Making Good Relationships Great by Brian Buck
For the past month, I’ve been blasted by rom-coms — all with the same storyline: two people meet, sparks fly, someone does something dumb, and after some complications, they make up. Then, cut to: happily-ever- after with an upbeat song. The dumb thing that usually drives them apart? Breaking trust. In real life, breaking trust can be devastating and may not result in a happily-ever-after, particularly in a negotiation. But maintaining trust can make a good relationship great. In a negotiation, it’s extremely helpful if the parties trust each other. It’s extremely difficult to craft a deal with someone you don’t trust. Particularly if you think they’re not being upfront or are trying to take advantage of you. In my experience, the majority of commercial negotiations are between parties that work together or at least
So, what if you’re in a negotiation, and the other party is someone you have only a neutral-to-good relationship with? Focusing on trust will help you maintain or strengthen the relationship by the time the negotiation is done. Here are five tips for making that happen…
have a working relationship — not typically transactional relationships. Time and again, I’ve observed that good working relationships are about maintaining trust.
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