When I explained my struggles to Dr. Babcock, her immediate response was: “Why are you thinking of a negotiation as a conflict?” She added that a negotiation should be a conversation, not a confrontation.
“If you see it as a conflict, and you’re conflict-averse and avoid it, that’s not going to serve you well,” she said. “Try seeing it as a conversation that needs to be managed.”
Plus, unlike a true, every-person-for-themselves conflict, when done properly, both parties get what they want out of a negotiation. You get more money, and the other party receives quality work from an employee who isn’t spending half the day tweaking her résumé.
