Always Create WIN-WIN Situations

- Chris Mohritz

Whether you are dealing with personal relationships, co-workers or business associates, one of the best principles you can base your decisions on is always looking at ending up with a win-win situation. The win-win strategy is one that is sure to improve the productivity and success of most day to day interaction. Contrary to the cut throat mentality, which can be glorified in this day and age, when it comes down to the wire, the most successful companies and individuals are those that are able to develop more business and personal relationships that provide a winning outcome for all parties involved.

But ending up with a win-win situation is never automatic. There are certain character traits that one must pay attention to if they are to increase the odds of both parties coming out on top. A prerequisite is a high level of integrity - one must maintain consistency and adherence to that which they have committed to do. When you put your name and signature down, people must be able to trust that they can count on you to deliver on your end of the bargain and not back out midstream when it seems convenient for you to do so.

Another key consideration for a win-win outcome is the maturity of the parties. A short sighted person is the one that will always be looking to get one up on both friend and foe. Someone fostering a mature business or personal relationship will instead think about the feelings and final standing of the other party. Also fundamental to a win-win situation is the abundance mentality. As opposed to the scarcity mentality where one's mindset is always geared with the thought that for me to win you have to lose, the abundance mentality goes by the principle that there is always more than enough to go around.

For you to better appreciate the power of working towards a win-win situation, it is important that you recognize the inherent weakness and very short term benefits of the other methodologies. For instance, a win-lose strategy leaves one person feeling confident but the other feeling short-changed.The win-lose may be appropriate where one is dealing with a direct business competitor and even in such cases, there are times where coming together with a business rival is the best way to drive your business up (for example, industry associations). Otherwise, you do not get quite the same level of return as you would with a win-win approach.

The other strategy that some people employ is the lose-lose principle which the direct opposite of the win-win. This is an almost sadistic methodology where you are satisfied with losing as long as the other person loses as well. Even looking at it on face value, there can be very little that one can achieve with this approach. Eventually, you will have expended a large amount of energy but with nothing but negative outcomes in return.

When you deliberately and proactively seek more win-win situations in all that you do, you will end up with a more close knit and harmonious family, a more efficient business environment and friends that you can count on whenever you need them. This is because you will have demonstrated that your commitment to the betterment of the other party is never in doubt.