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面向不同人推销你的理念的方法

发布时间:2015-11-18 11:19:18 Tags:,,,,

作者:Thomas Henshell

我们的生活中大部分时间都在推销。不管是试图哄骗三岁的孩子去睡觉还是说服妻子去玩《炉石传说》。所以了解一些推销技巧将对你的每日生活具有帮助。

sell up down lateral(from gamasutra)

sell up down lateral(from gamasutra)

如果你想要老板给你提薪,你便是在推销一个理念。

如果你希望你的团队加班以赶在截止日期前完成工作,你便是在推销一个理念。

如果你想要往游戏中添加一个新功能,你便是在推销一个理念。

电影《盗梦空间》便有效传达了销售概念:即你尝试着将某个想法植入其他人的脑子里。而防御机制(不管好坏,故意的或者无意的)则能够阻止这种移植的发生。

1.复活点

大约1年前,我写了一篇《销售你的理念,游戏和自己的12个技巧》。那时候我主要描写的是面向陌生人(有兴趣的消费者,发行商,策略型合作伙伴,记者和融资人)销售你的理念,并且对方的反应有可能是中立或者不感兴趣。

那时候我说过,如果人们喜欢那篇文章我便会继续写下第二篇文章,即关于如何进行内部推销。关于内部,我指的是那些你已经认识或者与你一起共事的人:

1.上至你的老板

2.下至你的直接下属

3.你的同事或者不需要听从你的意见的一般人

本文将是关于如何在一个完全不同的环境中使用这些有效的技巧。

我是谁?

在接受建议前我总是希望先了解是谁在给我建议。在过去20年里我一直致力于电子商务软件/手机的销售中,并管理了超过2000万美元的项目。我曾经担任了一家加拿大最大的电子产品销售商总公司的销售培训师。而真正进入游戏开发领域是在3年前。现在我是作为一名拥有5个不同业务并拥有30名员工的企业家。

为什么要使用“推销”这个词?

几乎不带任何抵抗地传达一个理念是一种教授行为。

而必须克服抵抗(像防御性,忙碌,不感兴趣,或单纯的不喜欢你)的理念传达便是我所谓的推销。

(我发现大多数老师都会遭遇学生的抵抗,这也是为什么他们的工作总是包含许多推销行为。)

而成功消除别人对于你的理念的抵抗,并让他们认同你的理念甚至将其当成是自己的理念,你便“完成了推销”。

因为未花钱并不代表你并未进行推销。

推销的核心

为了向某人进行推销,你必须向他们呈现出你想要推销的内容。

说来简单做来难。

你所阅读的每篇文章(包括本文)的标题都在尝试着告诉你文章中存在一些有价值的内容。即一些能够让你获得学习,不需要尝试,并且想要向其他人炫耀的内容。

策略1:学习如何向上推销(面向管理者)

大多数人都要向其他人进行汇报。这里的其他人指的是作为管理者的领导,群组或委员会。管理者主要有两种类型:很棒和很可怕。也许你认为还有第三种类型,即中立型,但这只是前面两种类型的结合。你需要采取的第一步便是识别你的管理者属于哪种类型。

如果你们是一支两人独立团队,你可能不会使用“管理者”这个词或者不会这么想。但是就像共产主义所证实的那样,即使是在一支平等的团队中也会出现一些不平等的状况。所以在一支独立团队中也会有人扮演起管理者的角色。独立开发者将面临一些额外的挑战,之后你们便会看到。

在21世纪初期,我花了5年时间一直待在加拿大最大的一家电子商务公司。但是对于公司的管理者,我却未能进行有效的推销。

推销的核心在于向他们呈现出“真正的内容”。管理者想要看到什么呢?

优秀的管理者想要:

1.任何对他/她的boss重要的东西(绩效指标)

2.有关他们薪资的东西(奖金,这通常是受到绩效指标的影响)

3.成功的项目

4.一支功能健全的团队,并始终火力全开

5.能够证明他们的工作足够出色的证据

6.在当前运行中能够找到的效能或者改进

7.团队,部门,公司和股东的长期成功。如此他们便会愿意继续留在这里

糟糕的管理者想要:

1.能够感知到事情正有效发展着。并能够为那些未有效发展的事情找到一些不错的借口

2.以任何代价获得更高的报酬(如奖金)

3.成功的项目

4.团队花费最少的时间和努力。如果每个人只是做着自己的工作,一切都会变得更好。

5.尽可能不被打扰。如果人们花费越多时间与他们待在一起,那就说明他们有可能遇到难题了。

6.所有的一切都保持不变。绝对不要出大事。他们可能很难去应对当前的工作,所以任何改变都将让他们的工作变得更困难。

7.自己的短期成功。他们总是会很快便离开当前的岗位或公司,所以在他们找到新工作前这便是一场比赛。

独立问题:谁是管理者?

独立团队一开始通常是由一些朋友或学生组合在一起去创造一款游戏。你知道的,游戏是很容易制作的!

我便曾经经历过两次企业伙伴分裂的情况,更是亲眼目睹了许多这样的情况。现在我管理了5家公司。每家公司都有一位负责人,我也告诉了他们忽视便是扮演好这一角色的秘诀。

记下每个人所负责的工作。

这并不只是关于谁负责程序谁负责美术。还有谁负责时间安排,谁负责财务,谁做出有关团队成员的决定?如果你将做这些工作,当事情变得更复杂(它们肯定会变得更复杂的)时,你便会焦虑得想掐死对方(是的,你会想这么做),对于谁需要做出决定每个人的看法都是一样的。而在本文中,负责做出特别决定的人便是“管理者”。

尽管我的下属知道他们应该明确各自的角色,但是他们却并未这么做。所以我很怕在这方面被更多人所忽视。

向管理者推销优势

作为“臣子”,似乎你在向管理者推销时是处于不利位置。但这不一定是真的。虽然你不能控制你的boss,但你却能对他/她产生影响。

根据作为雇员的你的优秀程度以及你在团队中的重要性,你也拥有难以取代的地位。相信我,即使是一些糟糕的雇员也是无可取代的。我不知道是否有人喜欢经历招牌过程(也许是HR吧)。所以你的管理者至少能够提供给你讲话的机会。而如果将其与其它部门的成员相比,你会发现别人甚至不会给你任何时间。或者在外部推销中,你的消费者甚至不会接电话或回你的邮件。现在你至少已经克服了推销中最复杂的一部分:让对方听到!

处于一个几乎没有控制权的位置意味着你需要应对更具纯粹的推销挑战。要不就是你证实了自己的观点并让老板认同,要不就是你未能做到这点。但是如果是对下进行推销的话事情就没有这么简单了。

了解你的用户,了解你的角度

大多数人是基于让自己兴奋的事物而不是能让用户兴奋的事物去选择推销内容。但其实这是只有菜鸟才会犯的错误。你需要选择一个能够吸引用户并让他们感到兴奋的角度。

情境:

你的想法是将开发团队带到一个全新的方法论上(如SCRUM之类)。

而你面对的是一个只想保持一切不变的糟糕的管理者。

角度:

谈论所有有关你的团队的利益,士气,公司的长期成功都是错误的。

相反地,你应该专注于传达不需要他们太多参与的全新过程。基于全新工具并且项目的许多“管理”工作落到了团队成员身上,管理者便有时间去做那些他们擅于做的事。(千万别说他们擅于做的事便是在Facebook上闲逛,这不可能帮到你。)

如何想出一个角度?

将自己当初是电子游戏公司一个严厉的老板进行思考。我花了几分钟的时间站在我的一位管理者的角度进行思考并写下他可能会有的7大动机。我了解他的动机是因为我已经和这个人一起工作好几年了。

如果你觉得自己做不到这点,那就去和团队成员商量看看。也许和两个人的力量便能够勾勒出一张完整的计划图。

专业技巧:你可能会把这变成一场八卦会谈。这并不能带给任何人帮助,也不能帮助你理解他们的动机。你应该尝试着忘记你面对的是一个糟糕的管理者并只是努力去理解他们的想法。

如果你真的很想知道的话,那就找机会与你的管理者聊聊他们的动机到底是什么。一个下属做这种事真的会很奇怪,但不管你和管理者的关系怎样,这都有可能改善情况。首先,人们总是喜欢谈论自己。其次,人们总是希望别人能够了解自己的需求。所以如果你能够与他们进行单纯的聊天并听他们说说自己的事,你便能够进一步了解他们,并且他们也会觉得你这个人不错!

与管理者交谈的初级课:

为什么你会选择这家公司?

这就像在问他们的初恋一样。而了解他们的“初恋”能够帮助你更好地了解他们的动机。

你喜欢它的神秘?

这能够让你了解到他们现在的动机。

是什么因素让你的工作变得更简单?

这将告诉你在推销理念时该使用怎样的角度。

什么样的工作会让你熬夜?

这是通过不同的方式在问上面的问题。

你认为自己的职业生涯会如何发展?

