Release 2 Classroom Session – Day 4

1. Release 2 Classroom Session – Day 4

2. Day 4 Agenda Day 4 –Influencing Conversations

3. Market Research Review

4. Yesterday’s Guest Speakers • What did you think about the non-traditional vendor talk? • What did you learn? • How will their input influence the way you plan to conduct market research in the future?

5. Market Research and the Acquisition Strategy • Market Research allows us to become “informed buyers” and as such helps frame the approach we’ll take in acquiring the capabilities needed to satisfy our product vision. • What are some of the acquisition strategy decisions that are informed by your market research? • Who are the viable sources of the service or capability? • Is the capability we are seeking commercially available, or will we need a custom solution? • Who (within the viable sources) are considered within their market space to be the highest performers, and more importantly, what is it about them that warrants this recognition? • How is this service or capability typically acquired? Commercially and by the Government?

6. What Goes in the Acquisition Strategy? Specific content is agency specific but typically include the following key elements • Contract considerations: • Competition; full and open, limited, sole source, set aside • New contract vs GWAC vs Agency strategy vehicle • Contract Type • Contract Approach – Performance Based • Incentives/Award Fees • Product Vision / Articulating the requirements / Establish the scope of work • PWS/SOO • Performance Metrics (QASP) • Cost Estimates (IGCE) • Source Selection considerations: • Best Value Trade-off • Evaluation criteria and weighting

7. Review of the Salesforce Acquisition/Market Research

8. A Review of the Market Research Report Traci, I think a walk through of the MKT Report would be great. I have some main discussion areas to spark convo, but please adjust to what you feel you want to highlight in reviewing this document as a case study in market research. Also, you could move into the influence market research had on the Acquisition strategy, eval criteria, etc. • What was the overall challenge the government was facing? • How did that translate into a Product Vision? • What market research techniques stood out and why? • How did the market research influence the acquisition strategy?

9. Morning Break

10. Influence and Difficult Conversations

11. How to Prepare for an Influence Conversation • Preparation is important in influence conversations to: • Build confidence • Ensure you can move the conversation to an outcome/ achieve your goals • Maximize the other party’s (and your) time • Four steps discussed in Day 2 can help you prep

12. Wrap Up on Preparing to Influence • These are the types of things you should consider when preparing for an influence conversation, but today….. • We’ll focus on how to actually have the influence conversation. Many of these elements will already be set up for you in the scenarios…

13. Activity: Influence and Difficult Conversation Practice

14. Why This Activity Is Important • Shifting into the role of a business advisor • “Order taker” to a strategic partner • How do you plug yourself into the process? • We created a total of 6 scenarios you are likely to encounter • Practice these conversations in a safe environment to build approach/delivery habits • Get feedback on your approach, tone, and delivery • Learn some new strategies for how to handle these conversations • Envision who you’re really encountering back on the job, and practice these role plays as if it was those individuals • Ask the experts – the people we’ve brought in have a lot of experience

15. Roles Within Each Rotation • Receives a scenario with a specific goal to influence the guest on • Prepares for and role plays the conversation • Plays the role outlined in the scenario and responds to the participant • Provides feedback on what was done effectively/ineffectively in the conversation • Use the observer handout to provide feedback on the role play

16. Role Play Instructions • Engage in up to 6 rotations – each participant should have the opportunity to “influence” or role play at least once • Each rotation is 15 minutes: • PREPARE - 5 minutes • Review the scenario and prepare for the conversation using the questions provided – this is an individual activity • ROLE PLAY – 5 minutes • Take 5 minutes to have the conversation with the guest • Observers respond to the questions on the handout during the conversation • DEBRIEF – 5 minutes • Observer leads the debrief using the guiding questions on the handout

17. Providing Valuable Feedback • Offer constructive and supportive feedback – be professionally courteous! • Provide meaningful and specific feedback • Shift from – “Great job!” • To – “I thought it was great how you helped your partner to visualize a technical concept using such a detailed example” • Provide actionable feedback • Example – “You seemed hesitant to address the team’s poor performance. I recommend being more direct so they understand the behavior that was unacceptable to you.”

