Negotiating With Preferences

Did you know that the more you know about your own and others’ preferences around time, information and relationships, the more you can accomplish with others? Pick someone who you have regular dealings with and look closely at their behavior.

1. Do they tend to make decisions quickly or do they need a lot of time to deliberate?
2. Do they prefer concise amounts of information or do they need a lot of data in order to make a decision?
3. Do they place a high priority on relationships or do they seem more focused on the bottom line and overlook relationship building?

By letting others know about your own preferences and finding out about theirs, much conflict can be avoided. You can enjoy more rewarding interactions without making someone wrong because they are different.

For dealing with someone whoprefers to make quick decisions on concise amounts of information, try not to bore them with large doses of information. To keep their attention be concise and organized. Even though you may not be ready to make a decision, you can at least summarize the information you have briefly, keep to the point, and get to the bottom line quickly. For those who forget about relationship building and move to the bottom line just remember that for them efficiency is king. The less than established relationship is not anything about you.

When working with a slow and deliberate decision maker who need a lot of data, remember that to them accuracy and certainty are very important to making a wise decision. To help them pick up the pace, give them a detailed structure to follow and a deadline that still gives them time to deliberate.

For those who are inspired byrelationships, make sure you spend some time on building relationship.

Some individuals place such a high priority on relationships that decisions making is based according to how they feel toward someone. Decision might be deferred as they wait for the relationship to ripen fully to build trust. In this case, moving forward means going slowly with relationship building in mind.

Your awareness of different preferences around time to make a decision, amount of information needed, and how important relationships are to them will increase your flexibility in working with all kinds of people. When you can slow down or speed up, get detailed or be concise, spend time on relationship or move on to the bottom line, you have just opened up many doors to more effective interactions.