这是关于一个人的长期目标,并能够传达更多他的动机。

专业技巧:上述问题与我在面试应聘者的时候问的问题相似。当你在与人共事时,了解他们的动机非常重要。

帮助推动管理者的发展

Zig Ziglar是位销售员也是一名励志演说家。在他的一本书中他解释了许多人尝试着推动自己向前发展,即在公司中攀升到更高的位置上。所以在这一方面我们应该与管理者们相互帮助。这是业务方面的一个黄金法则:如果我们希望别人怎么对待自己,那就先这样去对待别人。

管理者应该想办法让自己脱离工作。因为如果他的团队完全依赖于他自己,管理者又该如何离开当前的位置去执行其它工作呢?

遗憾的是,我们中的很多人总是在商讨着如何让管理者遭殃而不是如何推动他们的发展。作为一名称职的雇员,你的动机应该是想办法推动管理者的发展。

如果你专注于如何推动管理者的发展,你便能够明确他们的动机并掌握推销的角度。

独立问题:朋友是管理者

在独立开发中很少会出现推销的情况,因为每个人只是在“做着各自的事”。但独立开发者还需要面对一个额外的挑战,即自己的朋友是管理者的身份。

就像我便曾4次成为4个朋友的管理者。如果你们先是作为朋友而后对方成为了你的上司,这便会引出各种问题,因为你们的关系会因为权力的不平衡出现变化。而如果你们是因为一起工作才变成朋友,那便没关系,因为在你们形成朋友关系时你们便处于一种权力不平等的状态下。

这真的是一个很棘手的问题,所以我将在此提供一些帮助你们更好地共事的技巧:

1.尊重对方的职位

你远比自己可能知道的更加了解这个人。但是因为他们的职位你至少应该对他们表示尊重。你的角色应该是一名优秀的追随者,而不是因为你们是朋友而想要努力证明你们之间是平等的。

2.划定一些适当的界限

你们可能会花许多时间待在一起。尝试着避免将工作时间与娱乐时间混为一谈。你们可以在玩游戏的同时闲聊些工作。但如果你们有一些比较严肃的事要谈,那就不要在玩游戏的时候说。等到正式的工作场合再提及比较适合。

3.每个人都有自己的想法

作为独立开发者的一大乐趣便是你所做的事是任何拥有正常思维的人所不会参与的。所以如果你处于一个独立团队中,那么在这里几乎每个人都是按照自己的想法在做事,所以这可能会引出各种问题。而这也是录用这些人的代价。

作为一名独立开发者,你应该拥有较高的标准。但同时你也应该更加宽宏大量,因为你们所做的事毕竟是游戏开发。

4.即使管理者不愿承认,这的确是一份不容易的工作。

似乎看起来管理朋友比管理一个陌生人轻松,但其实并非如此。你应该尝试着搞清楚这点。

因为某些原因我们采取了相反的做法。如果你的管理者做出了你不喜欢的决定,你只会走开并并开始抱怨。这会导致管理者不得不一直去解释每件小事。这对于你来说也是不利的情况。

策略2:如何面向雇员推销

面向直接下属推销理念是花费我最多时间的地方。也是目前为止最困难的部分。可能乍听起来你很难理解这点,所以让我细细说明。

如果你是一名管理者,你让下属花10个小时去画一些三角形,他们也照做了。那么花10个小时去创造三角形的推销是否是一个不错的理念?并不见得。因为你拥有控制权,所以在某种程度上他们必须做你要求的事,否则便要面对一定的后果:被调职,得到更难的工作安排,甚至被解雇。人们会出于恐惧,义务或责任去做任何你要求他们做的事,而不是因为相信你所说的话。

根据我的经验,大多数雇员都会因为控制因素而感到害怕。这有可能是他们之前的工作经验或文化所带来的潜意识影响。所以雇员只会单纯地接受上司的理念,而不像合作者那样表达自己的看法。

这也是为何向上推销比较简单的原因。

我拥有一种现代管理心态,即我非常在乎我的下属们的动机和潜力。我希望与那些比我更有天赋和经验的人共事,所以我能够因此获得比我独自工作更棒的结果。我希望能够与五星级的同事一起工作,邀请对的人一起前进并让错的人离开。比起执行我所要求的工作,我更希望人们能够把握真正的理念。

megaphone(from gamasutra)

megaphone(from gamasutra)

当你拥有权力时(就像我能雇员的薪水单底部签名一样),你的脸上将会被贴上一个巨大的扩音器。即使当你在小声说话时,也会因此产生巨大的回声。

以下便是一种独立游戏开发情况:

我当前项目的美术师Archmage Rises便是一名合同工。我让他帮我创造一些看起来很酷的法师图像。他非常努力并发给我一些完成的作品。但是在检查的时候我却发现图像中漏掉了某些东西,也许图像中本应该拥有蛇/独角兽/更多火/更少火/或者用绿色笔画出来的红线。

在合约世界中,我们总是希望能够尽可能地取悦上司,保住工作,并尽快转向下一份工作中。

以下是一种典型的业务管理情况:

我希望更多消费者能够为了自己的日常食品需求而依赖于杂货店。通过延长2个小时的关闭时间,我们可以给社区发送一封信息表示我们将在他们需要的时候提供帮助。而延长时间往往需要更复杂的时间安排,聘请额外人员,对他们进行培训,并信任不同的雇员能够在深夜做出每日结算。

对于杂货店的管理者,我的想法会招致许多有关收益的问题。管理者会怀疑增加的收益也包含了那些额外支出的成本。

而我们该如何在避免员工拥有“好吧,随便怎样”的想法的同时解决这些问题呢?

谈论what而不是how

what指的是看法,即要达到的目标。

how指的是具体的实施。

what很少会改变形式,它有可能是一种好的或必要的理念,也有可能是一种糟糕的理念。我们可能在很多非常明显的情况下将what执行成how。

关于避免与你所管理的人谈论how有两个原因。

第一个原因是每个人都有可能陷进有关how的内容中而完全忘记what。这在执行者(游戏邦注:如程序员,美术师,设计师等等)中很常见,并与那些经常将how的工作递交给团队成员的管理者截然相反。

如果我跟我的程序团队说我想要添加一个全球排行榜并希望服务器部分能够尽快组装完成,他们便会如鲨鱼般快速进行how部分。他们会讨论糟糕的组装选择是怎样的。即使讨论的最后是他们决定在PHP中执行服务器部分,但是所有人也都会相信在PHP中执行排行榜比在ASM中执行排行榜更好。但是整个团队都未去讨论为什么要添加排行榜,即排行榜到底有什么价值。how部分转移了他们有关what的价值讨论的所有时间和精力。

避开how的第二个原因是你的团队应该了解执行what的最佳方法。他们是全职建模师,关卡设计师或程序员而你不是是有理由的。如果你领导着一支团队,那么你便只是一个兼职的执行者。

所以你应该将他们带到what中:

1.我们需要一个全球排行榜,并且它需要快速执行!

2.我需要一个能够传达“诱人的影响”的背景。

3.我们需要采取一种方法去告诉消费者如果他们需要,“我们将在此随时为你们提供服务!”

让他们想出how。你将会惊讶于他们的智商所创造的结果。

因为一个对立点不能提供how,所以你需要创造what理念并将其传达给团队。我们需要走很长的一段路才有可能使用how去创造一个具体且容易理解的概念。所以在此我的做法便是清楚地付诸于what,并灵活且低调地进行how。

最后,作为一个创造性项目的管理者,你应该清楚你的下属是因为喜欢将what变成how才进入这个领域。比起说“我需要一把带有6个钉子的剑。两把这么长,一把这么长,三把这么长的剑。并且80%的部分使用颜色#FF23BD。”,我所共事的人只需要接收“我需要一些能够表达出‘我很强!’的东西!”。

分享一些复杂的信息

有时候你必须分享一个你知道会很难理解的理念或信息。也许因为财政原因你们的日程表被缩减了2个月。或者游戏将转向一个全新的方向。

在这里真正的关键是引导一个无需给出结论而是提供决定参数的对话。每个参数就像一扇关闭的门,团队成员将在这些关闭的门中不断探索着,直至最终看到唯一一扇对自己敞开的门,也就是你带给他们的理念。

在我的职业生涯中我参与过许多次可怕的时间安排会话。通常情况下这都是因为财政状况或消费者情况所引起的,而与我们的直接控制无关。与团队交谈的目标是让他们能够了解行程改变的原因。当人们真正理解原因时,即使他们不喜欢这种改变,他们也会取落实它。

而只是走进房间说着“因为环境影响,我们不得不将时间安排缩减2个月。有什么问题吗?”则是一种糟糕的交谈方式。现在你正处于与团队的敌对状态。你有可能遇到任何不服从的情况。而这些都是你应该尽可能避免的问题。

更有效的方法应该是走进房间并讲出问题所在:

“我们认为我们只能再支持这个项目的财政支出4个多月,我们都非常努力地想完成目标,但是因为Atari Jaguar用户的急剧减少,我们未能获得足够的收益。所以我们需要尽快想出解决方法。”

在此的直接问题是外部资源将如何解决我们的问题。我们是否能够获得更多资金?是否存在其它收益来源?我们能否将经理洗手间的镀金马桶卖掉?

