Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is that silence really is golden in tough conversations,
Speaker 1: a little bit of quiet can lead to better outcomes
Speaker 1: for everyone. So in any negotiation, there's always a lot
Speaker 1: of back and forth. People ask tough questions. That's to
Speaker 1: be expected. But our usual approach is to answer quickly
Speaker 1: and maybe figure out what we want to say while
Speaker 1: we are talking. Some new research suggests that we are
Speaker 1: better off taking time to think. In a recent study
Speaker 1: done by professors at the m I. T. Sloane School
Speaker 1: of Management, participants were told to consciously insert short periods
Speaker 1: of silence into negotiations. After towards they reported on outcomes.
Speaker 1: The researchers found that when silence was used as a tactic,
Speaker 1: the person deploying it was more likely to recognize opportunities
Speaker 1: for both sides to get more of what they wanted.
Speaker 1: In a companion test, the researchers analyzed naturally occurring pauses
Speaker 1: in a negotiation. They found that breakthroughs were far more
Speaker 1: likely to occur after periods of silence lasting at least
Speaker 1: three seconds. Then at other points in the negotiation. Now,
Speaker 1: there are a few reasons that this might be true.
Speaker 1: If one person consciously leaves some open air space, the
Speaker 1: other person might try to fill it, thus offering up
Speaker 1: more information that can then be taken into account. This
Speaker 1: is one reason that wise job seekers are often told
Speaker 1: to leave some silence while talking about compensation. Asking could
Speaker 1: you do a little better and then waiting for the
Speaker 1: other person to feel awkward can sometimes cause them to
Speaker 1: feel awkward enough to come up on the number. But
Speaker 1: these studies weren't really about winning the negotiation per se.
Speaker 1: They were more about looking at what allows for thoughtful outcomes.
Speaker 1: More than anything else. Silence lets you think. When you
Speaker 1: don't just blurt out the first thing that comes to mind,
Speaker 1: you can take a step back and view the negotiation holistically.
Speaker 1: This increases the chances of getting to a good outcome
Speaker 1: for everyone. So the next time you are in a
Speaker 1: challenging conversation, or when you are negotiating over something, try
Speaker 1: a little more silence. Take a deep breath, count to
Speaker 1: three before talking. Even a little quiet seems to go
Speaker 1: a long way, and better outcomes are always productive. In
Speaker 1: the meantime. This is Laura thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,
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Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i
Speaker 1: heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
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