This session is about the conflict style of Compromising. On the grid, Compromising sits in the middle of the two dimensions. It’s usually quick, and kind of “half-way problem-solving”, in which you are attending to both your own interests and the other party’s interests to some degree, but neither are being optimized because you are splitting the difference between the two parties. Because you’re finding a middle ground or splitting the difference you’re probably not getting to a true win-win situation that problem solving can achieve.

Compromising involves matching the other party’s concessions, making conditional promises, and actively searching for a middle ground between the interests of the two parties. It’s a solution that takes everybody’s interests into account *to some extent*. It’s quick and is focused on immediate practical results rather than solving deeper underlying issues. It’s probably not the best or ideal solution - but it is a solution!

For instance, if a team member wanted to change the entire project plan to incorporate their ideas, you could propose a compromise solution by suggesting, "How about we add your top two suggestions to the structure of my plan, and stick to our original timeline to ensure we meet our deadline?"