这都是你们需要关上门所解决的外部问题。这也将推动我们去思考我们能够做些什么去解决问题而不是该做些什么其它事。

所以最终的问题便是:“我们还有多少钱/时间?”

“大概2个月。”

当每个人都清楚问题的根源时,现在团队便会开始思考如何使用所拥有的资源去创造一些类似的项目内容。现在的对话是非常有建设性的。谁知道呢,也许通过删掉某些功能或作出一些改变,该项目便能在6周内(而不是8周)完成了。

我已经经历过两种类型的会议:充满敌意的会议以及感到失望但却提出一些具有创造性的问题解决方法的会议。前者更快并且不需要管理者花费太多精力,但通常情况下你只是在讲述一个理念而不是推销一个理念。你可能需要花费更多时间去处理下降的团队士气,争吵或者团队的离开。而第二种类型的会议需要花费更多时间,但一旦团队接受了该理念,即使他们感到失望,也会继续下去。

我发现团队士气是受到你所举办的这类型会议并不是关于会议主题本身的影响。

尝试卑鄙的销售技巧:记录

whiteboard(from gamasutra)

whiteboard(from gamasutra)

这一技巧较为卑鄙,但却非常强大。如果你是个糟糕的管理者或大坏人,你便不能使用它。这一技巧只适合那些带有最纯粹目的的好人。

人们愿意接受他们帮忙创造的理念而不是他们所听到的理念。

你拥有一个很难传达的理念。最佳方法便是让团队成员认为这便是自己的理念。而做到这点的一种方法便是举办头脑风暴会议。而这一头脑风暴会议的目的是想到你所想的解决方法。

会议的一开始你将站在带有标记的黑板前。你需要描述问题和相关参数,从而确保所有人都能了解情况。然后你们将开始讨论,你将把一些最佳理念写在黑板上。在讨论期间,你需要肯定任何与你的目标相似或对其有帮助的内容,然后将其记录在黑板上。当你在用自己的话作总结时,你需要确保所有的内容都能匹配你的目标。如此你便能够将成员们的讨论描述为”具有悟性的目标推进。

而如果讨论内容与你的目标解决方法相对立,那就不要将其写在黑板上。让讨论顺其自然地进行,或对其提出疑问,再或者就是询问成员们是否认可黑板上写的内容。如果有人主动说“你不是该写下这一内容?”时,你便不得不这么做。

一段时间后你需要审查黑板上所写的内容。如果黑板上有你喜欢的理念,并且团队成员会觉得这是自己的理念而非你的理念,你便达到了这次会议的目标。

如果黑板上存在一些与你的想法相对立的理念,你便可以通过进行可行性讨论而将其划掉。因为是你领导着这一会议,所以你可以从自己喜欢的一些内容开始,并肯定描述这些内容。然后问成员们“我们是否应该将其继续留在黑板上?”而当你遇到那些并不喜欢的内容时,你可以列出这些内容的问题然后说“虽然这是个不错的想法,但却没有实践性,我们要不要将其删掉?”

在回首我的职业生涯时,我发现我所参与的大多数头脑风暴会议都是基于这种方式进行的。因为现在已经了解了这一技巧,所以如果我参与了头脑风暴会议,我便会自愿请缨担任站在黑板前的人,或者我会建议成员们找一个记录者,一旦他们获得一个理念时便可以将其记录在黑板上。

为什么雇员愿意“买单”如此重要?

如果你让你的团队去做某件事,他们也照做了,那这是否真的实现了目标?那为什么还要花时间举办这种会议?

那些把握了理念并充满积极性的雇员将发挥自己的全部能力。而那些只是遵循命令的雇员则只会投入一半的努力。我发现基于较高创造性与纯粹的概念性具有很大的区别。

这也是作为管理者的我所获得的一个来之不易的教训。

我一直待在电子商务公司。而最近我被提升为自己待了很多年的软件团队的管理者。我们刚加入一个新项目,该项目需要比我们在其它软件项目中投入的完全不同的技术架构。幸运的是该项目将独立运行,所以它便不需要与旧系统相匹配。

在项目初期我们评估了不同技术架构,并最终决定了两个架构:一个是我所主张的,还有一个是带有更多经验且拥有更高薪资但却是团队新人的开发者提出的。

我的设计较简单,而他的设计更复杂,并且我认为他的设计很难进一步维持与扩展。

在关于每个架构的优劣的讨论会议后(他似乎并未因为我是管理者而退缩),团队最终决定使用他所提出的架构。

我对该决定感到非常郁闷,我认为自己的想法在很多方面都超越了对方。但最终结果却是这样!其他团队成员都在帮助他。不过我最终也认为基于100%的努力去完成80%的解决方法比基于50%的努力去完成95%的解决方法有效。

我告诉团队成员我们将使用他的解决方法。他也表现得很兴奋,并非常努力去落实行动。最终他比指定时间更早地完成了工作。并符合了项目的所有要求。我们在接下来几年里也都进行了很好的合作。

所以你应该尽力让团队成员相信他们所做的事便是任何管理者的主要目标。

独立问题:团队士气

工作超负荷,报酬太少,不堪重负,目标不明确,看不到尽头。

在一支独立开发团队中最重要的资产便是士气。

愿意继续前进便是团队游戏完成的动力。如果没有了士气,团队成员便会放弃项目。

在面向团队进行推销的时候,独立开发管理者必须努力保持团队士气。如果你很难替换掉一位优秀的雇员,你便很难去替换一位优秀的志愿者!

在我的前两款游戏中,我也是扮演着管理者的角色。那时候我每周都会召开会议,即我们会外出边吃煎饼边讨论项目。这是一个伴有甜蜜枫糖的项目管理会议。这是与团队成员讨论上周工作,下周工作以及目标的美好时光,并且这也是分享我们彼此感受的好地方。我们也不止一次告诉彼此一些不好的感受。

将一个定期的项目会议作为一个排气阀。提前安排好这样的会议(至少每个月一次),从而让成员们会去期盼它。这样做比你在事后才注意到团队士气下降需要补救好多了。

策略3:如何面向同事推销

面向同事进行推销需要结合面向外部,内部,上司和下属推销的技巧。这些技巧也不只适用于工作场所。它们也能被用于政治,教堂等志愿者组织或公民委员会中,甚至是电子竞技团队中。

如果你们是一支独立团队,那么你们的团队成员便都是平等的,但是你们并非都扮演着同样的角色。

如果你们是一家公司,那便存在两种同事类型。一种同事是与你直接共事的,你们可能身处同一支团队,或者至少在同一个部门。还有一种是来自其他部门的同事,你可能都不认识他。这些同事的日常工作可能与你们团队并不相同。

在向上推销时,你需要了解上司们的动机,如此你才能选择一个适当的角度。而在向外推销时你需要先吸引用户的注意力。

对此我所经历过的最常见的场景便是关于功能理念。你一直忙于游戏创造中,突然间你想到一个功能理念,但是你一个人却没法完成它。你需要其他人的帮忙去执行该理念。

假设你将与所有人进行最终会议去讨论你的理念是否可行。

找到一个认可你的理念的伙伴

首先你应该避免自己成为唯一的支持者。通常情况下,如果只有你一个人主张某一理念,那么该理念总是很容易被否决。就像如果我的女儿说她看到鬼,我便很难去相信她。但是如果她和姐姐都说看到鬼,那么她们的说服力便多了一倍。

所以你应该先跟最友好且最容易说服的人讲述自己的理念。他们可能会喜欢你的理念的核心,并且拥有一些不同/更好的想法。能够完善理念自然是很棒的!如果你的理念变得更完善,你们便能更有效地战胜反对者。

我很幸运总是能够找到可以帮助我完善理念的伙伴。

尽早察觉到反对意见

在北美,你可能会因为各种原因遭到控告。你可能会收到一封指控你的邮件。而邮件中可能只包含一些非常模糊的信息。接下来便是检查发现。在这个阶段,原告将公开针对你的证据。从法律上看他们有义务分享所有指控你的信息,如此你便能够为此做出反驳准备。

而在职场中你需要独自发现所有反对你的理念的理由。记住,在这里没人有义务提供给你这些理由。

对此最简单的方法便是找出他们喜欢还是讨厌你的理念,以及他们会在会议中提出怎样的反对理由。

如果你能在这个阶段找出更多可能出现的反对理由,你便会变得更有利。你可以使用找到的这些内容去完善自己的理念,或者至少能够做出反驳。

一对一推销

之前我曾与11个人进行了委员会会议。我提到了一个需要较少预算支出的想法。有些人提出了反对意见,并且其他人也同意他们的看法。所以我的想法被驳回了。之后我发现是一个较年长且很聪明的反对者事先让一些成员提出反对看法。我对此真的非常惊讶。并希望这种情况永远都不要再发生。

如果会议室的人越多,你便越难推销一个理念。因为在这里会出现更多反对理由:如果一个人能够想出3个反对理由,那么8个人便能想出24个反对理由。

所以你最好能在会议前一一与团队成员见面并尝试着向他们推销你的理念。如果这时候你不能说服他们,那么在会议上说服他们就更难了。

礼尚往来

待在一个人人平等的团队中要求你着眼于长期的发展,而不是当下。如果你总是坚信自己的理念很棒而别人的理念都是垃圾,那你便是个愚蠢的人。就像我便遇到过这样的同事,我也搞不清楚为什么我们还要和这种人共事。

