Cathy Liska After working through the possibilities of her job offers and making her decision, Katrina wanted to work on negotiating her best deal. Per our initial agreement, we discussed coaching versus training versus consulting. Katrina felt she had the book knowledge on negotiating and opted to stay engaged with coaching. Applying the powerful questioning techniques from coach training, I asked Katrina: 
- What does your research tell you about this offer?
- What are all the points of negotiation?
- How do you prioritize salary, benefits, future opportunities, time off, and time working remotely?
- What is your ideal offer?
- What is their ideal offer?
- How will you create a win/win?
- When asking for more, how will you make your case?
Next on Katrina’s list was planning how to turn the second offer down gracefully. Asking questions helped Katrina organize the information and write several responses to consider.
- What do you appreciate most about the offer you are turning down?
- What do you appreciate most about the people you interacted with?
- What do you appreciate about the company?
- What is your level of interest in reconnecting in the future?
- What will they notice in a letter?
- What is important for you to express?
During the coaching session we co-created a letter and several alternatives. Katrina opted to sit with what was developed and then mail the letter within one day.
A note: Competency 9, as taught during coaching certification, is Designing Actions and includes nine sub-competencies with #8 being: “Helps the client “Do It Now” during the coaching session, providing immediate support”. The above is an example.
