The importance of knowing your mandate!

In a lecture I held recently for a procurement department responsible for managing complex and high value contracts I asked how many of them that knew their mandate when performing contract negotiations. Out of approximately 20 people in the group, 4 raised their hands. This means that more than 75% of them entered negotiations without knowing what topics they actually could negotiate on and to what levels.

Not knowing your mandate is one of the key factors that can derail negotiations as you will become insecure in the role as negotiator as you simply do not know what you can agree to or not. On top of that, persons that do not know their mandate tend to be less personally invested in the negotiation as there is no sense of ownership to the task, even further decreasing chances of a successful outcome. So if you are a manager, ensure your team knows their mandate. And if you are not a manager, be sure to raise the question so that you can perform at your best.