The Win$-$Win Agreement is an effective tool for establishing the Win$-$Win foundation necessary for long$-$term effectiveness. It may be created between any two people who need to interact to accomplish desired results. In a Win$-$Win Agreement, the following five elements are made explicit:

$$ Desired results: What does your final outcome look like?

$$ Guidelines: What are the ground rules, the $$should$$ and $$should nots$?$

$$ Resources: What is it going to take? What resources are available?

$$ Accountability: Who will do what by when?

$$ Consequences: What happens when we are finished?

Think about an upcoming interaction where you might apply Win$-$Win Thinking and make notes on each of these elements.

Desired results:

Guidelines:

Resources:

Accountability:

Consequences:

It requires you to examine how you think about winning and how a "win win" approach to negotiation might impact on relationships you have with others

This activity asked you to think of a relationship and situation that would benefit from a win$/$win solution. You were asked to put yourself in the place of the other person and write down how you think that person understands the situation. What did you learn from this exercise that you can use to improve your communication and negotiation skills?