Saturday, March 22, 2008

How to set the right number of goals?


The negotiation itself dictates the number of specific goals you should set. It’s amazing how many goals some people can squeeze into even a simple negotiation. Recognize that you can’t get everything done in one negotiation. For example, if your priority is to get a raise, don’t demand a car allowance, overtime pay, and an assistant all in the same session. By putting too much on the table at one time, you just confuse people. Your boss’s eyes will glaze over, and you may not get anything at all.
You want to be realistic about your goal setting. Setting too many goals in a negotiation can make you look ignorant and naïve. To combat this situation, walk into the negotiation with a written schematic of your goals. Stay on course with what is written on the page.
Conversely, you don’t want to set goals too low. Setting very low goals is as detrimental to a negotiation as setting unrealistically high goals. Setting low goals signals weakness and indifference during a negotiation. The other party will see right through you. You should set goals that are slightly out of your grasp, but not so far that you can’t achieve them.

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