Negotiation & Personality: The Veteran

One of the most interesting parts of a negotiation is discovering the personality of your counterparts, and figuring out how to best work with them. But this is also one of the most stressful and challenging parts of a negotiation.

In this series, we’ll look at some of the personalities you may find sitting across the table from you during a negotiation, and discuss how to identify them, how to best work with them – and what to do if this is…you.

Negotiation & Personality: The Veteran

How To Spot Them

Just as we learned with The Newbie, don’t let age be the determining factor when identifying a veteran negotiator. To spot a veteran, pay close attention to how they’re communicating their discussion points – if they’ve got a considerable number of negotiations under their belt, they’ll likely use a lot of references to solutions that have worked in the past. A veteran will also remain unflustered, even as the most provocative business topics are discussed – this is because they’ve been through these ‘battles’ before.

How To Work With Them

This is a great learning opportunity. If your counterpart is a veteran, it’s a good opportunity to learn from how they pace their discussions, how they phrase their rebuttals and how they carry themselves during the talks. They can be a formidable force because of the wealth of experience they’re bringing to the table, but to more you listen to them this time around, the better off you’ll be the next time you meet.

If your colleague is a veteran, the same goes for you. Be a little sponge and soak up all of the information you can. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, or even to challenge them – often, the veteran will like being kept on their toes because it brings them back to the energy and excitement of when they were just starting out.

What If This Is You?

With great power comes great responsibility. It can be tempting to monopolize the discussions – after all, you’ve been there before, seen it all, and know the ‘best’ way to move a negotiation to closure.  But rein it in. Let others have their moment as leader of the negotiation. Take a step back and become a coach and mentor to others on your team so that they can have the same thrills and learning moments that you’ve had. Most importantly, remember that you never stop learning. The tried and true techniques in your toolbox may have given you a solid foundation, but keeping an open mind and adding to your skill set will give longevity and flexibility to your career as a negotiator.

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Have you earned your negotiation stripes? What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned from working with the ‘next generation’ of negotiators?

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Devon Smiley is a Negotiation Consultant, who guides teams through the preparation and execution of negotiations with a distinct Corporate + Creative approach.

Explore Negotiation Consulting here, or get in touch at devon@informedstyle.com to learn more.