A lot of people have been quitting their jobs lately. Some have called it “The Great Resignation,” a term coined by Anthony Klotz and an interview with Bloomberg. According to Business Insider by November 2022 4.5 Million people had quit their jobs. Forbes called it a mass exodus of workers. Stuart Diamond’s book “Getting More” is a timeless demonstration of the necessity of negotiations when handling these issues.
What could be causing people to quit their jobs in 2022? According to Business Insider, many workers simply want better work. The past two years have caused many to rethink the way they value their time, especially within industries that hire a lot of lower wage workers. CNBC reports that these trends will continue into 2022.
On one hand this is a positive thing, because many workers are realizing that what they do has immense value. However, it would be more ideal if these workers could negotiate better deals with their current employers.
Workers on the cusp of quitting, or searching for a new job, are faced with many questions.
How can I get more out of my work life?
How can I negotiate better with my co-workers?
What do I do if I keep getting rejected from job interviews?
On the other side of the table, employers find themselves between a rock and a hard place.
How do we…
Bring in new talent in a competitive labor market?
Maintain a healthy turnover rate?
Make our teammates feel valued?
The key to these issues is negotiations. When we learn to communicate our needs and when to compromise, we get more out of our life.
Who better to learn from than the man who wrote the book on negotiations, Stuart Diamond.
Stuart Diamond: Expert Negotiator
Getting More by Stuart Diamond is an invaluable resource for tackling negotiations.
Stuart Diamond is a renowned professor, attorney, journalist, and author. Diamond is an expert in the area of negotiation, quite literally writing the book on it. Stuart Diamond’s book, Getting More has been called the #1 book to read for your career by the Wall Street Journal.
In addition to this, his book has actually been used by Google to train 12,000 of their employees worldwide. What’s more, is that his negotiation model has even been used to train U.S. Special Forces.
In fact, the former Commander of U.S. Special Operations (Admiral William H. McRaven) actually added it to his recommended reading list for military science. So, if you had any doubts about the efficacy of Stuart Diamond’s work, you can be sure that his methods have been put to the test.
Getting More from Work
As previously stated, many people are currently leaving work because they feel their time is worth more. Employers are now feeling the pressure to hire in a very competitive labor market. These are some questions that Stuart Diamond’s “Getting More” can help answer.
Getting more from your job interview.
Preparing for a job interview can be incredibly overwhelming. So using Stuart Diamond’s model, how should you get started?
One way to get started is to collect information on the specific needs of the company or department you’re applying to. With this information, you can tailor your resume and application to the specific needs of that company. By doing this, you will stand out more to your prospective employer.
Doing research on the people interviewing you, or the executives at the company will be very beneficial to you. Identify the “key decision-makers” in the company, and make sure you understand exactly what they do.
By doing this, you can find potential connections between people you’ve previously worked with, or even get in touch with people who have previously worked for the company.
Reaching out to these people and asking them questions will help you gain a better understanding of the interview process as well as the company itself. This is the time to ask any more questions about the company that may not be accessible through their website.
For example:
“What are Company X’s main goals for 2022? What are they struggling with, and where would they like to improve?” Or maybe even, “why did the previous person leave? Or why were they laid off?”
The information you can get from these questions is extremely valuable, and it might not be the type of information that is readily available through a Google search.
Stuart Diamond’s book and negotiation techniques can help you immensely when it comes to securing that job interview and making sure you’re prepared for it. Diamond’s book covers many other areas of the workplace, including getting more from your salary and getting more from your coworkers.
Getting more from your salary.
We mentioned that workers, now more than ever, feel that their time is worth more. But these types of conversations with employers can sometimes be difficult to initiate. Stuart Diamond offers some advice on this in his book, Getting More.
According to Diamond’s negotiation principles, it’s best to have these types of conversations in person. It’s also best to not have the focus of the conversation be about salary, as this can potentially come off as disingenuous.
Instead, start off the conversation by talking about the company’s vision. How does your employer see you as an asset to achieve that long term vision?
This is how you get them to think about how much they value you as an employee; the perfect lead into a conversation about receiving a raise. Is this manipulative? Of course not. You’re simply pointing out the fact that what you do is valuable.
This is just one of many ways in which you could approach this conversation.
One other way is to develop better connections and relationships with your co-workers. If you’re going out of your way to help out your co-workers, not only will they value you more, but your boss might pick up on this as well.
You’d be surprised at what people notice, and it goes to show you that it really is worth getting to know the people you work with.
Getting more from your coworkers.
Forging relationships in the workplace can be beneficial to both you, and the people around you. Not only are you building a connection with someone, but you’re also building somewhat of a coalition.
This is yet another piece of excellent advice found in Stuart Diamond’s book, Getting More.
The more people you have on your side, the more your value as an employee increases. So, you might be more likely to receive that raise in the future, or your job might be safe if something were to happen to the company.
Co-worker bonds can be viewed as a symbiotic relationship. That’s not to say that workplace connections should be viewed as disingenuous, they certainly need to be genuine. That’s literally the point.
But, it is important to be aware that you and your co-worker can gain advantages from this.
For example, befriending someone within the IT department of your company could lead to extra information about the overall current state of the organization. When you take the time to create these valuable working relationships with others, you will no doubt have a better idea of the inner workings of your company.
Having this flow of information between employees is incredibly important if you want to take full advantage of the connections you make within the workplace. Besides this, it’s just good to know how your company is doing outside of your designated bubble.
How you can find out more about Stuart Diamond and his work.
If you’re curious to learn more about these tips on negotiation in the workplace, I’d highly recommend reading Stuart Diamond’s book, Getting More. Diamond uses his expertise in negotiation to detail how you can get the most out of life, whether that’s at the workplace or at home.
If anything in this article resonates with you, you will almost certainly enjoy Diamonds book.
Contact Mollie Plotkin Group for more information on how to hire Stuart Diamond for your next event!
