5 Things We Have To Learn From Children, The Best Negotiators In The World
Have you ever stopped to think about how skilled children are at getting what they want? These crazy little guys negotiate constantly with us, they don’t stop doing it and, without a doubt, they are truly effective.
Do you want to learn to negotiate? So be attentive to the 5 techniques that, as Alejandro Hernández discovers, children usually use to get what they want:
1. Children ask a lot of questions
The child asks, the adult presupposes. When a child takes a phone call, he does not stop until he knows the reason for the call. It is clear that he is satisfied with any answer that seems possible at that moment but, nevertheless, he does not stop asking.
Likewise, while the child constantly asks about what he does not know, the adult pretends that he knows for fear of appearing incompetent.
2. They know what they want and they don’t stop asking for it
They constantly ask for what they want. The child knows that the more he asks for something, the more likely he will get what he wants ; For this reason, if he wants the game console, go to the park or buy an ice cream, he will not stop asking you.
However, we adults do not ask for it, but we keep quiet. It seems that we wait for others to be able to read our minds and that, when they get it right and find the key to what is going through our head, we even outright deny it.
If we do not tell another what we want, they will hardly be able to give us what we want. Children are amazingly adept at this, having no reservations about exposing their wishes to anyone.
3. They do not accept a NO and they do not conform
For children the NO is the beginning of the negotiation, for the adult the NO is the end. Both as an adult and as a child, the worst they can tell you is YES, YES is the end of the negotiation. A direct YES does not give us anything and can even get frustrated, negotiation is a fun exchange game.
It is possible that a child, daily, receives a NO for an answer hundreds of times but practically never closes the matter after the first refusal. Children push us to the limit: they push, push and push. Why? Because it works for them. Thus, piece by piece they get the portion of the cake that they initially wanted and that you refused to give them.
4. They are tremendously persistent
Is there a long way to go? A lot is missing? How much is left? I get bored, have we arrived yet?
It sure sounds familiar to all of us. The child insists and insists, the adult does not. Furthermore, contrary to what might be expected, they know that, if they don’t get something, they will get what they ask for at another time or something else that is equal or more rewarding.
This is totally common and, if the answer does not agree, then they will ask why or why not until they get the answer that satisfies them.
5. Children do not give in, they exchange
The child exchanges his good behavior for what he wants but on rare occasions they give in or give up what they requested. They, in their negotiation, make others win something too. At the end of the day, that is what negotiating is about, child’s play … With which we learn as children.
Images courtesy of Sunny studio
