How can feedback help you negotiate a better contract?

Nobody see you the way you do. That's a problem we all share. And what's worse, you ask 10 people what they thought of your performance during a contract negotiation, and you get 10 different answers. What can you do? 1. Ask several people to get different perspectives. (Make it a habit) 2. Ask open questions. (Not "Was it helpful when I ...?" but "How did it strike you when I ...?") 2. Ask questions about specific aspects of your performance and communication style. - "At what point(s) would you say I could have been more collaborative / adaptive / strict / direct / kind / etc?" - "What do you think of the rapport we built?" - "How would you assess the tactics I used when we got stuck on point ABC?" The key is specificity.

Feedback Role: Constructive feedback provides insights into your negotiation style and effectiveness. Impact: Understanding how others perceive your negotiation skills enhances self-awareness and confidence. Application: Use feedback to capitalize on strengths and address perceived weaknesses, fostering a more confident negotiation approach.

Positive and constructive feedback can enhance confidence, motivation for improvement and job satisfaction which can be beneficial for contract negotiation. On the other hand, self awareness and self-assessments are also important for reviewing what went well, and what could be further improved.

Feedback Role: Others' perspectives help you recognize what you do well and where you can enhance your skills. Impact: Knowing your strengths allows you to leverage them in negotiations, while awareness of areas for improvement enables focused development. Application: Integrate feedback into your preparation, emphasizing and refining strengths while actively addressing areas that may benefit from improvement.

Feedback may help to negotiate a better contract because different people/teams from different departments or background, may have different views or perspectives. By listening to different stakeholders and understanding their goals, objectives, priorities, such information can be further analysed for developing a strategy for business negotiation, with the flexibility of having more options or solutions, where appropriate or necessary.

Feedback Role: Feedback not only reflects on your actions but also on how you build relationships during negotiations. Impact: Positive feedback suggests effective relationship-building, while negative feedback may signal a need for adjustments. Application: Use feedback to refine your interpersonal skills, building rapport and trust with the other party, which can positively influence the negotiation atmosphere.

Feedback during the process of contract negotiation can potentially enhance communication, rapport and trust with others. The mentality of open mindedness, respectful of differences in opinion ( even if some may have different perspectives), positive thinking, and continuous improvement will be helpful for collaboration, and synergism.

Feedback Role: Provides valuable information on the effectiveness of your negotiation strategies and tactics. Impact: Understanding what works and what doesn't allows for adaptive strategies tailored to the specific negotiation context. Application: Regularly seek feedback and be willing to adjust your approach based on the dynamics of each negotiation. Flexibility and responsiveness contribute to more successful outcomes.

Feedback may facilitate further analysis of whether tactics or strategies need any changes for a particular case or other situations. Evaluation of constructive feedback is meaningful and useful for further review or consideration of what is working well and what can be done more effectively.

Learning from negotiation experience is central to optimizing contracts. After each negotiation, I reflect intensively, analyze patterns and obtain feedback from colleagues and clients. Detailed documentation and analyses of the contract results serve as reference points. Further training, benchmarking and networking enable constant learning. Flexibility and a willingness to adapt are crucial in order to learn from mistakes and optimize successful strategies.

Feedback provides the opportunity of receiving response and interaction with others that may propel self-analysis, development and transformational change. ??positive feedback can encourage good behaviour ??constructive feedback can be thought provoking ??build resilience by maintaining positive attitude and learning from experience ??remain balanced with inner peace can help to deal with feedback objectively, and analytically

Incorporating feedback from your business team is crucial. They provide a different perspective, often grounded in practical, operational realities. As an attorney, I'd advise blending their insights with legal strategies. The business team can highlight real-world implications of certain legal positions, helping to shape a more comprehensive, effective approach. It's like having scouts in the field; they see the terrain up close. Their input can guide you to make legally sound decisions that also align with business goals. Remember, the best legal strategies are those that serve the broader objectives of the business.

Standardised SaaS Contracts: feedback secured via negotiating (from a sellers perspective) is another opportunity to review and refine the terms and conditions - to ensure they remain clear/relevant. Other Contracts: feedback secured from negotiations can help accelerate the closure process i.e., learning from mistakes and, tackling discussion from a new (more enlightened) perspective.

Feedback may enable wider vision and seeing matter from different perspectives and dimensions. Therefore, seeing constructive feedback as a motivating factor for improvement and fine-tuning in approach, draft clauses in contract will be helpful to conclude a deal for win-win results.