Coaching practices for Leverage Points with My Partner

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Leverage Points with My Partner, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• I’m forever fiddling with the surface
• I report that I missed it, we both nod, and then I go hit the exact same wall next week
• We’re both playing it so close to the chest that neither of us can find a better deal, but I’m scared that if I open up about what I actually want they’ll just use it against me
• My boss took a real chance on me and advocated for me, and I just took it and moved on without ever closing the loop
• I’ve got time before this conversation actually happens, and right now my only real option is the one I’m about to ask for

Practices that may help

1. Leverage Points
   Leverage points are places in a system where a small change can produce large shifts in behavior. Donella Meadows ranked them by structural depth in her widely cited 1999 paper: numbers and parameters are low-leverage; feedback loops, goals, and the rules of the system are medium-leverage; and the paradigm from which the system arises is highest-leverage of all. The counterintuitive finding is that people’s intuition about leverage is often backwards.
2. Identify high-leverage points rather than effort-intensive low-leverage ones
   Most productivity interventions target low-leverage points; find the structural places where small changes have large effects.
   Systems Thinking for Personal Productivity
3. Coach each other, not just report
   Have your partner help problem-solve the obstacle, not only record the miss.
   Accountability Partners
4. Share information to unlock value
   Reveal interests (not your bottom line) so both sides can find the better deal.
   Win-Win Thinking: Expanding the Pie
5. Reciprocate when your leader invests in you
   When a leader gives you trust, opportunity, or advocacy, close the loop with visible follow-through.
   Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), Made Practical
6. Improve your BATNA before you negotiate
   The best time to strengthen your walk-away position is before the negotiation starts, not during it.
   BATNA: Your Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement
7. Ask what happens if there is no deal
   Surface the other side’s BATNA by asking what they do if this does not work out.
   Calibrated Questions, Made Practical
8. Make multiple equivalent simultaneous offers (MESOs)
   Propose several package deals of equal value to you — see which the other side prefers.
   Expanding the Pie: Negotiation Beyond Splitting the Difference
9. Run a negotiation debrief to learn what value was left on the table
   After closing, compare priorities with the other side to see the trades you both missed.
   Expanding the Pie: Negotiation Beyond Splitting the Difference
10. Multiply time and resource investment in the vital few
    Once you know your high-leverage 20%, invest more time and energy there — not less.
    The Pareto Principle: 80/20 for Personal Productivity

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