THE ROLE OF ‘VALUES’ IN NEGOTIATION AND MEDIATION
Should you be entering into a commercial or property negotiation or participating in a mediation, the issue of ‘values’ may look like a distraction. But it isn’t. Here’s why.
- In any negotiation or mediation trust is absolutely required before one party is prepared to take the word of another and agree to an offer. Trust is the glue that bonds people to one another.
- While trust is a pre-requisite of any agreement, it is not a ‘value’.
- However, honesty, ethics, and integrity are ‘values’ and in their absence agreements either are not made, or are left unfulfilled.
- That’s why it is critical in a negotiation or mediation to prepare as much as possible, as early as possible by researching the other party’s reputation. If what you learn tells you that the other party talks a good game but plays fast and loose with its commitments, the warning lights should be flashing.
- So remember that no agreement is worth anything if the other party’s commitment is unsupported by the ‘values’ of honesty, ethics and integrity.
