How to prioritize your goals?

Be sure to rank your goals in terms of importance. Ideally, you want to achieve 100 percent consensus about the official ranking of your goals. However, different individuals may hold onto their personal agendas. In those cases, let the majority prevail and note explicitly the view of the minority. By making special note of the minority view at the beginning, you record it for the duration. Later, you can allow the repeat discussion, but remind the advocates of the minority view that they were outvoted.
It is a rare negotiation in which you achieve all of your goals. You must know which are the most important. This decision can become contentious. Teams often abandon the critical step of prioritizing in the name of keeping the peace. Unfortunately, such teams only defer the argument to a later point in time — and probably a worse time, such as

• When not enough time exists to deal with a side issue.
• When the team needs to hang together.
• When the stakes in the outcome seem higher because they are more immediate.
• When a distraction from negotiating is the most damaging. What a disaster! Bite the bullet and get the team together on this important issue when you settle upon the list of goals.