One of the keys to surviving before excelling in the corporate world is knowing how to read hidden agendas. As an agent of change, I need to interact with a large number of internal colleagues before I can go about exercising what my clients want with the outside partners and suppliers. What we call stakeholder management skills need to come into play. However, never, ever assume people’s intentions with only the titles on their name cards.
Do you want to be judged by the book cover? Of course not. Do you like to be stereotyped by the function or line of work you take part in? In order to ensure that one genuinely adds value to a decision, he or she has been prepared to announce something new, something bold, or something clever. Whether you agree with that or not never is the issue. It is the individual’s hidden agenda that you want to uncover through the conversations you carry out with each and every one of them. Listening, and reading minds, therefore, is the real key to success.
A newly on-board executive who is badly in need to prove himself. A neighboring department head who is plotting to eat up your team or even the department. An overworked manager who cannot be bothered by another new initiative. A VP who tries to make influencing decisions in using a partnering firm that he has close ties with.
It doesn’t take a genius to come up with tons of examples like the above, but it does take one to identify and draw such agendas out of everyone before designing tactics accordingly. It is not easy to be seen, since most of your colleagues have been in the corporate workplace for years. They are masters of sugar-coating intentions.
So whenever we go about talking with business partners, always consider these questions:
- Why is this happening?
- Who are the players?
- What are the benefits?
- What are the players each benefiting from, and how?
- What can I get out of it?
- How do I go about getting what I want?
- What are the risks?
- Are my benefits worth the risks?
- Is this really what it appears to be?
In my experience it is always this last question that is most valuable, and it isn’t too hard to figure out once you conduct your share of due diligence.
Last word of advice: If you want to stay in one piece, you better keep these hidden agendas in the wraps, as long as they are legal!
Confessions of a Corporate Shopaholic 