People often think of attorneys as master negotiators - generally, we are not.  We are so busy advocating for our client's position that we often forget to listen to our counterparty and ask clarifying questions.  And, we erroneously assume that when we use the same vocabulary words, we mean the same thing.  When our desired result does not happen, frustration erupts, because you have to start all over again, and those hours of meetings, research, and email messages amounted to nothing.  When enough of this happens, you know that it's time to find coaches to up your game - I determined that I needed to ask better questions, stop making assumptions, and listen more carefully for the nuances instead of just trying to be as efficient as possible.  I learned to build new habits and to practice them through constant role playing during the 12-weeks, and focused on improving three key things:

• Asking better questions to understand my counterparty's world, their frustrations and pain points

• Stop trying to immediately present my counterparty with my identified solution to the perceived problem - instead, engage with my counterparty to help them, first, identify the problem, and develop potential options to resolve the issue.

• Observe and summarize the observations to ensure that you and the counterparty are on the same page.

It is still a work in progress, but working on implementing new habits has enabled me to resolve compliance issues more quickly, achieve more buy-in, and become a better listener and conversationalist - both professionally and personally.