Where’s Your Thinking?: The Importance of Third Position

A constant theme in our negotiator training is to not take things personally. Negotiating is a bit like professional sport. It’s serious, it has rules, there are nice and nasty players, tricks, fouls and downright cheating at times…but there’s more to life than negotiating.

The most effective and successful negotiators survive and thrive by employing Behavioural Intelligence – that means making a conscious decision about what to say or do next. They also learn to be in the conversation and a detached, but interested, observer at the same time. Fully present but not personally involved.

This is third position thinking. Some call it “helicoptering” – looking at the bigger picture as if hovering above the action. The real skill is being able to employ this discipline when there’s conflict, disagreement or downright aggression – but that’s what makes for a professional player…

In this thinkspot you’ll learn: –

• The three thinking positions and how they affect interactions
• How your thinking changes as you grow and mature
• The pitfalls of overdoing second position in negotiations
• Why third position is an “add on” that has to be practised