Negotiating Tip #71:
Persevere with Your Colleagues No Matter the Setbacks
As their organization’s negotiation experts, sourcing specialists and account managers need to take the lead in surfacing disagreements.
Despite your best efforts, some colleagues may fail to see the value of internal negotiation. Others may see no point in talking to you at all. Nonetheless, your mission is to persevere and keep prodding your coworkers for information and feedback.
The alternative—giving in to frustration and flying solo—is a recipe for resentment. The best negotiators sustain a long-term, wide-angle outlook. The good of the organization comes first and last. As Perlow and Williams note in their article Is Silence Killing Your Company, “When we perpetually silence ourselves in the short- sighted belief that we are getting our tasks done as expeditiously as possible, we may interfere with creativity, learning, and decision making.” Unchecked consensus is an organizational deathtrap.
Relationships feed on empathy—not empty shows, but the genuine article. When we learn what makes other people tick, we can respond to them as human beings. Once we demonstrate that we’ll take care of them, come what may, it’s so much easier to get them to “yes.” Mutual trust is a powerful force.