为了让别人能够公正看待你的理念,你就必须让团队成员们觉得你是一个理性自然人。

一个理性自然人有时候是对的,有时候也会是错的。

一个理性自然人会基于理念的价值而非引导对象去支持它们。

当你发现在会议上所有人都在反对你的理念时,你可以通过放弃自己的坚持并支持别人的理念去挽救局面。你不会为此失去什么,因为你的理念已经没有任何希望了。相反地这会让别人觉得你是个理性的人,你也会因此获得一些伙伴。而之后当你再次推销一个理念时,上次得到你的支持的人便有可能支持你的理念。

选择你的战斗,即你要坚持怎样的理念或放弃怎样的理念是成熟地待在一支团队中的做法。

独立问题:平等中的首席

round-table(from gamasutra)

round-table(from gamasutra)

许多独立游戏项目,志愿者群组和非盈利机构都是基于平等的层级。这意味着只有你自己能够约束并影响自己,你的影响力是由自己所决定的。

领导的本质是主动性。人们想要做某事,他们会因为各种原因陷入僵局。人们之所以愿意追随某人并非因为他们有多聪明,多优秀,多好看;而是因为他们的主动性。人们总是喜欢遵循某些理念。就像领导者们都很遵从耐克的标语:跟着感觉走。

你的理念将拥有更大的影响力。通过采取主动性,你将获得影响力。所以不要成为那个会说“我们应该添加带有强大激光的鲨鱼”的人,而是应该成为会说“我们应该添加带有强大激光的鲨鱼,而我将利用自己的时间去审查它。”如果别人先看到你投入了时间,他们便会受到激励并朝着你那个方向移动。

这便是Sid Meier所采取的做法。比起宣传一个理念,他创建了原型并将原型呈现在团队成员面前去看看他们的想法。我希望有一天他能够想出如何创造一款恐龙游戏!

此外,如果你在其他人的理念上也采取主动性,你的影响力也会得到提升。

这是一个漫长的过程,你不可能马上就得到结果。但是过了几周或几个月后,人们便会真正认识你是怎样的人并开始尊敬你。这就跟播种一样。一开始你什么都看不到,但如果你继续认真照料它,你便能获得丰收。有时候,有些种子会比其它种子长得快,但是长期发展的最重要部分便是:结果总是会持续较长时间。

结论

之前我会见了一个潜在的新客户。实际上,他也算是我的第一个客户,他能帮助我创建自己的软件公司。我们谈论了竞争对手的报价和我的报价。虽然我的报价较低,但是我的也拥有更大的风险:我的公司还未建立,我也还未组建自己的团队!

而在与那位客户见面时,我之前在电子商务公司的同事跟我说,“Thomas,我们将追随你,因为我们相信你。”

在过去20年时间里,我学到了认清自己是谁比明确你认识谁或知道什么更重要。即比起所有技巧,建议或专业改造,你的角色才是你在推销自己和理念的最佳资产。技巧只是你预先存在的角色状态的外罩。但是它并不能取代你的角色状态。

我希望这些信息能够带给作为管理者,合作者或下属的你们帮助!

奖励策略:如何要求加薪

当我将本文的概念面向Archmage Rises的Facebook粉丝公开时,他们提出了一些很不错的问题。并且很多粉丝都对如何进行加薪或升值推销很感兴趣。

值得加薪的元素有很多。在我的业务中我遇到过各种各样的职业,如店员,非常时尚的女销售员,拥有MBA学位的经理,美术师/动画师,会计,销售主管,游戏商店管理者,屠夫等等。我也发现这些原则适用于各种各样的职业。

首先,让我们看看我所看过的最糟糕的加薪推销,即“我想要加薪”:

我的一位拥有团队成员中最高报酬的员工想要获得加薪。并且他开口就不少,即希望每年多加3万美元。就像我们所说的那样,他想要加薪的真正原因是:他的姐夫刚刚获得每年多3万美元的加薪。而他的妻子对此感愤愤不平而质问他为何不能获得同样的加薪待遇。除此之外,他真的很喜欢这份工作。

而我的答复是,拒绝!

我们可以看出这里的真正动机是来自他的妻子,而因为我们非常喜欢这位员工,所以我们决定提供给这对夫妻一顿免费的大餐和电影票。他们享受了一个美好的夜晚,妻子也不再对他试压。

接下来让我们看看如何更有效地提出加薪要求。

特别提示:当我支付员工薪水时,我会在每年1月多给他们2%的生活费。这能够缓解所有人集体表示“我需要加薪,因为生活压力不断增加,现在的工资已不足以支撑我的生活了。”这点非常重要,因为其实所有的一切都与生活开支并无关系,员工的目的很单纯,那就是加薪。

原则1:在开始前你拥有最佳谈判立场

你拥有最好的谈判优势便是在开始前。这时候公司最需要你。你是为他们解决了问题的英雄。如果你辞掉了这份工作,他们将再次重头开始去寻找替代人选,并且他们找到的人可能不如你优秀。

在一个月内我便聘请了两名高级软件开发者。他们做的工作几乎一样,并且拥有非常相似的技能。第一位开发者所要求的起步工资比第二位开发者高了15000美元。

而在2年后我却发现第一位开发者赚到的钱比第二位开发者多。所以我决定将这种情况纠正过来并给予他们同样的报酬。当我走进他的办公室并告诉他做的不错时他明显很开心,并且他也获得了15000美元的加薪。

所以你最好提前进行薪资谈判,因为你不一定会遇到像我这么好的管理者。

原则2:理解责任/补偿比例

对于雇员的报酬我遵循的是一个很简单的规则:基于他们的能力和责任感。如果他们的责任感或能力未得到提升,他们的报酬也不会增加。

根据个人的背景,有些雇员很难理解这点。因为你一直做着某件事并不意味着你便擅于做这件事。

雇员能够用于支撑加薪要求的最佳论点是:

我过去只负责X,但现在我需要负责X和Y。

过去我只会做A,但现在我能做A和B了。

那些带有这样想法的人总是能够吸引我的注意力。也许是我并未注意到他们比之前做了更多事或更擅于做更多事。

在不同级别上这样的论点都是很吸引人的。当过去我还需要面对上司时,当雇员提出这样的请求,我还需要汇报上司要求挪出额外的预算。

提供吸引人的责任/能力论点能够让你的管理者工作变得更轻松。

原则3:你必须赚钱

这听起来可能再明显不过,但事实上人们却很少这么做。

首先,你要在提出加薪前证明自己的技能,责任感和能力得到了提升。提薪的理念是为了纠正不平衡:现在的你能够出色地完成工作,但是你所得到的薪资却和之前一样。多么不人道啊!

在我的第一份网页开发工作中,我和另一个年轻开发者坐在一起。我每天都非常努力地工作并总是能在截止日期前完成工作,并学到了许多东西。而那个年轻人只是在早上工作,一到下午就无所事事地坐在那里聊天。所以他经常未能在截止日期前完成工作。

我是他的管理者(但并不能决定他的工资),所以我问了他为什么不更努力地工作。他的回答是:“公司并未支付给我足够的薪水,如果他们这么做了,我便会更努力地工作。”

虽然这已经是20年前的事了,但是这样的内容却仍让我印象深刻。我发现这种情况很普遍。但其实这个年轻人把顺序搞混了。因为他应该先努力工作再来要求加薪。

所以结果是,几个月后我得到了加薪和升职,而他则被开除了。

原则4:不要敲诈我

我得到了升职并且开始带领更多人。不幸的是我们公司在一个月内损失了150万美元,所以所有的预算都用不了了。而根据责任和/补偿比例,我觉得一年提升1万美元是最合适的。

所以我来到了管理者的办公室并说出了自己的想法。他表示认同但是他也说现在公司已经没有足够预算了,因为我们每个月的损失实在太大了。

而他提出了一个方法,即让我去找另一份拥有更高薪酬的工作,然后他便会向上司提出给我加薪。但是我却认为不应该去浪费其它公司的时间。

我非常认同市场价值得到提升的论点。根据当下的需求,市场可能需要某些特定的技能并会提高相应专家的薪资。这时候我便会想办法留住我的人才并提供给他们符合市场标准的报酬,其他人如果想要的话也会尽力去争取。

但是如果有人进入我的办公室并说他在其它地方找到一个愿意给他X的工作,并问我是否愿意改他比X更高的工资时,我一定会慷慨地放他走。

猎头便是这一原则的混合灰色区域。我便遇到过一个员工跑来跟我说有个猎头在linked-in上联系了他并表示要提供给他一个薪资更高的工作。在这种情况便他们来找我便是为了决定是该离开还是继续留在这里。

作为一名雇主,我非常了解这种情况,所以这并不会让我感到失落。我既留过一些人也放走了一些人。

原则5:问问该怎么做

这是最显著的一点,但也是我们很少去尝试的一点。

我非常重视员工每年的绩效评估。我能看到他们对于管理者和其他雇员的价值。但除了待在软件公司的那几年,这种情况似乎从未发生过。所以我有必要做出改变。

如果你是在一家会定期进行绩效评估的公司,那么这便是最佳交谈时机。而如果你们公司没有任何正式的评估,你便需要为此落实行动。

不要进行“我想要加薪”的对话。在该对话前你们应该先讨论“我该如何有效提升自己在该公司的价值?”

