Christopher Barrat

Three ways that will always win a negotiation

2012-05-16T08:00:00Z

Negotiation is all around us – getting your children to tidy up, buying a car, asking for a pay rise as well as being a core part of every business transaction. Nobody likes to lose in a negotiation – and the good news is you don’t ever have to. If you follow three basic rules of negotiation, then every time you will find you - and interestingly the other party – can win. Firstly, before you even start, find out what your best alternative is. This is sometimes known as your...(read more)

Making your department sexy

2012-03-29T18:14:00Z

Every functional department needs to find its rightful place in the business hierarchy. So what can you do to help it achieve the sexy status it deserves? And before you even think of saying ‘we are doing a really good job – that is what people will notice!’ – forget it. Of course you are doing a good job, and these days that is not enough, you have to show it too. The first thing you need to do is strut your stuff, show your wares and make them want your services, in business...(read more)

10 top tips to becoming a great influencer

2012-02-20T08:00:00Z

Having the ability to influence people effectively is a critical skill in the modern business world for two reasons. Firstly if you influence the right people, then you can have strong allies when the reorganisation comes – and in modern business that is inevitable. Secondly we are in a far more matrixed society than ever before – most of the people you need to get to do something, rarely report to you, and you need to use influencing rather than power and authority skills to be effective...(read more)

Can we expect company loyalty to motivate people these days?

2012-01-27T14:16:00Z

There are many different ideas on how to motivate staff, but the one thing that everyone can agree on is that if you are able to motivate them, then the results can be amazing. If you look at any high performing company in any sector, then you will find they have a very motivated workforce. Is this a chicken and egg problem – which came first – the motivated staff to drive results or the results successes giving motivation back to the people? Having worked with many companies in many...(read more)