What determines the actual price paid during a transaction? The answer might surprise you. Professional negotiators are well aware of the #anchorbias and use it very effectively while negotiating

An experiment…

Students and Professional real estate agents were given the tour of a house and asked to estimate its value. Beforehand, they were given a randomly generated price. The students valued the house, around the price that was initially given to them.

And the professionals???? Did they value the house objectively. No…they followed exactly the same behavior. This is the #anchoreffect at work.

I recall a colleague that was a pro at “dropping anchors”. Before sending out a quote to a client, she always called them beforehand to set the stage. Her conversation normally was along the theme of…”we just completed a similar project for a competitor of yours and the price was XYZ.”

The anchor was dropped and the negotiation started exactly at XYZ price!!!!!

Why do expatriates find #workinginIndia challenging? We recently conducted a learning journey to help a group of senior executives, moving into India, understand the subtle nuances of “India”.

Culture can be likened to an iceberg: what is visible (language, customs,dress..) is the tip of the iceberg. (Attitudes, beliefs, thought process…) is what is beneath the water and not immediately visible.

3 top #challenges that emerged while integrating into the Indian work ecosystem were:

1. Our indirect approach to communication

2. Meetings stretching way beyond the slotted time

3. Our inability to “say no” to those in authority

It was an interesting experience for us…looking at “ourselves” through the eyes of “others” !!!!

#culturalassimilation #Indianculturesensitization #shradhahrd #softskillstraining

Research shows that we apply different standards when we compare men and women. This info graphic shows the bias extends to performance appraisals as well.

What is the #solution?

The #firststep (short-term) is to build awareness around #unconsciousbiases. Most of us are not even aware that we apply different yardsticks while dealing with both genders. Once this insight dawns, we can then work on how to deal with these biases

The #secondstep (medium term)is to put in a structured process for reviewing appraisals. This helps mitigate biases, favoritism etc.

The #thirdstep (long-term) is to create an ecosystem where #diversity in thought is celebrated and encouraged.

If we make a beginning, it will go a long way towards ensuring that both genders are #appraised for the work they do, the value they create and not because they conform to narrow ideas on how men and women should function.

How an organization was able to substantially reduce their #genderbias in their hiring process through a simple cost-effective method

Till the 1970’s, the top five orchestras in the U.S. had fewer than 5% women. By 1997 they were up to 25% and today some of them are well into the 30s.

How did this happen?

A simple change in the procedure…

Candidates are situated on a stage behind a screen to play for a jury that cannot see them. In some orchestras, blind auditions are used just for the preliminary selection while others use it all the way to the end, until a hiring decision is made.

Even when the screen is only used for the preliminary round, it has a powerful impact; researchers have determined that this step alone makes it 50% more likely that a woman will advance to the finals.

It may not always be possible to have a completely gender blind interview. If we think out-of-the-box, towards this objective, we are likely to definitely make an impact!!!!

40 Years of Stanford Research Found That People with This One Quality Are More Likely to Succeed

In the 1960s, a Stanford professor named Walter Mischel conducted the Marshmallow Experiment. It went like this.

Children (aged 4-9) were left in a room with 1 Marshmallow. The researcher said, if they waited 15 minutes, they would receive 2 Marshmallows. The researcher left the children alone in the room for 15 minutes.
Some children waited for 15 minutes to receive the 2 Marshmallows, some did not.

The interesting part of the study came several years later, when these children grew up as adults. The researchers conducted follow up studies for over 40 years and tracked each child’s progress in a number of areas.

The results showed that the children who were willing to delay gratification and waited to receive the second marshmallow ended up having

1.higher academic scores,

2.lower levels of substance abuse,

3.lesser marriages ending in divorce,

4.better responses to stress,

5.more job stability and higher career trajectories

6.generally better scores in a range of other life measures.

Resilience is defined by the ability to remain patient, stay the course & continue working, even

when the going is tough.

Important question to ask ourselves:

1.Are we able to resist the first Marshmallow and reap the rewards of delayed gratification?

2.Do we have the patience to stay the course for the grand prize?

3.Are we resilient to the pressures of instant gratification that will often tempt us?

Taking a cue from #Harsha Bhogle. I was the only girl in my group that actively watched cricket. I went to the Feroze Shah Kotla stadium for my first cricket match when I was 3. I woke up at 4 AM, got ready for school and sat in front of the TV when India won the world series in Australia.

Over the years I have heard Harsha Bhogle’s commentary. After India’s win at Brisbane, I was listening to Harsha again. Something he said, stuck with me and instantly #resonated.

Harsha said “I felt like I was 200 years old and felt the weight of a generation on my shoulders”. I felt like constantly telling the young Indian team “Just Block, Don’t Lose”. The young team did not have any of the baggage that Harsha carried. They had no fear and played without a script. The result was for all of us to see.

#Lesson for me:

As senior managers/leaders, we often impose our views, fears, #mindconditioning on the younger members of the team. The intent is to guide but the result is curtailing natural instincts and enthusiasm.

Youth brings fresh thought, exuberance, enthusiasm that needs to be #channelized, not curtailed.