Why Use a Win-Win Conversation

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field.  I’ll meet you there.
– Rumi, Persian Poet 1207-1273 AD

Lesson Description

This lesson identifies the critical elements of and cites reasons for using the Win-Win Conversation.

Lesson Objectives

After completing this lesson you will be able to recall the critical elements of the Win-Win Conversation, cite your reasons for using the Win-Win Conversation, and will have identified one person with whom you would like to have Win-Win Conversations.

Using the Win-Win Conversation you will learn to solve problems more effectively and creatively for better results. You get better results by striving to meet all team members’ needs. It is the quest to meet all needs that engages team members and leads to their commitment to decisions, even if such decisions fail to meet a particular team member’s needs. The key is that all team members feel their concerns were heard and understood and then prioritized, as necessary.

The critical element of a Win-Win Conversation is to state facts in a neutral manner to understand one’s own and others’ feelings and needs to distinguish strategy from the underlying need or goal.

Colleagues who use Win-Win communicate more effectively because they focus on the goals first and the strategies second. Reaching an agreement and understanding, on goals is a critical first step in productive problem-solving and negotiations of any kind.