Win Win Does It Work For Accountants
Two possibilities exist about the way we view the negotiation process. The moderately aggressive stance is where we look out primarily for a strong gain for ourselves. The Win Win concept is where we look for our best interest , but in which we understand that the other person’s interests, if served well, can often serve ours even better. To be effective, both parties must feel they have won.
I was introduced to this personally, when one of my clients asked me to launch a company. He never offered me a salary, he asked me to write my own proposal taking into account the fact that he wanted me to be as motivated as possible to get the best possible return for him as investor. Not only did it force certain issues in my own thinking, it put a strong sense of responsibility on my shoulders. My client looked at the proposal I made, and found one or two ways where he believed he could improve my motivation – he was right.
Good negotiation is not about getting everything your own way. It is about balancing each other. You don’t defer to your counterpart and allow him to get all that he wants, you have your own aspirations which you must secure. That requires two way movement which produces WIN WIN. It affects the business relationship positively. It also enables us to achieve not just more sales, or better supply but more importantly, the growth in profit that we are all looking for.
Options For Accountants & Negotiation
What are the possible attitudes available in a negotiation process?
1. I win you lose – here I must defeat the other party at any cost. I drive a hard bargain, I probably don’t trust anyone. I don’t care about the relationship.
2. I yield when you press – here I believe that good relationship is what produces good deals and the relationship is the most important thing to me. I trust without reservation and I yield to pressure.
3. I Withdraw. Here I have low interest in the relationship and the outcome. I lack confidence and belief. I feel powerless, results are beyond my influence and I take what ever is willingly conceded.
4. I compromise. Similar to number 2, here I have a reasonable degree of concern for both the outcome and the relationship. I will tend to split the difference, I will go out of my way to scratch their back and I accept that you win some and you lose some.
5. I want Win Win. Relationship is important to me but not at the cost of achieving my goals I will genuinely search for common interest as well as looking for synergistic creative solutions.
In effective negotiation we should not only be concerned about our own goals and objectives. We should have a genuine interest in, and a good grasp of what the other party is hoping for or aiming for – whether that is our client or a supplier. The more we can help the other person to achieve what he wants, the more likely we are to achieve what we are looking for from the deal.
The more genuine interest we can show in the other person and his aspirations, the less threatened he will be, the more he will volunteer information and the more likely we are to reach an ideal solution. If you can think WIN WIN rather than WIN-LOSE you will become more effective, less stressed and always better in the long term.
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