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How This One Tip Can Help You Negotiate A Career Change

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This article is more than 7 years old.

Ever feel stuck or in a rut at work? That feeling of being stalled can impact problem solving skills in all parts of life. So how do we break through the wall of feeling stuck? Emily Lamia believes that travel is key to discovery - of ourselves, our strengths and our purpose. She is the founder and CEO of Pivot Journeys, a professional development coaching company that helps people take their careers to the next level through travel experiences around the world. She shares with us how travel positively impacts our brains, which can help us break through and tap into fresh perspectives that can expand what is possible. Let's see what she has to share:

Tanya Tarr: Pivot Journeys has such a unique take on career development and traveling. I'd imagine there's a lot of negotiation that happens with each trip. Can you say more about this?

Emily Lamia: Sure. I've been thinking about the different ways I help people negotiate, and it happens on a lot of levels. Not only do we negotiate with others and ourselves in our career, in the context of a promotion or a raise, but I think there are internal negotiations that happen, too. Sometimes when we uncover things about ourselves that we don't want to face, there is a negotiation we have to do with ourselves in accepting who we are, so that we can decide where we want to go next. And of course I do a lot of straightforward business negotiation for Pivot Journeys, too. That might show up as negotiating terms with an individual client, or with a company when I come in to do team building workshops, or even when we're planning a big international trip. There are dozens if not hundreds of negotiations that have to happen with hotels and similar services or businesses. We've done workshops and coaching in places like Washington D.C, Belize, New York, and Costa Rica, and we have a trip to Iceland coming up this year

Tarr: You come out of politics and campaigns, where you helped people navigate careers where there isn't a clear track. How did you decide to take your own journey in a new direction?

Lamia: When I got started in my career, I thought that I could help create change through getting people elected to office that share my values. I thought we would change the world that way, through those larger systems. I think we were somewhat successful, but I realized around 2012 that this was a really difficult way to live. If you work in the political space (for either party), you're basically spending half your time looking for a job between campaigns. I really saw this when I was Executive Director for Democratic Gain, which is a membership association that helps campaign staffers. Through that experience, I got to help people grow and develop in their careers in that space. I saw a lot of resumes and got really good at helping people uncover what they were looking for, and what their strengths were. I learned a lot about career development there, and that I loved helping support people that way. Eventually I took a step back from that work and moved to New York to go back to school.

Tarr: Travel seems to be a big driver of success for you. Why is that?

Lamia: I'm a big believer in the power of travel to help change perspective. That change in perspective is so key to problem solving and really, to negotiation skills as well. And you don't even have to go on a big trip. I'll tell my clients "go to a museum this weekend, and come home and do some reflection. Get out of your every day comfort zone." Even something like sitting on a park bench and journaling can help you break through and think differently about your life. It might unlock something new for you that wouldn't have happened if you were sitting at home or at your office.

Tarr: Do you have any guesses as to why travel helps people think creatively about their lives?

Lamia: I think it's scientific. There's something that happens in the brain when you do something different that you don't usually do. Your brain grows through neuroplasticity. It's the ability for your brain to grow new pathways and being in a new setting really stimulates that. It's like literally clearing out the cobwebs from your mind.

I've always been biased towards new and different cultures, too. Not just a different state or street, but an entirely new culture is important in helping promote those new pathways, which lead to new ideas. It can help you remember what you love about your own life, or maybe what you want to change or problems you want to solve. And that's really essential in trying to figure out what you want and what you should negotiate for.

Tarr: So let's talk more about your work with group and teams. How do you help take them on a journey to strengthen their negotiating skills?

Lamia: We do a lot of work with teams and help support positive group dynamics and collaboration. I had one situation where the Vice President hired me to come in and help with team building in a situation where there was occasional conflict. The Vice President shared with me that part of the reason why there was conflict was because people didn't really know how to negotiate the terms of a project. I was called in to help the team learn how to get stronger at managing expectations and push back on ideas with the right timing. So on occasion, a project would get too far down the line and not enough would get done, which would lead to stress and conflict. The Vice President wanted help in developing positive dynamics - like helping people learn how to ask questions and get better at communicating needs - so that no one would feel like they were getting attacked, and figure out a way to work through conflict and solve problems.

Tarr: So negotiation skills in this case is really about helping people learn how to communicate to get more information in a diagnostic way?

Lamia: Yes, I think that's right. I think the takeaway here is that each team needs to know what their strengths are and where they might need more skills to complement what they have so they can achieve their goals and mission. Sometimes it takes someone like me, with a different perspective, to come in and ask the sort of questions that surface that information for them so they can become stronger as a unit. Or sometimes something as simple as a walk around the block or going through a skill building exercise with a group can help support that neuroplasticity - going outside of the normal path or comfort zone - that will lead to better problem solving skills and better collaborative negotiation. It's really all about the journey!

Follow Tanya Tarr's other posts for stories from women leaders about authentically winning in negotiation. Send her your negotiation questions via Twitter.