Win, Win, Win!: A New Dimension To Winning In Your Business

By Philip Waterhouse

Everyone wants to win. Everyone wants to be successful.

Win, Win, Win! brings a new dimension to the well-known Win-Win approach. It will help you achieve success more often, both short- and long-term, in internal and external company negotiations.

Written by an expert with over 30 years of experiencing Win-Win firstha

• Language: English
• Publisher: Philip Waterhouse
• Release date: Jun 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9782957770014

Book preview

A WINNING

INTRODUCTION

For more than 50 years, the term Win-Win has been used in both professional and personal contexts to describe the best way, the ideal way, to resolve conflict.

Today, world leaders, such as former president Donald Trump, use the term Win-Win when referring to complex geopolitical negotiations. So when it comes to a negotiation, Win-Win has become a recognized household term. Indeed, the power of the term Win-Win is that it needs no dictionary definition to be understood. We do not need any explanation to understand the interest of a Win-Win outcome to any negotiation.

It’s simple. You win. I win.

That easy. Job done.

But my view is that there is more to Win-Win than the self-evident outcome to any negotiation. I believe that, in a business context, Win-Win is a value. Win-Win is a personal compass that should guide executives in their everyday business lives and behaviour. It is about the respect you have for your team and/or employees. It is the respect that you have for your suppliers, your customers and your competitors, too. In fact, everyone.

To capture this, the conventional notion of Win-Win needs an extra dimension. This third, extra dimension is the ‘everyone’ part. The ‘we’, together. Put simply, the third mutual Win.

Win-Win-Win.

By adding this dimension, I will demonstrate to you the additional wins, the more uplifting wins—perhaps the ones that you haven’t thought of—in all your business negotiations both externally, to suppliers and customers, and internally to stakeholders within your business, above and below.

It is this third Win dimension that is the game changer.

The book is split into four parts.

In Part 1, I will explore where Win-Win started and where it has taken us up to today. We will look at the traditional model that is used to help us navigate through Win-Win—the Win-Win Matrix—and examine each of its four predicted outcomes. Finally, we will explore the pros and cons of this Win-Win Matrix as a means of walking the walk and talking the talk of Win-Win.

In Part 2, I will add the third dimension and a new model, the Win-Win-Win Pyramid. The third Win. I will explain how the third Win is the key to unlocking the other two. It is important to understand how the third Win complements the other two. This third Win will ensure that no matter the conventional outcome of the Win-Win Matrix, you will always end up with a better outcome than before. A worthy cause, I hope you agree.

We will then cover how to bring your Adversary to the Win-Win table even if, at first glance, they appear uninterested.

Lastly, we will also look at other important topics around Win-Win such as category management, how to prepare for your negotiation and (yes) losing.

Part 3 is more practical. More hands on. We will apply Win-Win-Win to multiple business scenarios, thanks to a series of case studies. It cannot be, and will not be, an exhaustive set of examples, but I hope to give you a broad framework to apply to your business. In each of these case studies, we will examine real-life Win-Win situations in order to stimulate you as to how what we have covered can help you in your business.

To help you navigate through the book, each chapter in Parts 1 and 2 will start with what you should expect to take away from the chapter.

In Part 3, on the other hand, at the end of each case study, we will look ‘beyond the case’ to demonstrate its broader relevance to businesses in other sectors, or of different sizes.

As you read these case studies, I ask you to consider a relevant example for your business and work through what you might have learnt.

As an exercise, give one of your direct reports the task to work on the same example at the same time. Trust me, if the example is genuinely relevant, it will be a worthy exercise. As with all important tasks, two brains will produce a better outcome than one. Make the example the subject of your next one-on-one with this person.

Certain chapters in Part 3 might be more relevant to you in your business. If this is the case, spend more time on these and skim others that you believe less relevant.

That said, if, like me, Win-Win (and now a third Win) is part of your intrinsic business ethic, I am sure you will find each case study worth reading.

Finally, in Part 4, we will pull all the pieces together into a tight conclusion.

And then you’re done.

Before we get stuck in, and in order for you to use this book as a practical game changer, I would like to start you off with a challenge.

Think of your worst personal case study, one where you always stand to lose, or you have always lost. You know, the one that gives you sleepless nights and more stress than you would care to deal with.

It might be the one where you have always had to give significant discount concessions to maintain your so-called business partnership. Or, the one where every time your Adversary invents another non-negotiable reason why you have to lower your prices and reduce significantly your profitability. Or, the one where no matter what you say, the only language they understand is ‘I win. You lose’.

If you need to, write down the following things. I’ll let you get a pen and paper…

Let’s call this personal case study the Nightmare. Start with a few simple questions:

Why is the Nightmare a nightmare?

What are you losing? Why?

What are the levers, in or out of the box, that will help you lose less? Remember that even from the moment when you start to lose less you are kind of winning. You are on the right path!

What quantitative or qualitative arguments can you think of that might put you on this right path?

Put these questions in a safe place and keep reading.

As you read through this book, keep the Nightmare in mind and, if you like, constantly refer back to it as you work through the chapters to see whether the book helps give you some pointers on the next Nightmare negotiation or interaction you will have.

My objective is that it will.

If we make progress on the Nightmare, you will then be able to move on to your next shocker of a personal case study (let’s call it the Bad Dream!) and so on and so on.

PART 1

WIN-WIN

1.1

THE ORIGINS AND

SCOPE OF WIN-WIN

Key Takeaways

1. There are seven business, economic and social cases where Win-Win applies.

2. Win-Win was first coined in the context of human relationships, not in a business context.

3. Win-Win applies to all businesses. Without exception.

In all forms of contest, it is to be expected that if one party wins, the other party loses. Win-Lose.

So, in its most basic form, the notion of Win-Win is to demonstrate that there is an alternative outcome than this traditional and well-understood