Heh, I had my annual performance review a couple of days ago (my boss was in town from the US). She told me that generally I've been doing pretty well, but that she'd like to see me use a wider variety of negotiating tactics.
My job is basically focused on negotiation and damage control these days, both working with people inside and outside the company, but mostly internal- getting the information, resources and buy-in from other teams inside the company, and giving them the information they need in return. It's kind of a strange job sometimes but there are parts of it I really enjoy. I like the travel, and I like the feeling that everything is constantly on the verge of collapsing into utter chaos and I'm helping keep it all just within the margin of safety.
Anyway, my boss noticed that my only real trick is to build consensus, get everyone to the table and try to drive an agreement that everyone can live with. This is good, she said, if we always have time to wait for consensus, but we don't always have time. Her advice was:
1) I should do more backroom dealing.
2) I should more often just do what we need to without asking.
3) I should get mad more often. I don't scream and shout enough.
I like how this is going (I was especially amused by the third suggestion). I figure if I stick at this for another couple of years I will finally be able to fulfill my dreams of moving to Washington and becoming some kind of evil political apparatchik.
Josh Lyman is my role model.
Posted by case at July 22, 2006 01:55 PM