Think of Tiger Woods – clearly the world’s best golfer and possibly one of greatest golfers of all time. What is interesting about Tiger Woods, or any other golfing professional, is the fact that he has a coach.

Why a coach? The function of his coach is not to teach him how to play golf; after all, Tiger is the best golfer in the world and would surely beat his coach at a game of golf. The probable reason that he has a coach is the fact that it is almost impossible for any of us to observe our own game and to spot the deficiencies in the way that we approach our game. As well as understanding the game that our competitors are playing it is crucial for us to understand our own game in order for us to effect changes that can make a significant difference to the outcome of the game.

It is generally recognized that all professionals at the top of their respective games rely on small, yet critical improvements, to remain at the top. If you were to line up the world’s top 20 golfers, the likelihood is that they will all be able to hit the same shots – the difference in results come from the ability to react appropriately under the pressure. Sinking a putt when a million dollars is at stake is a lot more difficult that sinking the very same putt when playing for five dollars.

In many ways negotiation is similar to the game of golf.

It is important that we understand and analyze the way that we «play the game». It is only by understanding how we typically perform under pressure that we can start to make small adjustments to our game to enhance our negotiation outcomes.

Once we understand how we perform, we can match this to what we know constitutes best and leading practice within the domain of negotiation and we can decide on specific actions that will lead to us improving the results that we obtain from negotiations.