I often encounter business
leaders and sales executives who get so immersed in their negotiations, that
they tend to overlook the obvious verbal or non-verbal cues, patterns,
preferences and team-dynamics of the people they engage with.
They become so fully
focused on the negotiation process, that they disregard these essential keys, which
could often help them to create better business deals.
In effect, these executives
have become blind to what expert negotiators view as essential information.
In business negotiations, you won’t get what you can’t
see!
I have come to view this as a side-effect of the respective executive’s
blind spot.
In medicine, the blind spot is the area in the visual field, which
corresponds to the zone on the optic disc of the retina in your eyes, where
there is a lack of light-detecting photoreceptor cells. The brain interpolates
the missing input-data, which is not available in the area of your blind spot,
based on information details gained from the surroundings, as well as
information obtained from the other eye, so that we are usually not aware of
the blind spot’s existence.
Similarly, in our personal blind spot, we may be unable to take in new
information, especially when faced with unfamiliar, complex, challenging
situations, such as intercultural business negotiations.
Our past experiences have shaped and cemented our beliefs, assumptions, and
expectations of how the world works to such an extent, that we have literally
become blind to what is really going on in and around us in such an area. We
interpolate, making assumptions about what is going on based on factors we are
no longer conscious of, forces at work in our blind spot which are no longer
under our control.
I always tell the
executives I coach to beware of the assumptions they make, and the stories they
tell themselves before, during and after a negotiation, for our perceptual
filters may play tricks on us.
Our mind is programmed to create coherence between our
deeply held beliefs and our perception of reality.
Our subconscious
mind sorts and filter the input data it receives, evaluating it based on its
existing map of the world, including its belief-structures, value-hiearchies
and fundamental needs. If our mind can’t find adequate references to back up
its deeply held beliefs, it may experience cognitive tension, to which it will
frequently respond by coming up with creative ways to bridge the gap. The
resulting mental shortcuts may be interesting and creative, but if they are
based on an insufficient, incomplete, or otherwise flawed perception of reality,
they will often lead to sub-optimal results. This is especially true in the
context of intercultural negotiations, where it is essential that we learn to
take our blinkers off.
In order to overcome
the negative effects of the blind spot in business negotiations, I usually
recommend the following steps:
Appoint An Observer
Whenever you are
negotiating as a team, make sure that you appoint one of the team-members as an
observer, and ensure that this person is well trained, prepared and fully able
to perform this role well.
Amongst other
things, the observer should take notes about the following factors in the
opposing team:
- personal styles, as well as the explicit and implicit roles of the team members
- hierarchical structures, team dynamics and possible switching of roles
- cultural negotiation patterns and preferences (time, tension and trades)
- non verbal communication patterns and micro-cues of the team members
- orchestration of the negotiation phases, recurring themes, priming techniques
- etc.
The observer
should be given the authority to call for a time-out (obviously: not too
frequently!) during which he or she can share the observations and discuss
possible interpretations and required tactical changes with the team.
Activate Your Inner Observer
This technique
takes some practice, and may not be easy to learn initially, but if you find
yourself getting involved in complex negotiations frequently, you will benefit
from learning to activate your inner observer.
Essentially, this activation
process requires you to learn how to be fully present, focused and engaged with
your team and your counterparts during any given negotiation, whilst at
the same time being able to step out and above the situation to observe
everything that is going on in and around you (and no, I don’t teach OBE!).
When I tell my
executive clients how this works, the initial reaction I frequently get is that
their eyes glaze over and they give me a quizzical look, as though I were
trying to teach them some highly esoteric technique or concept.
However, once they
allow me to show them specifically how they can activate their inner observer,
and they gain a few initial positive experiences in real-life negotiations,
they tend to become more open to the potential benefits of using this approach.
Conduct A Post Mortem
I am often amazed
to see how many of my executive clients rush from one sales or business
negotiation to another, without stopping to reflect on what worked, what didn’t,
and why, as well as what they could learn from the experience they just went
through.
Furthermore, even
if they apply a proper debriefing process after each negotiation, I virtually
never see them share their insights with their business colleagues in a
systematical manner.
In many ways, the
learning organization still seems to be more of a myth than a reality when it
comes to business negotiations.
Beware Of Your Blind Spot!
Your blind spot usually is the direct result of your perceptual filters,
including your personal and business values, rules and beliefs. Understanding
what is really going on in your blind spot is often a critical key to creating
a real breakthrough in your business negotiations.