In the career of every negotiator, there comes a time when we come up against a wall. We think we have learned all the trading styles and techniques to learn. We know how good we are right now, we know we can become better, but we do not know how to do it.
That’s when many negotiators fail. They get lost, and for the rest of their careers, they maintain their current level of skills and never get better. I will not let that happen to you. I know what you need to do to overcome this dam and I will tell you what you need to do.
Become the other side of the table
One of the reasons why negotiators stop growing is that they focus too much on the worldview through their own eyes. If you want to improve your trading skills, you must learn to see the world differently.
Specifically, you must learn to take the time to see the world through the eyes of the other side of the table. It means that for at least a brief moment or two, you have to “become” them. Understand what they want out of the negotiations. By doing this, you will be able to find more ways to reach an agreement that will satisfy both sides of the table.
You do not know what you don’t know
It is interesting to see the types of personalities drawn to the world of negotiation. There seem to be a lot of engineers and lawyers. These types of people like to execute processes whose beginning, middle and end are well defined. The problem, of course, is that this is not how negotiation works.
Instead, you must approach each negotiation with a sense of mystery. Of course, you can plan your trading, but I’m willing to bet that it will not run as you think.
What does all this mean for you?
As negotiators, we all want to become better. It can be frustrating to reach a certain skill level and not find a way to continue to improve. We can still improve; we need to know how to proceed.
To improve our negotiation skills, take the time to look at the world on the other side of the table, expect the unexpected and realize that we are responsible for our success and our failures. These ideas will allow you to reach the next level of negotiation.
That’s all for you
In the end, every negotiation comes back to you. Were you ready? Did you have the negotiation skills needed to achieve a positive outcome? If the result of the talks was not what you wanted or wanted, then it’s probably your fault.
It is too easy to find other scapegoats to blame things. You are responsible for the outcome of your negotiations. If you do not need to succeed, then you will have to go out and get the negotiation training, you need to reach the next level.
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