作为一名管理者,我非常高兴看到这样的对话。我希望自己的员工能够不断完善自己,不断成长并担负起更多责任。如果员工能够真正认可我们的公司目标,那么管理者的梦想也就实现了!

所以你可以一一和你的管理者讨论接下来几年的发展。未来需要哪些现在所没有的技能?你能够担负起怎样的责任?

从根本上看其实你也是在问他们你该做些什么才能做到这些。这么问其实很好,因为这能够避免所有不必要的猜测。

这里的唯一风险便是,如果你做了所有计划做的事,但是你的管理者和公司运营状况还是保持不变的话会怎样?不过即使如此,如果你能够遵循计划做事而非只是做着自己的事,你便会成为一个更受市场欢迎的雇员。

这时候不管发生什么,你都会是胜者!

本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转发,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Strategy Guide to Selling Your Ideas to Your Boss, Coworkers, & Minions

by Thomas Henshell

Much of life is selling. Even if it is trying to get my three year old to go to bed. Or convincing my wife playing Hearthstone is research. So knowing and practicing sales technique can be very helpful in everyday life.

If you think you deserve a raise, you are selling an idea.

If you want your team to crunch to hit a deadline, you are selling an idea.

If you want to add a feature to the game, you are selling an idea.

The movie Inception illustrates selling well: you are trying to place a thought into someone else’s brain. Defense mechanisms (good or bad, intentional or not) are prevent the transplant from taking place.

1. Spawn Point

About a year ago, I wrote 12 Tricks to Selling your Ideas, Your Game, & Yourself. I focused on techniques to sell your ideas to strangers (meaning customers, publishers, strategic partners, journalists, and financiers) that range from neutral to disinterested.

At the time, I said if people liked the article, I would write a second part on how to sell internally. By internally I mean people you already know and work with:

1.Up: to your boss

2.Down: to your direct reports

3.Laterally: to coworkers or just general people that don’t have to listen to you

Well it proved popular, so I feel bad I never made good on my promise until now. This article stands on its own but I view them as a complete set. This article is about how to apply some of those techniques in an entirely different context.

Who is this Guy?

I like to know who is giving me advice before I take it. A quick summary: I’ve worked in software E-commerce/Mobile for the last 20 years selling and managing over $20 million in projects. I used to be a sales trainer in the head office for one of Canada’s largest electronics retailers. I got into game development professionally 3 years ago. I’m a serial entrepreneur with five vastly different businesses employing about 30 staff across all of them. I wrote a more detailed bio of my sales experience in the previous article.

Why Use The Term “Selling”?

The transference of an idea with little to no resistance is teaching.*

The transference of an idea that has to overcome resistance (obstacles like defensiveness, busyness, disinterest, or just plain old not liking you) I call a Sale.

(* I recognize most teachers encounter resistance, which is why their job involves a significant amount of sales work.)

To successfully navigate someone’s resistance to your idea, to the point where they agree or even think of it as their own idea, is “closing a sale”.

Just because money doesn’t change hands doesn’t mean you haven’t made a sale.

The Core of Selling

To sell someone you have to show what’s in it for them.

Simple, not easy.

The headline for every article you have ever read (including this one!) has to convince you there is something of value in it for you. Something to learn, something not to do, something to pass on to someone else so you can look really clever. :-)

Strategy 1: Learn How to Sell Up (To Managers)

Most everyone reports to someone. I’ll refer to this person, lead, group, or committee as the manager. Managers come in two flavours: terrific and terrible. You might think there is a third flavour: mediocre, but that is just a twist of the two flavours together, like a chocolate and vanilla soft serve ice cream cone. Your first step is to figure out which parts of your manager are vanilla and which parts are chocolate. :-)

If you are a two person indie team, you probably don’t use the term “Manager” and don’t think of it that way. But like communism proved, even in a team of equals some are more equal than others (worthy of its own article). So even in an indie team someone is still filling the role of manager. Indies have some extra challenges, as we’ll see later.

In the early 2000’s I spent 5 years at one of Canada’s largest ecommerce companies. As far as managers go, I didn’t have a very good run: started with a terrible manager, then terrible, terrific, and finally really terrible. I quit because of the last one.

The core of selling is showing “what’s in it” for them. What does a manager want?

A terrific manager wants:

1.Whatever is important to his/her boss (key metrics)

2.However their compensation is calculated (bonuses, usually driven by key metrics)

3.Successful projects

4.A well-functioning team, firing on all cylinders, with good morale

5.Recognition for the good work they do

6.Improvements or efficiencies to be found in current operations

7.Long-term success for the team, department, company, and stakeholders. They plan to stick around.

A terrible manager wants:

1.The perception things are going well. And some great excuses in their back pocket for the things that aren’t.

2.To maximize their compensation (bonuses and such) at any cost

3.Successful projects

4.The team to take as little of their time and effort as possible. If everyone else just did his or her job, everything would be fine!

5.To be left alone as much as possible. They don’t want people to bother them. The more time people spend with them, the higher chance it be revealed they are in over their head.

6.Everything to stay the same. Definitely don’t rock the boat. They are likely having difficulty coping with how things are now, so any changes will only make their life more difficult.

7.Short term success for themselves. They will leave the position or company as soon as they can, it’s a race before they are found out and fired.

Indie Woes: Who is the Manager?

Indie teams usually start with a couple of friends or students jumping into making a game. Because, you know, games are really easy to make! (The tools got easy, game making is still hard.)

I have experienced two corporate partnership breakdowns and seen more. I’m currently mentoring 5 entrepreneurs. One tenant each one of them, universally, ignores is my advice to formalize the roles.

Write down exactly who is responsible for what.

Not just who does programming and who does art. That’s easy. But who makes scheduling decisions, who makes financial decisions, who makes team member decisions? Yes, it is assumed you do those things together, but what about the times when you disagree? That’s much thornier.

If you do this, when things get hard (they will), more complicated (they will), and you feel like choking each other (you will), everyone is on the same page about who needs to make a decision. The person responsible for making a particular decision is “the manager” for purposes of this article.

Even though my mentees know they should clarify roles, they don’t. So I am thrilled to now be ignored by a larger audience on this point. :-)

Advantages of Selling To a Manager

As a minion (I use the term affectionately) it may seem like you are at a disadvantage selling to your manager. That’s not necessarily true. You have little control over your boss, but you do have influence.

Depending on how good of an employee you are and how important you are to the team, you are hard to replace. Trust me, even crappy employees are hard to replace! I don’t know anyone that likes going through the recruitment process (ok, maybe HR people but that’s about it). So your manager is at least somewhat willing to give you an opportunity to speak. Contrast this to a member of another department who doesn’t even have to give you the time of day. Or external sales where the customer doesn’t have to even pick up the phone or answer the email. You’ve already overcome the hardest part of making a pitch: just being heard!

Being in a position of little control means you have a more pure sales challenge to perform. Either you make your case and your boss says yes, or you don’t. It is not this simple when you Sell Down (as we’ll see later).

Know your Audience, Know your Angle

Most people pitch based on what excites themselves rather than what will excite their audience. That’s ok, it’s naturally how we talk with friends and family about the latest movie we enjoyed, but it is a rookie mistake. You need to take an angle that will be compelling to the audience and get excited about that.

You can’t sell a PS4 game to someone without a PS4. The more you know your audience, the better you can sell to them based on their needs and motivations. The advantage of internal sales is you likely do know the person well. This is a huge advantage.

Scenario:

Your idea is to move the development team to a new kind of methodology (SCRUM or whatever).
You have a terrible manager motivated just to keep things the same.

Angle:

It would be a mistake to talk about all the wonderful benefits to the team, morale, and long-term success of the company.

Instead, focus on how the new process would actually require less of his/her involvement. With the new fancy tools and automated reporting a lot of the “management” of the project falls on the team members, freeing up your manager to do what they do best. (Don’t mention what they do best is screwing around on facebook, that won’t help you :-) )

How do you come up with an angle?

Map it out the same way you would a tough boss in a video game. I spent a few minutes thinking of one of my managers and wrote out their seven motivations. I knew their motivations from observance. I worked with this person for several years.

If you feel ill equipped to map it out yourself, talk it over with a team member. Probably the two of you could come up with a fairly complete picture.

Pro Tip: You will be tempted to turn this into a gossip session. That doesn’t help anyone and will not help you understand their motivations. Try to just let it go that you have a terrible manager and just focus on trying to understand how they think.

Now if you are really eager, take the opportunity to chat with your manager about what motivates them. It is very weird for a subordinate to do this, but regardless of where your relationship is at with your manager it will likely improve things. First, people enjoy talking about themselves. Second, a deep human need is to be understood by others. So if you go into the conversation purely to hear them talk about themselves, so you can understand them better, wowzers, they’ll think you are great!

