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Check Your Emotional Temperature

Posted By PON Staff On May 15, 2013 @ 10:37 am In Conflict Management | 2 Comments

Do you ever feel ambushed by strong emotions?

To guard against acting irrationally or in ways that can harm you, authors of Beyond Reason: Using Emotions As You Negotiate [1] Roger Fisher and Daniel Shapiro [2] advise you to take your emotional temperature during a negotiation. Specifically, try to gauge whether your emotions are manageable, starting to heat up, or threatening to boil over.

Here are some suggestions for lowering your emotional temperature:

Develop an Emergency Plan

Give yourself an ‘out’ – a break that allows you to take a walk to cool down, to call a friend or colleague for reinforcement, or remind yourself of your BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement) [3].

Shift the Focus

Ask questions that you time, bring new information, and test your assumptions. (See also: In Deal Making, Broaden Your Focus [4])

Diagnose Your Ailment

What core concerns of yours are not being met? Are you hurt because you feel unappreciated or dismissed? Once you understand why you’re upset, you’ll be better able to signal what you need. (See also: Emotion and Judgment [5])

When you download the New Conflict Management: Effective Conflict Resolution Strategies to Avoid Litigation [6] you will learn how wise negotiators extract unexpected value using an indirect approach to conflict management.

Article printed from Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School: http://www.pon.harvard.edu

URL to article: http://www.pon.harvard.edu/daily/conflict-management/check-your-emotional-temperature/

URLs in this post:

[1] Beyond Reason: Using Emotions As You Negotiate: http://www.pon.harvard.edu/shop/beyond-reason-using-emotions-as-you-negotiate/

[2] Daniel Shapiro: http://www.pon.harvard.edu/faculty/daniel-shapiro/

[3] BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement): http://www.pon.harvard.edu/tag/batna/

[4] In Deal Making, Broaden Your Focus: http://www.pon.harvard.edu/daily/business-negotiations/in-deal-making-broaden-your-focus/

[5] Emotion and Judgment: http://www.pon.harvard.edu/daily/conflict-management/emotion-and-judgment/

[6] New Conflict Management: Effective Conflict Resolution Strategies to Avoid Litigation: http://pon.harvard.edu/freemium/the-new-conflict-management-strategies-for-dealing-with-tough-topics-interpersonal-conflicts/

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