We've made our recommendation, and we're hoping for a big thumbs up. It's possible that the decision maker will be surprised with your new approach, especially if this is the first time you've brought a problem to light with this model. Could the decision maker have resistance based on past problems that you brought up? Sure, because you didn't come with solutions before. Is it possible that the decision maker might be surprised with your new approach? Absolutely, because they're used to only hearing complaints, and it's not my job, or it's not my problem. Is it possible that the solution you came up with is not necessarily the same as what the decision maker would have normally recommended? For sure, and that's why you need to be fully ready to discuss your new approach. In this lesson, we're going to talk about how we can overcome potential reactivity by identifying our individual triggers. We know ourselves better than anyone, and we know how we might respond negatively if we're shut down. Especially if we have put this much thought, and time, and attention into solving the problem. Let's face it at this point this is our baby, and we're proud of our work, we're excited to share, and can't come up with any reasons someone wouldn't agree with us. We've done the critical thinking, we've looked at this from every angle, and we know our idea will work. If we shut down that could be a trigger. I'm just saying a reactive response could diminish future attempts, so we need to be open to feedback. Let's take a look at some of the things that we might want to consider, and be honest about our potential responses. I like to look at this as be, and avoid. What do we need to be to come across well, and what do we need to really avoid? Let's read through these, and highlight the characteristics that would be most difficult for you. I'm going to share with you the ones that would be most difficult for me to display, and then after that you're going to pause, and write down, and think through what would be some of the things that might cause you to be defensive. All right, when we're making the recommendation, we want to be confident. We don't want to come across as, "I think this will work", so we don't show any in-confidence there at all. We come in, we've thought this through, we're not being forceful, but we're confident with our idea. We want to be calm, and collected, so that means not to be too excited. We want to be open-minded. Even though we've thought this through, if the person we're sharing it with has something else in mind, we want to express that we're very open to that. We want to be organized with our thought process, and the way we present it. We want to be composed, respectful, and most importantly ready for a yes, or a no. On the other side of that, what are some of the things we want to avoid? We want to avoid being defensive. After we've put so much thought and time into this, and we share our idea, if someone says, "Oh, that'll never work", it'd be really hard not to just go, "What?" We don't want to show strong emotions immediately, just say, "Well why not?" We don't want to be pushy and say, "Hey, listen, I've really thought this through, and this is the way that we should go." We also don't want to be threatening, or catastrophizing, or aggrandizing, or embellishing, making this situation seem worse than it is. Now, you might say, "I don't think I'd ever be threatening." Well, think about it. If you've thought through this, and you really have a great reaction, let's say like with the white noise, for example. Then the person says, "White noise? Why did you think of that? That's not going to do anything." It would be really hard to just sit there and say, "All right, well, tell me more what you're thinking." Or they might say, "We're in a cubicle environment you guys just need to get used to it." Then we might threaten, and say something like, "Well, we're not going to be able to deliver on very good service." So we don't want to go there. We need to really be composed, and respectful, and most importantly ready for a yes, or no. Now, be honest with yourself, go ahead and identify the ones that you think you might have a potential to be that you want to avoid, and what would be some of the things that you may not do that you want to make sure that you show up. Do you want to show up confident, organized, and composed? Go ahead and write that down.