Manager Conversation Starters:

Why did you get into ?
This is like asking a couple how they first fell in love. Knowing their “first love” gives you a lot about their motivation.

What do you enjoy about it?
This tells you what motivates them now.

What would make your job easier?
This pretty much tells you exactly the angle to use when pitching ideas.

What about work keeps you up at night?
Different way of asking the question above.

Where do you see your career going?
This gets at personal long term goals which can reveal a lot about motivation.

Pro Tip: The above questions are similar to the ones I use when interviewing candidates. Knowing someone’s motivations is vitally important when working with them!

Help Push Your Manager Up

Zig Ziglar is a salesperson and motivational speaker. In one of his books he explains many people are trying to pull themselves forward, to climb higher on the corporate ladder. Instead, we should be helping those around us so they push us up the corporate ladder. This is a business implementation of the golden rule: to treat others how we want to be treated.

Managers should be trying to work themselves out of a job. Why? If their team is completely dependent on them, how can the manager possibly leave their current position to perform another one?

Sadly, many of us strategize at the dinner table on how to get our managers fired, not promoted. As a good employee, your motivation should be how to get your manager promoted.

If you focus on how to push your manager up, you will be target-locked on their motivations and therefore able to know the angle to pitch.

Indie Woes: Friends as Managers

In indie dev there aren’t promotions because everyone is just “doing stuff”. But indies to face an additional challenge of a friend being a manager.

I have become the manager of four friends at four separate times. If you were friends first and they became a manager over you, this can lead to issues because the relationship now has this new dynamic of an imbalance of power. If you became friends while working together, that generally is ok because the relationship was formed while they was an imbalance of power.

These are really thorny issues, so here are some general tips to help you work better together:

1. Respect the position, if not the person.

You know probably more than you should about this person. You probably don’t look up to them in the traditional corporate sense if you have a pic of them mooning you. So at least give them the respect due to the position. Your role is to be a good follower, like Sam Gamgee, not to prove you are still equals by undermining your friend.

2. Have some healthy boundaries.

You probably spend a lot of time together. Try not to mix your work time and fun time. Shooting the breeze about work and brainstorming while playing Borderlands together is fine. But if you have something serious to say, don’t do it while in a Destiny fireteam. Wait until the next working period and bring it up then.

3. They are in over their head.

Part of the fun of being indie is you get to do jobs no right thinking person would ever give you. :-) This is how we learn. So if you are on an indie team, it is likely everyone is doing a job that is over their head, and that leads to mistakes. Lots of them. This is the price of admission.

As an indie you should have high standards. But you should also be more forgiving than usual while everyone figures out this thing called game dev.

4. It’s hard on the manager too, even if they don’t admit it.

Managing a friend seems like it would be easier than managing a stranger, but it isn’t (usually point #1 is a culprit). Try to be extra understanding.

For some reason we do the opposite. If your manager makes a decision you don’t like, you’ll just walk right in and start complaining about it. This forces the manager into a position of having to explain every little thing all the time. That isn’t healthy for either of you.

Try and give the benefit of the doubt and just move forward on the game.

Strategy 2: How to Sell Down to Employees

Selling ideas to direct reports is where I now spend most of my time. It is by far the hardest. That sounds counter intuitive so I’ll unpack it a bit.

If you are the manager and you tell a subordinate to go draw triangles for 10 hours and they do it. Did you make a sale that drawing triangles for 10 hours is a good idea? Not necessarily. Because you have control, at some level they have to do it or face repercussions: get transferred, get worse assignments, get a lousy schedule, fired, etc. People could be doing what you want out of fear, obligation, or duty, not because they believe or buy into what you say.

In my experience, most employees are intimidated, at least a bit, by the control factor. It may even be subconscious conditioning from previous work experiences or culture. This means employees will only push back on an idea a little, but not nearly as much as if it were a co-worker.

This is why Selling Up is so much easier. It’s pure. It’s simple. Ideally, you succeed on merit alone.

I come from the modern management mindset where I really care about motivating and unleashing the potential of my people. I want to work with people more talented and experienced than I, so I can get better results than I would on my own. I want to work with 5 star people; getting the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus, to quote Jim Collins. I care much more about people catching the idea than doing a task as I ask.

When you have the power, like my signature literally at the bottom of some employee paychecks, it is like a giant megaphone is glued to the front of your face. Even when you speak gently it is heard with a booming echo.

Here’s a typical indie game dev scenario:

The artist on my current project, Archmage Rises, is a contractor. I ask him to make some cool looking mage picture. He works hard and sends me something back that is well done. In reviewing it I think it is missing something, maybe it should have snakes/unicorns/more fire/less fire/or even red lines with a green pen.

In the contracting world it is very tempting to just placate the boss, do the job, and move on to the next thing.

Here is a typical business management scenario:

I want more customers to rely on the grocery store for their everyday food needs. By extending the close time by 2 hours, we can send a solid message to the community that we are here for you when you need us. Extending the hours requires more complicated scheduling, hiring additional people, training, and trusting different employees to close the tills at night.

To the manager of the grocery store, my idea introduces a lot of hassle with questionable gains. She is skeptical the increased sales will even cover the additional cost.

How do we resolve these issues without the employee just saying “fine, whatever” and doing it?

Talk about the What and not the How

The What is the vision, the goal to achieve.
The How is the concrete implementation.

The What rarely changes form, it either is a good or necessary idea or it isn’t. There are many ways to implement a What as a How, some more obvious than others.

There are two reasons to avoid talking specifically about the How with the people you manage.

The first is everyone can get caught up in a debate about the How alone and completely forget the What. This is common with implementers (coders, artists, designers, etc.) as opposed to managers who simply pass the How along to their team.

If I was to say to my programming team I want to implement a global leaderboard and I want the server portion done in assembly, they will rush like sharks to chum to the ludicrous How portion. They will debate what a bad choice assembly is. Even if the meeting ends with agreement to do the server side in PHP, all that happened was everyone being convinced implementing a leaderboard in PHP is better than implementing a leaderboard in ASM. What didn’t happen is the team discussing and catching the vision of why a leaderboard is even valuable at all. The How diverted all the time and energy away from a valuable conversation about the What.

The second reason to avoid the How is your team should know the best way to implement a What. There is a reason they are full time modellers, level designers, or coders and you are not. At most, if you are leading a team, you are only an implementer part time.

So just bring them the What:

1.We need a global leaderboard and it has to perform fast!

2.I need a background that says “seductive influence”.

3.We need a way to convince customers “We’re here for you!” if they suddenly need something at dinner time.

Let them come up with the Hows. You may be amazed at what the combined IQ of the room can come up with.

As a counterpoint to not giving a How, you do need to make the What idea concrete to the team. A suggested How goes a long way to making a concept concrete and easy to understand. So my actual point here is be very clear and committed to the What while more vague and flexible on the How.

Finally, as a manager of creative types, recognize they got into this field of work because they enjoy work of translating Whats into Hows. The people I work with would much rather be told “I need something that says ‘I’m powerful!’” rather than “I need a sword with 6 spikes. Two spikes this long, one this long, three this long. Use color #FF23BD for 80% of it.”

Sharing Difficult Information (Lead them to Water)

Sometimes you have to share an idea or information you already know will be difficult to hear. Perhaps the schedule has been cut by two months for financial reasons. Or the game needs to go in a drastic new direction than what you started making.

No one likes to be told. Everyone likes to be led to water.

The key is to guide a conversation where you lay out the parameters of the decision without actually giving the conclusion. Each parameter is a closed door, and as the team explores the problem with the closed doors eventually (with your help) they will come to see the only door open to them is the concept you came to bring them.

I’ve had the dreaded scheduling conversation more than a few times in my career. Usually it is due to changing financial or customer circumstances and not anything in our direct control. The goal of meeting with the team is for them to catch the reason why the schedule needs to change. When people understand the reason, they may not like it, but they at least get onboard. Those onboard can help convince those who don’t get it or refuse to get it right away.

The poor way to have this meeting is just to go into the room, say “Due to circumstances out of our control the schedule has to be moved up 2 months. Any questions?” Now you are in the middle of a hostile confrontation with the team. Tempers could rise and you may have an insubordination issue. All this could be avoided.

The better way to go is to go into the room and lay out the problems:

“We thought we could finance this project for 4 more months, we were all working toward that goal, but due to the sharp decline in Atari Jaguar users, we just won’t have the money. We need to figure out what we can do.”

Immediate questions that will come up are how an external source can solve our problem. Can we find more money? Is there another source of revenue? Can we sell the gold plated toilets from the executive washroom?

This is where you need to close the door on an external solution. This will move the thinking toward what we can do to solve the problem instead of what others can do.

Eventually the question will come up: “How much money/time do we have left?”

“About 2 months”.

When everyone understands the hard boundaries of the problem state, now the team is thinking how they can make some semblance of the project releasable with the resources (2 months) they have. Now the conversation is constructive, with people throwing out suggestions. Who knows, maybe by cutting this feature and changing that over there, the project could be wrapped up in 6 weeks instead of 8.

