EVERYTHING is a Win-Win
Win-win approaches work because both sides “profit” from a relationship, transaction, or decision. When one side loses, experience shows that, even if you happen to be on the winning side initially, at some point the tides will reverse. Even apparent lose-lose situations can turn into win-win if all constituencies are willing to bear some of the loss for the greater good.
Watch Digging Deeper this week as Dennis talks about re-embracing a positive, win-win mindset.
We look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments.
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Good morning, everybody. Thanks for tuning into Digging Deeper. Just a reminder, don't forget, if you have any comments
or questions, go ahead and send those into us. We always appreciate the feedback and any ideas for future blogs as well.
So once again, this is Dennis Engelbrecht with the CEO Roundtable for Contractors and The Family Business Institute.
Today I want to talk about an item that came up from one of our clients. At the end of all of our CEO Roundtable meetings,
we have everybody tell us what their three main takeaways are, the three things that they thought of during their time
with us that they're going to go back home, try to change, implement, or be better at.
So, as we were going around the table late this fall, one of the people said everything is a win-win. And that hadn't come
up during the course of our discussions during that meeting. So, I was really curious about that. I mean, I thought that that
was, first of all, is very insightful, because if he was going to be able to think about everything is a win-win, first of all,
that's a very positive approach to things, right? So, we got a problem, or we got an issue, how do we make that a win-win?
And intuitively it is not only positive, but it also sets you, I guess, on a path for finding out, how do you make this a win for
your client or for your trade contractor or your supplier at the same time you make it a win for you? So, it causes you to
open your mind and get beyond just what you need in the moment. So, I thought, "Wow, if everybody could think like
that, if everybody could think everything has to be a win-win, that's just simply a great approach to construction."
Now I've taught that in the past, and I've preached on that a bit in the past, but I forgot that, what happens when you
have a win-lose? All right? I get what I want, but in the end, the other party or person, they lose by me getting what I want.
Well, historically, the way that's worked out for me, is that usually turns into a lose-lose. So wait, well, I thought I won.
No, well you may win today or may win in this situation, but if the other person feels like they lose, they're probably going
to come back and get it out of your hide later one way or another. Right? Or I may lose the relationship. I may lose a
customer the next time.
If you think about this in terms of contracting and bidding, the next time I have to bid to that person who made me lose,
I might just put a little more money in that bid, getting ready for the next time they make me lose. So those are just a
couple of examples how win-lose isn't really win-lose. It actually turns into lose-lose. And I think if you think about this
philosophy, win-lose almost always turns out to be lose-lose in the long run because of the damage it does when one party
loses.
Now in contrast to that, think about lose-lose. So, we have a tough situation that's come up. Some of these lately that I
know some clients have experienced is bad soils or bad underground conditions. So, this underground condition arises,
and now additional work has to be done and additional money has to be spent, additional time has to be put in that's
going to take to do the project. And all of this is going to cost everybody involved.
If one person tries to hold that or turn that into a win and everybody else loses, usually again, you'll get that same result
that you get from the typical win-lose. But if everybody loses a little bit or gives a little bit to make the project the thing
and make the project the winner by everybody contributing, coming up with their best ideas, giving a little bit, perhaps,
in fee or in not recovering fee from delays and things like that, perhaps the lose-lose can actually then turn into a win-win
with the additional relationships or the enhanced relationships and the enhanced future that you might have in working
with all of those people.
So again, if you haven't thought about this concept lately, just think about everything is a win-win or can be a win-win.
And if you take that approach to every problem, I think you'll find long-term success. Again, thanks for tuning in to Digging
Deeper.
