Whether you’re an empathetic listener or a decisive leader, it impacts your negotiations. By understanding and working with your personality, you will become a better negotiator.
Here are a few examples of how your personality influences your negotiations.
Research by Daniel Goleman on emotional intelligence highlights self-awareness as a key component in managing emotions and improving interpersonal interactions.
If you are highly self-aware, you will know your strengths and weaknesses, such as being creative, and your tendency to push too much.
If you are aware you can use your ingenuity to find unique solutions, while actively listening to ensure you find out what the other party is looking for.
On the other hand, if you lack self-awareness, you might consistently interrupt others. This leads to frustrations and other negative emotions during the negotiation, quickly escalating into heated arguments and lost opportunities.
If you believe in honesty, you will share information where possible, building trust and establishing open communication. Transparency enhances trust in negotiations, as highlighted by research in the Journal of Business Ethics, with scholars like Linda K. Treviño and Robert A. Baron.
If you, however, attempt to manipulate or deceive, you will quickly lose credibility. Once your dishonesty is uncovered, trust is broken, and the negotiation and relationship will collapse, making it difficult to deal with this person or company again.
Active listeners will pick up on body language and tone of voice during a negotiation. Albert Mehrabian’s research on communication shows that non-verbal cues are crucial in understanding true intentions, as 93% of communication effectiveness is determined by non-verbal behaviour.
This attentiveness enables you to uncover information, for example, if someone is speaking the truth. An attentive listener might notice a change in tone that signals hesitation, but an inattentive listener won’t.
Your personality is your superpower in negotiations. Embrace who you are, but don’t overlook your weaknesses. It’s not about being a ‘universal great negotiator’ – it’s about finding a style and approach that suits your personality. By aligning your negotiation strategies with your personality, you will enhance your negotiation skills and achieve better outcomes.
How do you find out what style and approach suits you? Seek negotiation training and guidance from experts to learn how to apply the right approach. With that, your next negotiation could be your best yet!
Get in touch with us so that we can find out where you are going as a negotiator, team or company. We would like to find out what we can do for you if we decide to collaborate.
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