18. Introducing Our Guests! • Name • Organization • Your Job in 1-2 Sentences • Favorite Tech Read – Blogs count too!

19. Your Roleplay Group Group 3 Group 1 Group 2 Group 6 Group 4 Group 5

20. Practice Your First Role Play!

21. Let’s Debrief – Three Strategies for Influence Conversations

22. The Risks of Assumptions • What if you assume someone doesn’t have your best interest in mind – how will you approach the conversation? • What if you assume someone wants to talk about a particular topic at a meeting? And therefore address at length… • What if you assume something about how someone will act/react to a piece of information based on what you know about them? Setting a goal for the conversation and clarifying any assumptions you have is key!

23. Asking Open-Ended Questions and Inquiry • Inquiry opens a conversation to new awareness, ideas, and possibilities • Use questions with the word “think” in them to uncover the other party’s perspective and ideas – we included some in your Participant Packet • Examples of types of questions: Clarification Assumptions Implications Solutions • What do you think is the most critical element of this challenge for us to discuss? • Why do you think this is true? • Why do you think this is important? • What do you think will happen if the situation is not dealt with? • What do you think we should commit to? • What factors should we consider?

24. Let’s Practice a Few More Role Plays!

25. DiSC Assessment Placeholder Slide • Think back to your DiSC Assessment Results • Your response to problems and challenges – the D • How you influence others to your point of view – the i • Your response to the pace of the environment – the S • Your reaction to rules and procedures- the C • How did your assessment results play out in these scenarios? • How can you leverage your DiSC personality type in an influence conversation moving forward?

26. Let’s Debrief! - Tone in Conversation What are some tones you take in your conversations? What are some other tones for conversations that you might use? EXPLORATORY ACCUSATORY PERSUASIVE DIRECTIVE VALIDATING or CONFIRMING

27. Let’s Debrief! – Word Choice • I was hoping that you could take on this task in the next week or so. • Please complete this task by Friday, October 28. What’s the difference? Direct Communication Indirect Communication • Explicitly makes your need known • May offend or feel too demanding to the other party • Does not explicitly make your need known • Key message or desired outcome may get lost – may feel “wishy washy”

28. Let’s Debrief! - Emotions • Neuroleadership research shows that the human brain responds to social rewards and threats in the same way it does to physical reward or pain • When we perceive threats, our brains are hardwired to deflect them – threats literally shutdown our brain from its full performance • Here are a couple of strategies when emotions enter the conversation: • Move the participant from describing the emotions (venting) to how he/she can respond to the situation • If the emotions are inhibiting progress, pause the conversation and resume later

29. Let’s Practice the Final Role Plays!

30. Final Debrief! • Feedback from guests. • Did you feel more comfortable with the conversations as you progressed? • Participants, which conversations did you find most challenging? Why? • Observers, do you agree? • In what conversations did your group have the biggest differences in how the role player approached the conversation vs. how the other group members did? What were some of those differences? • What were some of the strategies your group members came up with to handle different types of influence conversations that were particularly effective?

31. Other Influence Conversation Strategies Convincing Someone to “Try Something New” Explaining a Technical Concept • Create win-win situations by reducing the scope or scale of your effort (e.g., could you start with a pilot?) • Position your effort as an opportunity for incremental change or experimentation • Use examples outside of your scope of work to explain a concept • Think outside the box by creating or sharing pictures, stories, and even demonstrations to explain the concept

32. Other Influence Conversation Strategies Someone Who Is Unsure What to Do to Affect Change A Negotiator Who Has All the “No’s” • Assess what’s within your scope of influence and control to change • Have the other party explain how they would handle this situation “in a perfect world”

33. Other Influence Conversation Strategies Uncovering Deliberate Intent to Not Share Partnering With a Direct Negotiator • Try to apply expertise or authoritative power • Flex your style to be more direct to ensure you have a voice in the conversation • Use a direct communication style (e.g., I will vs. I might)

34. Other Influence Conversation Strategies Encourage Ownership and Responsibility • Step up and take on responsibilities to affect change • Encourage a commitment from others leaving a meeting

35. Lunch 12:00-1:30 pm  see you in the GSA Auditorium!

36. VA Guest Panel

37. Preview of Tomorrow

38. Day 5 Agenda Day 5 – Preview of Release 3 and Demo Day Expectations • Deliver your 10-minute presentation from 1-3 p.m. – make sure to send any materials that you will be presenting to the program email address (DigitalAcquisitionMVP@icfi.com).  • Consider bringing a copy of your presentations in on a Flash drive just in case!