Negotiation mistakes

Disciplines > Negotiation > Mistakes

Negotiation is a difficult art as it requires managing, in real-time, both the other person's mind and your own.

Here are a number of mistakes that negotiators can make (and what you can do about them).

• Accepting positions: Assuming the other person won't change their position.
• Accepting statements: Assuming what the other person says is wholly true.
• Cornering them: Giving them no alternative but to fight.
• Hurrying: Negotiating in haste (and repenting at leisure).
• Hurting the relationship: Getting what you want but making an enemy.
• Issue fixation: Getting stuck on one issue and missing greater possibilities.
• Missing strengths: Not realizing the strengths that you actually have.
• Misunderstanding authority: Assuming that authority and power are synonymous.
• Misunderstanding power: Thinking one person has all the power.
• One solution: Thinking there is only one possible solution.
• Over-wanting: Wanting something too much.
• Squeezing too much: Trying to gain every last advantage.
• Talking too much: Not gaining the power of information from others.
• Thinking in absolutes: Assuming that there are only a few possibilities.
• Win-lose: Assuming a fixed-pie, win-lose scenario.

See also

Negotiation tactics