I’ve been in both types of meetings: the hostile ones and the disappointed but creative problem solving ones. The former is quicker and takes less effort for the manager, but generally, you have only told an idea not sold an idea. You will likely have to spend more time on the fallout dealing with poor morale, bickering, or even people quitting. The second takes more time up front, but if the idea is bought by the team, as disappointed as they may be, things go well.

I’ve observed team morale is affected by how many times you have these kinds of meetings not usually the topic of the meeting itself.

Try this Sneaky Sales Technique: Hold the Marker

This technique is sneaky and powerful. If you are a terrible manager or a super villain, you are not allowed to use it. This one is only for good guys with the purest of intentions.

People buy into an idea they helped create rather than one they were told.

You have a difficult idea to convey. The best way is Inception: to make the team think it is their own idea. One way to achieve this is to hold a brainstorming meeting. Except you are not brainstorming to come up with any solution, you want them to brainstorm to your solution.

Begin the meeting with you standing at the whiteboard with the marker. Describe the problem and the parameters so everyone is on the same page. Then start the discussion and say that you will write the best ideas on the board. During the discussion, anything that is similar or helpful to your goal you affirm by saying something like “Oh that’s a good idea!”, then write it on the board. When writing summarize in your own words that better match your goal. So if the person said “we should give away free copies to celebrity pets” you can reword that to “have savvy targeted promotions”.

If a suggestion is antithetical to your goal solution, don’t write it on the board. Either let the conversation pass naturally, or question it, or try to see if they can agree it is covered by something already on the board. If someone calls you out saying “Are you going to write that one down?” then you have to.

After some time, review the items on the board. The ideas you like are on the board but the team will feel they are our ideas not your ideas. This is the goal of the exercise.

If there are some ideas on the board opposed to the way you need to go, you can prune the list by doing a simple feasibility discussion. Tell everyone we should review the ideas thus far. Since you are leading the meeting, start with a few of the ones you like and say something good about them. Then ask “Can we agree it should stay on the board?” When you get to one you don’t like, list the problems with it and then say “Good idea, but probably not practical. Can we take it off?”

When you are done culling the list, now you only have ideas you like on the board and everyone is in agreement they are good ideas. You didn’t have to convince anyone, they convinced themselves to buy into those ideas.

When I look back over my career I think most of the brainstorming meetings I’ve been in where actually done this way. Now knowing this technique, if I find myself in a brainstorming meeting I will volunteer to be the guy at the board or, failing that, I’ll suggest everyone get a marker so when they have an idea they can go up and write it on the board. And if that doesn’t work, then I’ll be the annoying guy saying “Are you going to put that on the board?” :-)

Why is Employee Buy-in so Important?

If you tell your team to do something, and they do it, isn’t that really the goal?! Why mess about with this long drawn out hand-holdy meeting stuff?

A motivated employee who catches the idea will work at their full capability. Someone who is just following orders, at best, puts in a half effort. I have found the difference to be more extreme in highly creative disciplines versus purely conceptual disciplines.

This was a hard won lesson for me as a manager.

I was working at the e-commerce company. I was recently promoted to manager of the software team I had been on for several years. We were given a new project that required a drastically different technical architecture than the one used by all of our software. Fortunately, it would run in isolation so it didn’t have to conform with or talk to the legacy system.

Early in the project we were evaluating different technical architectures, it came down to two: one I put forward and one a developer with more experience and higher pay check but newer to the team.

My design was a more simplistic one (I would argue elegant, but I’m biased!) while his was more sophisticated, complex, and I ultimately felt harder to maintain and extend.

After a team meeting in which we debated the pros and cons of each other’s architecture (he didn’t seem at all intimidated I was his manager), it was now my call as to which way we would go.

I agonized over this decision, as mine was superior in several ways over his. But at the end of the day, I wasn’t the one who was going to program it. He was, with the rest of the team helping him. I ultimately decided an 80% solution done with 100% effort was better than an 95% solution done with 50% effort.

I told the team we would go with his solution. He was thrilled. He worked extremely hard on it. He finished it in less time than he even asked for. It met all of the project objectives. And we worked well together over the next few years.

Having your team believe in what they are doing is the primary call of any manager.

Indie Woes: Team Morale

Overworked. Underpaid (if paid at all). Overwhelmed. Questionable goals. No end in sight.

Nevermind the rest of the team, this is how I sometimes feel on my own project!

The most important asset to an indie dev team is morale.

The will to go on is the fuel that will drive the game to completion. Lose it, and everyone abandons the project.

The indie dev manager must keep morale front of mind when selling to the team. If it’s hard to replace a good employee, it’s doubly true it’s hard to replace a good volunteer!

For my first two indie games I was the manager. I instituted a weekly meeting where we would go for pancakes and talk about the project. It was a project management meeting, but it also had maple syrup. This was a good time to talk with the team about the previous week, the coming week, goals, and a safe place to share feelings. More than once I or someone else would share the feeling of being overwhelmed.

Have a regularly scheduled project meeting as a release valve. Have it scheduled (monthly at a minimum) so people can anticipate it. If you don’t need it and the “business” part only lasts 5 minutes, it’s still beneficial. This is so much better than noticing “wow, morale sucks, we need a meeting!” Fight fires with smoke detectors, not hoses.

Strategy 3: How to Sell to Coworkers

Selling to coworkers, or equals, is a mixture of the techniques for selling externally, internally, up, and down. These techniques are not only for the workplace. They are applicable to politics, volunteer organizations like church or civic committees, or even an esport team.

If you are in an indie team, you are equals but you don’t all have the same roles.

If you are in a company, there are two categories of coworkers. Ones you work directly with, maybe on the same team or at least the same department. Then there are ones from other departments that you may not know at all. Those ones who could have vastly different agenda than your team.

As with selling up, you need to know their motivations so you can choose the right angle. As with selling externally you need to sell the appointment first (to get an audience) not the idea.

The most common scenario for this I’ve experienced is the feature idea. You are busily working away on your game and you suddenly have a feature idea you simply cannot do on your own (either talent or permission). You need others’ help to implement it.

Furthermore, my assumption is that there is some kind of process or final meeting with everyone to determine if your idea will be agreed to or not.

Find a Buddy Who Sares Your Idea

First step is don’t be a lone voice. Mentally, a lone voice is easy to dismiss as an anomaly. If my daughter says she saw a ghost, that’s a little hard to believe. If she and her sister both say they saw a ghost, that isn’t twice as compelling, it’s 100x more compelling!

Start with the friendliest easiest person to talk with about your idea. See if you can get buy in. Keep going until you get a buddy or run out of people.

Foolish people just talk, wise people listen. They may like the kernel of your idea but have a different/better take on it. This refining of the idea is great! The stronger the idea the better it will perform against opposition!

I have always found a buddy helps remove the dross from my idea to reveal the pure gold.

Discover the Objections Early

In North America you can be sued for almost any reason. You receive a nice letter in the mail saying someone is suing you. It contains only the vaguest of information. The next step is Discovery or Examination for Discovery. At this phase, the evidence the claimant has against you is shared. They are legally obligated to share everything they will use against you so you can prepare a proper and thorough defense.

In the working world you need to do your own discovery of all the objections against your idea. But remember, no one is obligated to give you all of them. :-)

The easiest way to do this is to just walk up to them at some point and say, “I’ve been thinking about X. What do you think?”

Your goal is to first find out if they like or dislike the idea, and second what objections they may raise against it in a meeting.

The more objections you can capture at this friendly shoot-the-breeze stage, the better off you are. You can use that information to improve your idea, or at least prepare a solid defense.

Sell One on One

I was in a committee meeting with 11 other people. My time on the agenda came, so I proceeded to pitch an idea for a small budget expenditure. Someone opposed it and everyone agreed with them. My idea was quashed. Later I found out the opponent, a much older wiser man, had spoken to several of the other members ahead of time and pre-sold them on his objections. I was taken by complete surprise in that meeting. That will never happen again.

The more people in the room the harder it is to sell an idea. One reason for this is there are more sources of objections: if one person can only come up with 3 objections, 8 people can come up with 24. So don’t bother.

So before the meeting go to the other team members one on one and try to sell them on your idea. If you can’t convince them in this format, you will have an even tougher time with a larger audience.

Assuming House of Cards is even close to a realistic portrayal of politics, this is how Frank gets his bills passed in the Senate.

Pre-sell everyone on your idea and make “the big meeting” strictly a formality!

Give and Take (Don’t Be a Jerk)

Working well on a team of equals requires you play for the long term not just the now. If you are always certain your ideas are awesome and everyone else’s ideas suck, well it falls to me to be the first to break this to you: you are a jerk. I worked with a guy like this once, I still don’t know why we kept him around.

For your ideas to be given a fair hearing, you have to be seen as a reasonable person.

A reasonable person is sometimes right and sometimes wrong.
A reasonable person supports ideas based on merit not who originated them.

Should you find yourself in a meeting where the winds are against your idea, you can salvage the situation by abandoning your idea and supporting someone else’s. You don’t lose anything in doing this because your idea had no hope anyway. This makes you look reasonable and you potentially gain an ally. The next time you have something to put forward, the person you supported last time is at least more likely to support you. Hey, go to them either as a buddy or a one on one pitch!

