After the end of yesterday's Russian Grand Prix, when the interviewers all wanted to hear from Lewis on his amazing 100th GP victory, Lewis's priority was to try to lessen the pain of a clearly upset Lando Norris who had just seen his maiden F1 victory slip through his fingers with two laps to go. With just a few laps to go, it started raining but there was a lot of uncertainty over the amount or duration of it. After some delay, Lewis pitted for wet tyres, Lando didn't, the rain came down more and Lewis won.
How did Lewis reach out to Lando, to try to lessen his pain? By mutualising with him. He turned away from the camera and the interviewer, focused his full attention on Lando, and asked him "You didn't want to come in [to get wet tyres]?" Lando: "No" (pretty monosyllabic) Lewis: "Me neither, I was thinking 'he's right there [in front of me]'. I guess you were thinking the same thing, looking in your wing mirrors [at me]?" Lewis then drew Lando out and engaged him in a conversation about the difficulties in making the decision, listening to Lando, whilst he emphasised that he himself had ignored his teams first call to come to get wet tyres, showing that the decision Lando made to stay out, which ultimately cost him his maiden win, was not clear cut. After that, Lewis turned back to the camera and the first thing he said to the interviewer was about what a great job Lando has been doing all season, what a great driver he is. In negotiation, one of the most important jobs is, where possible, to build rapport with the other party. This can turn a conflict into a more collabortaive negotiation. And one of the ways of doing that is to mutualise, to find common ground, to show that you have common experiences, anything that helps both parties build a working relationship. Lewis also used eye contact, body language (he turned from the camera to face Lando) and active listening (he showed he was listening, only commented to encourage Lando to talk). Perhaps most importantly, he smiled, it can be as simple as that. These are key human skills that get easily hidden behind the helmet, but Lewis clearly has them, which can be difficult to cultivate when you've put everything into your racing from such an early age. For more negotiation and mediation skills, please subscribe to my free monthly newsletter Comments are closed.
|
Subscribe (below) to our free Newsletter for Negotiation Tips, Tricks and Training
AuthorRichard Marshall is an Accredited Civil and Commercial Mediator with over 25 years experience as a Litigation Solicitor, as well as being a qualified Solicitor-Advocate. He is the founder of Striving to Settle, through which he works as a mediator and provides negotiation training. www.strivingtosettle.co.uk Archives
August 2022
|
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription has been successful.