Convene - February 2016

PLENARY Waze + Feelings and Negotiations + ‘Never Quit Learning’

M Y NE W FAVORITE APP

Waze
CASANDRA MATEJ, CDME, C TA , Executive Director, San Antonio
Convention & Visitors Bureau
Waze is not new, but its latest enhancements make it one of my favorite apps. Waze is a crowdsourced navigation app that uses real-time consumer data to get millions of people moving
as quickly as possible.

When you’re in a different town for a meeting, trying to get from Point A to Point B can be challenging, especially when navigating with a group. Users can sync Waze with meetings and events and street addresses in their calendars, and it will remind them when they should hit the road to get to their next meeting/session/appointment on time.

Waze not only enhances productivity but also prioritizes responsibil-
ity and safety ahead of technology. It was the first navigation app that
blocked drivers from inputting text while driving, and everything is now
executed via voice command. Also, Waze regularly meets with the U.S.
Department of Transportation and is trusted by government organiza-
tions and smart cities worldwide. .

For more information: waze.com Availability

Apple, Android, Windows

Cost

Free ting to your stination in shortest time possible.

TIPSTER

Emotional Investment

PROBLEM Negotiators focus too much attention on tactics, offers, and counteroffers, and don’t give enough consideration to how emotions affect what happens at the bargaining table.

SO LU TIO N Whatever your emotional state during a negotiation, there are ways to master your feelings to your advantage. In a recent Harvard Business Review article, Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Alison Wood Brooks shares how. Here’s an excerpt: Over the past decade, researchers have begun examining how specific emotions can affect the behavior of negotiators. They’ve studied what happens when people express them to the other party through words or actions.

In negotiations that are less transac-
tional and involve parties in long-term
relationships, understanding the role of
emotions is even more important.

Anxiety Try your utmost to avoid feeling anxious while negotiating. Train, practice, rehearse, and keep sharpening your negotiating skills. Anxiety is often a response to novel stimuli, so the more familiar the stimuli, the less anxious you will feel.

Anger In many contexts, feeling or
expressing anger as a negotiation tactic
can backfire. Building rapport before,
during, and after a negotiation can
reduce the odds that the other party
will become angry. If you seek to frame
the negotiation cooperatively — to
make it clear that you’re seeking a win-
win solution instead of trying to get
the lion’s share of a fixed pie — you may
limit the other party’s perception that
an angry grab for value will work well.

Disappointment Research shows that people are most likely to regret actions they didn’t take — the missed opportunities and errors of omission, rather than errors of commission. That can be a powerful insight for negotiators, whose primary actions should be asking questions, listening, proposing solutions, and brainstorming new alternatives if the parties can’t agree. People who ask a lot of questions tend to be better liked, and they learn more things.