Do you want to win or do you want to get a deal?

In a negotiation, what are your objectives, do get a deal or to win? As a manager, I have to sit in many meetings where a decision has to be made and parties must come to an agreement. In one of my last contract negotiations, the emotions were high and both parties stood firm by their position, it seemed there was going to be “no deal.”

The issue was “each company’s” CEO has a big ego that they were not welling to let go and the deal was about to collapse. I work for one of the CEOs, but I was also able to maintain good relation with the CEO of the other company.

In order for me to save the day, I had to make each CEO feel that he had won; I had to talk to each CEO separately. My idea was to make each CEO feel as if he won, although my aim was to make sure we reach an agreement and in order to do that, each party had to make some concessions.

After I sat we each CEO separately, I also called on a mediator who both partied trusted and he also met with each CEO separately.

At the closing of that business day, we had a signed contract by both CEOs. We made them feel that they WON