A part of who we are changes when our surroundings shift. Deep down we hold true to certain beliefs, and those regulate our general worldview. In the multitude of everyday situations however, we are what our surroundings make us.
Solutions require alignment with context
The chemical industry underwent a jarring change from university-like research to objective-driven development early in my career. Markets for products were increasingly competitive and mergers & acquisitions were in the daily news. Serendipitous discoveries were farther and fewer between, lofty long-term goals focused down to short-term objectives.
Our R&D group pursued novel products and supported manufacturing our products, as well as the needs of internal and external customers. The immediate needs of customers and manufacturing sites inevitably squeezed attention away from longer-term solutions. We felt the tension in corporate goals, budgets, and in the conversations between ourselves and those outside our group. Rarely was there an easy or straightforward answer to many conflicting goals, priorities, and resources.
One colleague staunchly rejected allocating resources to develop a custom product for a unique customer inside our company. To this colleague, working on a one-off product would be a waste of time compared to bigger external markets for the corporation. Strategically, a small amount of money directly to the bottom line for our business should not impair large mass-market investments.
The day after one such debate, our division of the corporation went up for sale. And before any actual sale, the parent corporation would separate us, with our division becoming an isolated company serving the same markets and customers. Beyond wondering what would happen to our jobs, we worried if our new company would have enough resources to do the work. Our business manager, soon to be our new CEO, called everyone together.
Our Surroundings Structure and Define Our Work
There are several schools of thought that have attempted to explain our changing behaviors. Psychologists such as Jonathan Haidt have provided models for our deep behaviors, whereas practitioners such as Deirdre Mendez, Erin Meyer, and their predecessors constructed broader frameworks of our cultural behaviors. Renowned sociologist Charles Horton Cooley (1864 – 1929) suggested that our deeper motivations and values are primary and the upper, more visible, and common, actions and thoughts are secondary. Primary behaviors are intense and central, while secondary behaviors are malleable and context-dependent. These two different levels of association are critical in understanding negotiation.
Common Purpose is Born Out of a Common Fate … and Fates Change
Primary and secondary groups are useful classifications for understanding people in negotiation, as people lean more into one or the other depending upon the purpose. The groups have different and varying influences on a person’s behavior. Primary groups are strategic; secondary groups are tactical. Understanding the position of colleagues, influencers, and approvers in a hierarchy is a critical task for the negotiator.
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Our new leader explained the situation and answered our questions. We listened, legs fidgeting and fingers tapping, feeling powerless at first to control our fate. Yet, the CEO was a persuasive leader. His compelling message: we have been delivered this, but we will be small and agile, so let’s take control of the situation.
We drifted back to work after the session, still anxious but offered the chance of a bright future. Talking with the resistive colleague about our new circumstances, we stopped in his office. A momentary pause in the conversation, a meeting of our eyes, and he exclaimed, “If the internal plant wants a new product, let’s do it!”
Negotiations shift when, in a flash, we redefine our communities
A successful negotiation brings the two parties into a group with a shared fate, a primary one preferred but secondary sufficient. Negotiators flourish by searching for commonality amongst the diversity of groups available to achieve success.
For a different take, when our context changes, we change!