The person seeking agreement should remain interested in whether the agreement can be lived with afterward.

LEADERSHIP

WHAT THIS MEANS

Getting someone to say yes and getting something that works are different achievements. Agreement can be produced by pressure, tiredness or the wish to end a conversation, and all three of those wear off by the following week. What you are actually after is an arrangement the other person can carry out without resentment on a Tuesday in six months. Consent obtained cheaply tends to be withdrawn expensively.

When someone agrees quickly, slow down rather than closing. Ask what would make this hard to keep to, and what they would change if they could. A yes that has survived that question is worth several that have not.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Which agreement did you win but nobody could actually keep?

MORE IN LEADERSHIP & INFLUENCE

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