Women are 4 times less likely upon leaving college, to use negotiation to advance their career interests than men. This reluctance is a major factor in why women earn only 77% as much as men in the workplace.
It's a fact: 70% of people resist negotiation. Don't want to do it. And that is especially true of women.
Cautionary note: I am not a gender psychologist. But I have observed what I call the "female-negotiation-avoidance-phenomenon" my entire career. I am not alone. In their groundbreaking work entitled "Ask For It: How women can use the power of negotiation to get what they really want", authors Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever study the issue in depth. It boils down to this: women in business are more reluctant to ask for what is rightfully theirs than men.
I'm realistic. We can't snap our fingers and undo the thousands of years of history that brought us to today. But we can start by improving negotiation outcomes for women, one negotiation at a time.
We do that through great training. I believe that with a proper plan and solid process, anyone can negotiate effectively. But the key is fighting through our own reluctance and gaining a willingness to negotiate in the first place. Here are three key steps to making negotiation your success tool:
1) Face fears and overcome reluctance;
2) Use data and aggressive preparation to our advantage;
3) Accept nuances and develop our own effective style.
You can do this. I'd love to explain how.
