Reviewing Human Fundamentals

Chapter 2
Negotiating involves “hard skills” – steps, phases, and strategies; but it also

requires “soft skills” - building positive and productive relationships. , adding

lots of additional ingredients to the negotiating process beyond just the nuts
and bolts of bargaining.
Mental/Emotional: there is a lot of mental activity involved in the negotiation
process.
 Neurons & Dentries
 Thoughts & Feelings
 Actions
 Results
Neurons & Dendrites: part of brain is made up of neurons.Dendrites are the
neuronal arms which connect neurons and allow them to talk with each other.
Thoughts & Feelings: thoughts are streams of information.The scary part is
that most of these thoughts are the same day after day. The good news is that
we have a good control over these thoughts. The bad news is that changing
our thoughts to become more positive and productive takes work. That is the
opportunity for all of who want better lives and better negotiations. Our
thoughts send a chemical message to the body and we experience these
messages as feelings or emotions. i.e. during a negotiation, if we have
thoughts of possibility-from a mental perspective-things are going well, the
chemical response in our body is one of feeling good.
Actions: if your neurons and dendrites are producing positive thoughts and
feelings in a negotiation, your actions will tend to be those that continue the
positive interactions you are creating. If you have negative thoughts and
feelings, your actions will reflect that. You will probably start holding back
information.
Results: our actions produce our results. Results do not lie. The results of
positive actions produced by positive thoughts and feelings will most likely be
outcomes that you say are at least good enough or win-win.
• Besides the physiological, biological, and chemical factors of being a human
involved in negotiations, another influential ingredient in all human
interactions is the mind.
+++++++++ after
Physical:
 You: your body including your brain is the host from which you engage
in negotiations. For this reason it makes sense dense to have the body in
the best health, get enough rest before negotiations, work regularly
many muscle groups.
 Other: if you are not in top form and they are, they will have the
advantage. They will be sharper and stronger, and more open for clear
thinking.
 Physical environmental factors: your surroundings impact you mentally,
emotionally, and physically. Everyone has different physical needs and
comfort zones (warm, cold, uncomfortable chairs, light, darkness, site
selection)
 Social: is the degree of interaction between or among people. What

behavioral styles have come together in a negotiation session. (Age,

cultural differences, level of education).
 Spiritual: the energy that fuels people’s lives. You walk into a room and
even though you did not witness what went on between two people,
you can feel the argument that occurred.