize the power that they have. You can help move them along the path of negotiating for themselves and claiming their true value.

Dorothy explains that often when a junior female or minority approaches a leader in the organization, the default is to find a mentor to coach and train them to fit in and sound like everyone else.

Let’s stop doing that.

“When I needed somebody to help me, I needed somebody to speak my name in front of large executive leaders and put forth my contributions before a high visibility project came into being.” - Dorothy Mashburn

Dorothy encourages you to be that person.

Secondly, Dorothy talks about the DEI aspect of it.

“Diversity results in results.” - Dorothy Mashburn

Dorothy explains that as leaders we have a responsibility to help bring diversity and diverse perspectives into organizations to help contribute to the results of the organization.

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7) Staying Aligned with Your Goals During Negotiations

According to Dorothy, preparation is key to negotiations.

It is so important to spend time thinking about what you want. What is it that you want? Dorothy refers to this as your want portfolio.

“If you don't do this work, you may get a $500,000 salary, but what you really wanted was flexibility to spend time with your young kids. And you didn't negotiate that so you're still unfulfilled even if you are a very successful negotiator.” - Dorothy Mashburn

Spending time with yourself and figuring out what you want is one of the most important things you can do for yourself.

“If you don't get that want portfolio, it doesn't matter how perfect your negotiation was, you're not going to feel like you've succeeded.” - Dorothy Mashburn

To hear the full conversation, scroll all the way up and tune into episode 66.

About The Hosts: Archita And Olivia

  • ARCHITA

Archita Sivakumar Fritz is the Host and Producer of the Embracing Only Podcast. Archita is a MedTech and Life Science Strategist. She is a LinkedIn Top Voice for her insights into product strategy and nonprofit management, and the creation of inclusive cultures that champion a 'speak up' philosophy.

Following a successful 19+ year corporate career she now helps C Suite across organizations as a Fractional Product Marketing Leader through her company Ready Set Bold.

She works with individuals with 10+ years of corporate experience to find new paths away from toxic or underappreciative environments, enabling both personal fulfillment and broader organizational impact.

→ Grab your FREE resource to build your career transition here: https://embracingonly.com/cubicle-escape-blueprint 

→ If you want to work with Archita you can reach out to her here: www.readysetb

→ Book her as a speaker, moderator, or coach for your next company event or workshop.

  • OLIVIA

Olivia Grant Cream is the host and producer of the Embracing Only podcast. Nothing makes her happier than providing a platform to women who are changing the world. 

Olivia is a proud US Veteran and HR Leader who is passionate about changing the face of corporate America by helping underrepresented people reclaim their power and live the life of their dreams. 

She is an advocate for transitioning military members seeking second careers in the corporate landscape. 

Olivia is a proud Jamaican and enjoys mentoring, coaching, classic cars, and nature. The way you tell your story online can make all the difference. 

→ You can work with Olivia here: www.oliviacre 

→ Book her as a keynote speaker or moderator for your next ERG or company event.