Negotiate with Focus

By Heidi Halvorson

Life is full of negotiations, big and small. We negotiate for raises, we negotiate with clients and providers over prices, and we negotiate for more staff, the best projects and flex time. (Then we go home and negotiate with our kids about how old you have to be to get your own smartphone.) To be successful, you really need to know how to negotiate well.

But the truth is, this particular skill doesn’t come naturally to many people. This is because a negotiation is an experience that is rife with conflicting motivations. When you haggle with another party over price, you need to somehow reconcile your desire to pay (or be paid) your target amount with your fear that if you push too hard, the negotiation may break down. You might end up empty-handed, humiliated or out of a job. Negotiations are always gambles, and there is always risk. One quality that great negotiators possess is the ability to stay focused on their ideal target, despite the risks they are facing. Research shows, those most able to do it have what’s called a promotion focus.

Promotion-focused people think about their goals as opportunities to gain: to advance or achieve, to end up better off than they are now… Prevention-focused people think about their goals in terms of what they could lose if they don’t succeed — they want to stay safe and keep things running smoothly. So, prevention-focused people are much more conservative and risk-averse.

From “The One-Minute Trick to Negotiating Like a Boss”