I have learned over the last few years to appreciate the importance of the ideas of
- Culture and
- Status
These nebulous concepts play vitally significant roles in the lives of ordinary people in their daily lives.
A few weeks ago, in an employment termination settlement package negotiation, the question of status was what threatened to scupper a tremendously attractive package for the employee, who I was advising.
He wanted a particular title in his statement of employment, which was to form part of the termination agreement, and was prepared to throw up a financially attractive deal for this.
And it struck me that this was ‘status’ at work in my everyday work. It was not some theoretical, nebulous concept.
Not for the employee, it wasn’t. He wanted the title because of doing the work, as he saw it.
Status plays a significant, but overlooked, role in any negotiation. You would do well to recognise this from the off.