Never Make These 2 Mistakes in a Negotiation
Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2025 9:13 am
São Paulo — Skilled negotiators know that without a very well-defined plan of action, it is impossible to reach an agreement that is satisfactory to all parties.
However, the complex mission of reconciling opposing interests does not depend solely on good planning. In the execution phase, even the most brilliant strategy can fail if the negotiator lacks emotional intelligence at the crucial moment.
Check out the two most serious mistakes you australia physiotherapist email database can make when trying to reach an agreement, according to experts on the subject heard by EXAME.com:
Mistake 1 – Entering into a “battle of positions”
When the moment comes to face-to-face contact, many people make the mistake of clinging to their own ego, says Breno Paquelet, a negotiation expert at Harvard Business School.
In practice, this means putting only your desires on the table and fighting until they prevail over the other person’s. “Negotiation is collaboration, not war,” he explains. “Both parties need to act against the problem, not against each other.”
Imagine, for example, a conversation about cost-cutting in a company. The director says: “The only way to balance the books is to fire 20 people.” The manager, in turn, objects: “Impossible. The team needs to stay exactly as it is.” After long and heated discussions, the outcome of the “battle” ends up being to fire 10 employees — a kind of middle ground.
Ironically, this outcome does not correspond to the wishes of either party: neither the one who wanted to lay off 20 nor the one who wanted to keep all the employees will have “won”, explains Paquelet. The reason lies in the inability to see alternatives for an agreement.
If they were not victims of their own egos, the negotiators could have seen a solution that would be favorable to both parties: implementing measures to increase team productivity. This would have made it possible to resolve the financial issue and, at the same time, avoid layoffs.
Another problem for those who see the situation as a war is having an exaggerated focus on the result, and not on the relationship, says Alfredo Bravo, an award-winning professor at Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) and creator of a method tested with more than 10 thousand people to be successful in negotiations.
This is because a professional who imposes his will and does everything to “win” ends up ruining his relationship with colleagues, managers, subordinates or clients. “You may even win once, but you will lose every other time, because no one will want to do business with you anymore,” explains the professor.
However, the complex mission of reconciling opposing interests does not depend solely on good planning. In the execution phase, even the most brilliant strategy can fail if the negotiator lacks emotional intelligence at the crucial moment.
Check out the two most serious mistakes you australia physiotherapist email database can make when trying to reach an agreement, according to experts on the subject heard by EXAME.com:
Mistake 1 – Entering into a “battle of positions”
When the moment comes to face-to-face contact, many people make the mistake of clinging to their own ego, says Breno Paquelet, a negotiation expert at Harvard Business School.
In practice, this means putting only your desires on the table and fighting until they prevail over the other person’s. “Negotiation is collaboration, not war,” he explains. “Both parties need to act against the problem, not against each other.”
Imagine, for example, a conversation about cost-cutting in a company. The director says: “The only way to balance the books is to fire 20 people.” The manager, in turn, objects: “Impossible. The team needs to stay exactly as it is.” After long and heated discussions, the outcome of the “battle” ends up being to fire 10 employees — a kind of middle ground.
Ironically, this outcome does not correspond to the wishes of either party: neither the one who wanted to lay off 20 nor the one who wanted to keep all the employees will have “won”, explains Paquelet. The reason lies in the inability to see alternatives for an agreement.
If they were not victims of their own egos, the negotiators could have seen a solution that would be favorable to both parties: implementing measures to increase team productivity. This would have made it possible to resolve the financial issue and, at the same time, avoid layoffs.
Another problem for those who see the situation as a war is having an exaggerated focus on the result, and not on the relationship, says Alfredo Bravo, an award-winning professor at Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) and creator of a method tested with more than 10 thousand people to be successful in negotiations.
This is because a professional who imposes his will and does everything to “win” ends up ruining his relationship with colleagues, managers, subordinates or clients. “You may even win once, but you will lose every other time, because no one will want to do business with you anymore,” explains the professor.