(no subject)
So this past Saturday I found myself in a Negotiation Competition. It was so much fun.
We were in teams of two and my partner and I played in two rounds. In the first round, she and I went up against some aggressive bargainers. We were able to diffuse much of their tactics, but they refused to share much information with us. In order to avoid being exploited, we did not share much with them. But, as it turns out, with no one sharing anything, it was very difficult to put a deal together. We agreed on only a few minor points. Although I thought we still did well and that there was progress for continuing negotiations, the judges saw it differently. They pretty much took turns with both teams telling us how much we sucked. It was really quite humbling. But also, such a great learning experience. Our coach thought they were a little harsh, and after seeing out score, 6.67, I KNOW they were being too harsh. We did not do that badly.
Then, lunch time took us to Old Town in San Diego where we ate at the Cosmopolitan. Our coach told us what we did well and where we needed to improve. I really took the criticism to heart and planned with my partner on how to improve for the second round.
In the second round, we did SO much better. We had an answer for all their points. When they tried to blindside us with new information, we took it in stride. We totally caught them off guard with some of our own proposals. The issue was a termination of a contract. They wanted to terminate, we wanted to keep the contract. By the end of the negotiation, we not only kept the contract, but we got more money from them.
The judges were singing out praises and even the other team was saying stuff like, "We hope we lose to you." And, "You guys were great." As soon as the self-analysis portion was over, and we walked out of the room, I bear hugged Carolyn, my partner, because I knew we had vastly improved. When the whole round was over, our coach extended his arms and said, "Come here you two" and gave us a big hug. The scores came in today and we received a perfect 16 for that round.
We ended up in 7th place. Not bad since there were 24 teams. And if the judges had been just 3 points less harsh in the first round, we would have tied for first place. But it was the experience of it all that was just so amazing. Lawyers are involved in negotitations on behalf of clients all the time, and this really helped me to feel like I'd made the right career choice. Though it would've been nice to win - and if we'd acted just a little differently I know we could have - the real nougaty goodness of the whole event was the experience, the rush, and the chance to meet other students from around the area.
After the competition, they had a wine and cheese reception, which for me was a cheese reception. It was very kewl. They had all the good cheeses. I am so glad that I chose to compete.
We were in teams of two and my partner and I played in two rounds. In the first round, she and I went up against some aggressive bargainers. We were able to diffuse much of their tactics, but they refused to share much information with us. In order to avoid being exploited, we did not share much with them. But, as it turns out, with no one sharing anything, it was very difficult to put a deal together. We agreed on only a few minor points. Although I thought we still did well and that there was progress for continuing negotiations, the judges saw it differently. They pretty much took turns with both teams telling us how much we sucked. It was really quite humbling. But also, such a great learning experience. Our coach thought they were a little harsh, and after seeing out score, 6.67, I KNOW they were being too harsh. We did not do that badly.
Then, lunch time took us to Old Town in San Diego where we ate at the Cosmopolitan. Our coach told us what we did well and where we needed to improve. I really took the criticism to heart and planned with my partner on how to improve for the second round.
In the second round, we did SO much better. We had an answer for all their points. When they tried to blindside us with new information, we took it in stride. We totally caught them off guard with some of our own proposals. The issue was a termination of a contract. They wanted to terminate, we wanted to keep the contract. By the end of the negotiation, we not only kept the contract, but we got more money from them.
The judges were singing out praises and even the other team was saying stuff like, "We hope we lose to you." And, "You guys were great." As soon as the self-analysis portion was over, and we walked out of the room, I bear hugged Carolyn, my partner, because I knew we had vastly improved. When the whole round was over, our coach extended his arms and said, "Come here you two" and gave us a big hug. The scores came in today and we received a perfect 16 for that round.
We ended up in 7th place. Not bad since there were 24 teams. And if the judges had been just 3 points less harsh in the first round, we would have tied for first place. But it was the experience of it all that was just so amazing. Lawyers are involved in negotitations on behalf of clients all the time, and this really helped me to feel like I'd made the right career choice. Though it would've been nice to win - and if we'd acted just a little differently I know we could have - the real nougaty goodness of the whole event was the experience, the rush, and the chance to meet other students from around the area.
After the competition, they had a wine and cheese reception, which for me was a cheese reception. It was very kewl. They had all the good cheeses. I am so glad that I chose to compete.