Different Perspectives In Negotiation
January 9th, 2008 |This is a true example of how we can learn from everyone and everything.
Here’s the story:
There were 3 blind mice living in the Cat city. One day, the friendly cat, Kathy, decided to play a trick on the 3 blind mice. She took the 3 blind mice to visit an elephant in the zoo.
She took the first blind mice to the elephant trunk and let him feel it.
Then she took the second blind mice to the elephant leg, and the third to the tail.
As the 3 blind mice grew up not seeing an elephant before, they were asked to guess what is an elephant.
1st mice: “It is a tube. Something like a vacuum cleaner.”
2nd mice: “What? You must be crazy. It is a tree trunk!”
3rd mice: “Both of you are wrong! It is a rope.”
They started fighting with each other. Kathy was delighted with the trick she played on them.
What’s the moral of the e grew up not seeing an elephant before, they were asked to guess what is an elephant.
1st mice: “It is a tube. Something like a vacuum cleaner.”
2nd mice: “What? You must be crazy. It is a tree trunk!”
3rd mice: “Both of you are wrong! It is a rope.”
They started fighting with each other. Kathy was delighted with the trick she played on them.
What’s the moral of the story? (eek…)
Different people have different perspectives in life. Their perspectives are determined by the experience they had. We all have a tendency to delude ourselves into believing what we want to believe. Our minds have many different ways of mapping different possibilities even to a single event.
How can this be applied to negotiation?
Sometimes during a negotiation, both parties have different perspectives on a single issue. Many negotiation come to an impasse simply because they cannot see eye to eye on certain things.
From the 3 blind mice story, we learn that people might not see something the way you see it.
We have to be open to other opinions.
Listen to them.
Try to see where they are coming from.
Understand them.
Get into their shoes.
Only after you have fully understand where the other party is coming from, you will then be able to negotiate properly. Without proper understanding of the other party’s point of view, you will be left guessing his thoughts.
Being wise means being open to learning from the other perspectives. When you do feel stuck during a negotiation, it’s probably because you have not been able to see from the other point of view.
Remember: If 3 blind mice can say 3 different things, what about us?
Jens Thang
Negotiation Skills for Everyone
Want to learn more about negotiation techniques and build your own arsenal of negotiation strategies? Avoid the pain of having to do terrible deals. Jens shares strategies, tactics, techniques, pictures, insights, podcasts, videos, interviews, ideas and stories about NEGOTIATIONS!
Jens is a member of International Association for Conflict Management (IACM).
Visit his site at http://www.thenegotiationguru.com
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