Business Survival Skills to Help Maintain Your Inner Chi

No matter what you do, you’re bound to encounter difficult clients, vendors and peers.

It’s just a fact of life. Sometimes you see it coming, sometimes you deal with it because there’s an end benefit to you (a great credential on your resume or a sweet amount of cash in your bank account); occasionally you are blindsided. If you haven’t done so already, take some time to review these tips, so you can be prepared, rebound with grace and keep your sanity intact.

Basic Negotiation Survival Skills

Let’s start with one of the hardest things: Honestly communicating your expectations. Many negotiations fail because people spend way too much time dancing around the issue instead of calmly and confidently outlining the facts. That said, we’ve all known folks that open their mouths and automatically tick people off, versus the productively-oriented crowd, who can effectively stand their ground without alienating everyone in the room. Opting for the latter will help you get where you want to go. Which brings me to my next point…

Be positive. Even if you have bad news to share, you can improve any negotiation if you take a sunnier, constructive route versus the jackhammer, finger- pointing approach. Don’t have a resolution to a problem? Try saying: “We are actively seeking a solution” versus the gloomier version: “We have nothing new to report.” One approach screams competency, the other, not.

Everyone is busy, and all too many people have missed the “Miss Manners” memo on professional behavior, so the next thing to keep in mind is actually pretty simple. Don’t take things personally. Women especially have a hard time with this, myself included. We mull and fester and read into things way too much. Be like a duck and let most stuff just roll off your back. You’ll be surprised at how much faster you can get back on track adopting this stance.

Concentrate on the big picture. When you microsize an event or problem, you can actually end up supersizing a problem. Maximize the outcome by keeping things in perspective.

Everyone cannot agree. If you understand and accept this at the get-go, you can actually take a fair amount of weight off your shoulders. Think of it this way – you have your opinion, “they” have theirs. What can you both do to accommodate each other’s goals, so you can find that middle ground.

Don’t ignore warning signs. I regularly act as an outsourced marketing consultant, one of my resources decided they wanted to handle things differently. I had a few red flags but decided to work around them. The result: in the middle of a very important project I suddenly had to regroup and do damage control with a client.

Sometimes bad situations can lead to great things. If you are like most people you avoid conflict. More often than not, after slogging through a difficult or uncomfortable situation, you can actually end up in a better position than when you started! While my recent incident was not fun, the end result is I now have a much wider network of talented peers to rely on, who are quite happy to work with me on my terms.

Taking the time to think about better ways to react and respond to difficult situations will help you buff up your business negotiating prowess, so you can keep your business chi balanced and happy!