Chapter 3: Garner Resources: Negotiating Key Allocations

OVERVIEW

Good intelligence helps you make informed decisions about a new role and guides your negotiations over its requirements. Commitments first worked out in private with key stakeholders, when given public expression, present you as the right person to take on the assignment. But your efforts to position yourself effectively cannot stop there. In the early stages of a new leadership role it is equally important to pay attention to the raw materials ”the resources ”you will be able to command for the job. Resources ”be they financial, human, or simply time ”are necessary on a purely practical level. You need them to get the work done.

In a perfect world, big jobs would come with the necessary resources. Unfortunately, that situation seldom holds. Pressures for greater productivity and bottom-line results mean that resource allocations must be deliberately negotiated. As a top executive in technology sales points out: "People always ask you to consider whether you could do more with less." Resources directly impact results and by implication shape perceptions of your ability to deliver. "You can get frustrated," she says. "You begin to feel as if you are underperforming even when you are actually performing on a much higher level on a per-unit basis, since you are getting better results with reduced resources."

Given the intense push to maximize how resources are used, not uncommon in today's economic environment, you must not only negotiate the levels of support that will be available but also correlate that allocation with the results that can be expected. The issue at hand is not necessarily a question of more but of finding the right mix and linking that mix to broader strategic objectives. Rather than attempt to do more and more with less and less, you can use the allocation process to set priorities.

The resources you can garner have more than practical implications, however. They also carry symbolic significance. Any new appointment puts careers at risk. In calibrating that risk, people make their judgments to a great extent by what they think the newcomer will be able to deliver for them. Not surprisingly, they want to attach themselves to leaders they see enhancing their own performance. Resources play an integral part in these calculations. In fact, questions about a leader's ability to lead frequently coalesce around resources. They provide an early indicator of the power and influence the newcomer can bring to bear.

Doubts about Ann Moore's influence surfaced when the publishing executive took over the top job at Time, Inc. ”the world's largest magazine publisher. The merger with AOL had lost its luster. Advertising revenues were down across the board; many staples of the publishing scene were faltering. People inside and outside the company wondered whether she could fill her predecessor's very big shoes. In this uneasy atmosphere, Moore recognized the symbolic value attached to resources. Before she moved into her office, she fought hard to maintain not just headcounts but salary levels. Her successful negotiations sent two important symbolic messages: First, top leadership would back their choice. Second, she could and would go to bat for her people. Both were read throughout the magazine division with relief ”as tangible signs of influence. ^{[ 1]}

If you ignore the symbolic dimension implicit in resource allocations, you leave yourself open to continuing doubts about the organization's commitment to the job you are taking on. Soon those questions spill over and color perceptions of your ability to act on your agenda or to lead at all. While all leaders in new positions are tested , the scrutiny can be especially intense for women. They are often under the microscope with people waiting to see how they fare. That close inspection makes the symbolic statement behind resources all the more important. It signals to colleagues and team members alike the value key stakeholders put on the effort you are undertaking. It also goes a long way in resolving any uncertainty about your ability to deliver.

^{[ 1]} Jeffrey Seglin, "Her Hopes, Her Dreams."