Adjusting Negotiation Strategies
Like any conversation, the way you talk to any person depends on the level of comfort you have with them as well as familiarity. This holds true in any situation, whether it be you are speaking with someone you have just met or talking to someone you have known your entire life. And when it comes to negotiation, this idea does not change. You have to be able to begin to understand how you should act based on the person you are working with just like how you change your behavior depending on if you are for example, at home or at school.
In James G. Patterson’s How to Become a Better Negotiator, he makes perfect sense of this idea. He states,
“To negotiate effectively, you need to be on the same wavelength as your opponent… There is a body of research that supports the existence of individual differences in styles of learning and communicating.”
To me this makes total sense because when you are speaking with someone, you generally change your behavior and the way you speak depending on the person you talk to. Also, like Patterson stated, there is evidence that supports individual differences in learning and communicating so although you may think the way you are explaining something makes sense, it may be unclear to the other person involved. Another point that Patterson makes about being a good negotiator is,
“A good negotiator understands that all people don’t have the same kind of brain. The best negotiators strive to use a variety of styles to accomplish the same thing; instead of trying to negotiate with all people the same way, they try to reach people the way they’re used to being reached.”
I think this quote by Patterson is perfect and speaks true to any communication situation because it is important to try and make each person feel comfortable in a negotiation and to speak with them in a way they are going to have the best possible response.
Citations:
Luecke, R., & Patterson, J. G. (2008). How to become a better negotiator. New York: AMACOM/American Management Association.
