The Negotiation Guru

We all make mistakes. After all, we are still humans. The problem lies in not making mistakes but handling mistakes during negotiation.

The more mistakes you make, the more patient you have to be. The more you try to rush to cover a mistake, the more mistakes you make. Trying too hard to fix something will only make things worse.

Like all other professions, negotiators should try to take on as many perspectives as possible when handling a mistake during negotiation. Our perception is usually skewed by nature. Try to see a mistake from different angles will open up our horizon. In order to be more objective, we have to compare different scenarios

Ask for some advice. People make the same mistakes. The mistake you make is probably not new. Someone must have committed the same mistake before. Look around you. Check if there is anyone who has been through the same situation as you do. Ask them what did they do. How did they handle the situation? More often than not, they will share valuable insights of their lessons.

Sometimes we need to ask different people for different perspectives. Listen to what each person has to say regarding your mistake. He or she can be the one sitting beside you at the negotiation table. Their opinions will provide a clearer view of your mistake. This is to ensure that you have a complete picture of the scenario.

These are some questions to help you understand your own mistake:

1) What led to the big mistakes?

2) Were there small mistakes that resulted in the big mistake?

3) Did you have any false assumptions on certain things before negotiating?

4) How would you have approached differently?

5) How can you avoid such situations in the future?

6) How long did you take to figure that you made a mistake?

7) Was your mistake obvious?

8) Are there are other people around you who saw the mistake? What are their views?

Remember: It’s not about not making mistakes, it’s about not handling mistakes properly.

—————–
Jens Thang
Negotiation Skills for Everyone

Email: jens@thenegotiationguru.com

This entry was posted on Monday, January 7th, 2008 at 9:53 pm and is filed under Goals, Others. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.