Choosing your battles, which ideas to hold onto and which ones to let go, is part of the maturing process of working well on a team.

Indie Woes: First among Equals

Many indie game projects, volunteer groups, and nonprofits have a flat hierarchy. This means the only person limiting your power and influence is you; you have as much influence as you choose to have.

The essence of leadership is initiative. People want to do things, they just get stuck for a variety of reasons. People are willing to follow someone not because they are smart, good looking, or have nice breath (though those can help!); people follow initiative. People like to follow ideas and people that “are going places”. Leaders believe the Nike slogan: they just do it.

Your ideas will be better heard with more influence. You gain influence by taking initiative. So don’t be the guy or gal on the team that says “we should have sharks with freakin lasers on them” be the one that says “we should have sharks with freakin lasers on them and I’m going to investigate it on my own time”. You are more likely to get people motivated and moving in your direction if they see you putting the time in first.

This is how Sid Meier does it. Instead of pitching an idea, he prototypes it and brings the prototype to the team to see what they think. I hope one day he figures out how to make that dinosaur game! :-)

Additionally, your influence goes up if you take initiative on other people’s ideas.

This is the long play, you don’t get immediate results with this technique. But week by week, month by month, people see who you really are and grow to respect you more. It’s like planting seeds. At first you don’t see anything, but if you keep at it, you get a harvest. Not all at once, some seeds grow faster than others, but that’ is the best part of the long play: the results last a long time too!

Conclusion

I was in a meeting with a potential new client. Actually, this was potentially my first client ever, the one that would help me start my software company. We talked about the competitor’s bid verses my bid. Mine was significantly lower but with much greater risk: My company didn’t exist yet nor had I hired my team!

Yet in that meeting the client, someone I had formerly worked with at the eCommerce company, said “Well Thomas, we’re going to go with you because… I trust you.”

Over 20 years I have learned who you are is far more important than who you know or what you know. Despite all the techniques, the advice, the professional refinement, it is your character that is truly your greatest asset in selling you and your ideas. Techniques are just a buff to your pre-existing character stat. Techniques cannot replace a low stat.

I hope this information has been helpful to you as a manager, coworker, or minion!

~ SDG.

If you think I have good ideas, you can read more at my game site Archmage Rises or on facebook or @LordYabo.
If you don’t, well then I don’t know how you can reach me. :-)

Bonus Strategy: How to Ask for a Raise

When I floated this article concept to the Archmage Rises facebook fans (who are the best fans a guy could hope for!) they asked some good questions. Many were interested in how to pitch getting a raise or promotion.

Many factors go into being worthy for a raise. I deal with a wide variety of professions across my businesses: retail clerk, a high-fashion saleswoman, an MBA executive, an artist/animator, an accountant, a sales executive, a game store manager, and a butcher. I have seen these principles work across a variety of professions.

To start, here is the worst “I want a raise” pitch I have ever had:

One of my employees, who was already the highest paid member of the team, wanted a raise. A big one. Like $30,000 more a year. As we talked, the real reason for him wanting such a raise emerged: his brother-in-law just received a $30,000/year raise. His wife, jealous, is bugging him why he doesn’t get a raise like her sister’s husband did. Other than that, he was happy in his job and what he was doing.

Let me think… denied!

Seeing as the real motivation here was showing his wife, in a concrete way, he was appreciated by his employer we decided to buy him and his wife dinner & theatre tickets. His wife got a fancy evening out, she got off his back, and he got back to coding.

Let’s see how you can do a better job than this guy.

Special Note: When I pay my staff, I automatically give them a cost of living increase of 2% each year in January. This effectively eliminates the whole cycle of “I need a raise because I’m not even making what I was a few years ago due to the cost of living going up.” This is important because everything from here on has nothing to do with cost of living, it’s purely: I want a raise.

Principle 1: You are at Your Best Negotiating Position Before You Start

The time you have the most leverage to negotiate your pay is when you are about to start. At this exact moment the company wants you BAD! You are a hero solving a problem for them. If you turn down the job, they have to go through the whole process again to find someone else, and maybe they don’t want that person as much as they want you.

I hired two senior software developers within a month of each other. Both were to do essentially the same job and both had similar skills. The first negotiated a starting salary $15,000 higher than the other guy.

I felt bad after 2 years that the first guy kept making more money than the second only because of what was said in that one meeting. So I decided to correct it and pay them both the same. He was obviously happy when I went to his office, told him he was doing a good job, and he’s getting a $15k raise.

Do your best negotiating up front so you don’t have to rely on having a terrific manager like me. :-)

Principle 2: Understand the Responsibility/Compensation Ratio

I have a simple rule on how people are paid: based only on their capability and responsibility. If their responsibility or capability doesn’t go up, neither does their pay.

This is hard for some employees to grasp depending on their background. Just because you’ve been doing something for a while doesn’t intrinsically mean you are better at it. You could have plateaued a long time ago and are just coasting.

The best argument an employee can make for getting a raise is:

I used to be responsible for just X, but now I am responsible for X and Y.
I used to be capable of only A, but now I am able to do A and B.

Someone who approaches me with this line of thinking gets my full attention. Maybe I didn’t realize they were doing more or are capable of more.

This argument is also very compelling up the chain of command. When I used to have a boss, after the employee made their case to me, I had to go make their case to my boss to get additional budget allocation.

Make your manager’s job easier by giving him a compelling responsibility/capability argument!

Principle 3: You have to Earn It

This sounds so obvious yet I am shocked it isn’t commonly executed.

First, prove you have grown your skills, responsibilities, capabilities before you ask for the raise. The idea of the raise is it corrects an imbalance: here you are, doing all this awesomeness, but still getting the pay of someone far less awesome. Oh the humanity!

At my first web development job I worked across a table from another young developer. I worked my butt off, hit my deadlines, and learned all I could. He worked in the morning and then sat around surfing the web and chatting in the afternoons. He often missed deadlines.

I was his supervisor (scheduling wise, not in charge of his pay) so I asked him why he didn’t work harder. He said, “They aren’t paying me enough. If they paid me more, I’d do more.”

It’s been 20 years and that statement still blows me away! Yet it was a exactly how he felt and lived. I see it all over the place. But it is never going to happen, he’s got it backwards. You work hard first, then you ask for the pay.

A few months later, I got a promotion with significant salary increase. He was fired.

Principle 4: Don’t Extort Me

I was promoted and now responsible for many more people. Unfortunately, our company was losing $1.5 million a month so all budgets were locked. Based on the responsibility/compensation ratio I wanted a raise. $10,000/year seemed like the right number.

I went to my terrific manager and made my case. He agreed with me but said there was just no more money, we were losing too much each month.

He said the only way he could do it is if I went and found another job that would pay me more, and then he could argue to match it. But: I had to be willing to go to that other job if they denied my request. You can’t play this card and then say you were bluffing.

I didn’t think it was right to waste some other company’s time interviewing me, drafting up an offer, just to get a raise at the job I wanted to keep. I understand this is how salary negotiation is done in many places, but the whole thing smells rotten. I won’t play that game.

I totally agree with the argument that market value has increased. Depending on what is hot, certain skills could be in demand and increasing a profession’s wages. At this point I will want to retain my best performers by raising them to the fair market wage, while the others can happily go if they want.

However, if someone came into my office and said they found a position somewhere else for X, would I be willing to match X? I’d shake their hand and find a box to help empty their desk.

Headhunters (recruitment consultants) are a mixed grey area to this principle. I’ve had a staff member come and say a headhunter contacted them through linked-in and offer them a position with more pay. In this case they are coming to me early to determine if maybe now is a good time to move on, or if there is more opportunity here.

As an employer I know this kind of thing happens so it doesn’t make me nearly as upset as the offer extortion. Usually these end up being good conversations regardless of how it turns out. I’ve had people stay and I’ve had people go.

Principle 5: Ask How

This final point is a ridiculously obvious one, but one rarely tried.

I believe strongly in annual employee performance reviews. I have seen first hand the value of them to the managers and the employees. But other than a few years at my software company, it just never seems to happen. I need to improve this.

If you are in a company that has regular performance reviews, then this is the perfect time to have a conversation. If there isn’t anything formal, you will need to initiate.

Don’t have the “I want a raise” conversation. Have the conversation before that conversation which is “How can I best increase my value here?”

As a manager, I’m more than happy to have that conversation. I want my staff to improve, grow, and take on more responsibility. Having them plugged into and aligned with our corporate goals? Oh, that’s a manager’s dream come true!

So talk one on one with your manager about what the next couple of years look like here. What kind of skills will be necessary in the future that aren’t now? What kind of responsibilities could you pick up?

Basically you are asking them to tell you exactly what you must do to Earn It. This is great as it removes all the guesswork.

The only risk is if after you do whatever it is you talked about, is your manager and the business condition still the same? Even if the answer is no, you are still a better more marketable employee by following that plan than if you just did your own thing.

So no matter what happens, you win!(source:gamasutra)

 


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