Talk to the Boss

I long to be a better negotiator at work.  I'm probably average among my peers, but I see this as one of the biggest opportunities I have to make a bigger impact.  I have trouble persuading plants to staff roles, improve systems, develop skills, and take actions that I know are in their best interest.  Lots of people around me are in the same position.  It's not easy to persuade people who don't work for you to invest their time or their resources when they lack both.  But I'm sure I can do better.

The first thing I need is to engage the right people.  I tend to talk to the people I know well, but these are often NOT the people who make the budget and staffing decisions.  These are my friends in the manufacturing plants, the people I work with to solve problems.  But the plant managers who are NOT working on the production floor are the ones who own the budgets.  Like many others around me, I think I often wait too long to face the reality that I'm preaching to the wrong choir.  I may convince my project contacts that something is worthwhile, but I've got to convince their leadership and doing this indirectly is the slow road to success.

The same thing is true outside of the plants with central, corporate leadership.  It's easier to get my peers to sympathize with my position and together to moan about how leadership "just doesn't get it".  Instead, we all need to develop relationships with those at higher levels that make it easier for us to approach them when we really need to sell them on our ideas.