5 Ways Emotional Intelligence Can Help Enhance A Negotiation Process
According to Daniel Goldman, our IQ has little bearing on our life while our EQ or Emotional Quotient is what determines whether we would succeed or fail in our lives and careers. Indeed, a high emotional intelligence is a must have no matter what kind of career path you choose to take; it comes handy even in personal matters. For example, whether you want to build new relationships with members of the opposite sex or enhance your existing relationship with your partner, emotional intelligence is what is gonna help you. People with a high EQ usually make good leaders and negotiators. In this article I will tell you how emotional intelligence can help you get through a rather hopeless negotiation process.
Let us say you, someone with a very high EQ, are asked to negotiate with somebody whose thoughts, ideas and emotions are completely antithetical to yours, whose company would usually result in nothing but disharmony, and who is so stubborn that it is not easy to convince him of anything he already does not believe in. How are you going to negotiate with this person? You can –
Break The Boundaries: Sure, there are many things about this person with which you won’t find any kind of commonality, but scratch the surface and you would see that indeed you have got something, at least one thing, in common. This commonality is what you must exploit in order to break down the emotional boundaries which exist between you two. This is the first and major step of any negotiation process.
Empathize With Him And His Situation: A person with a high emotional quotient is usually also a good empath. He is someone who is able to leave his own interests, ideas, conflicts, egos, ideologies and emotions behind and put himself into the shoes of another person easily, in such a way that in no time the other person’s emotions, ideas and feelings become his own! This is the next thing you need to do: empathize with the situation and idea of the other person. Let us face it, life is a drag, people are cold and busy; in such a situation, it is hard to find someone who would truly lend you an ear and sympathize with your problems. Be that person and you would soon have this stubborn person dancing at your whims!
Motivate The Other Person To Listen To You: The next step is to motivate and inspire the other person to follow what you are telling him and listen to you closely. Once you are able to connect with the person through empathy, motivating him to listen to you would be rather a child’s play for you.
Be A Good Listener: A true negotiator is someone who does not just blabber on his own, but also allows the other person to speak his mind. And when the other person indeed opens up, you need to be a good listener. You must listen to each and every word that comes out of his mouth intently; you must also keep a check on his body language to understand his nonverbal feelings and emotions. Put two and two together and you have got all the materials you need to negotiate with this person successfully. By being a good listener, you would also be respecting the character, thoughts and ideologies of this other person, again something that every person on earth wants rather badly.
Promote Good Faith: Why should this other person, who did not know you before today, would trust you and your ideas? You need to convince the other person that you have truly got his best interest in mind and that by accepting your offer he would only be helping himself. You should use facts from your past to convince this person about your honestly and trustworthiness. Never be formal in these kinds of negotiations; always talk like you were two long lost old friends. Always use “I” to convey your own personal feelings and emotions.
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