In a long article in HBR, London Business School professor Nigel Nicholson asserts that all humans have certain “hardwiring” that predictably drives their behaviors.

The hardwiring does not drive all behaviors (we’re not robots), but there are patterns that frequently emerge and tend to repeat themselves.

If you can recognize these patterns in your professional relationships, you can guide discussions, conflicts, and negotiations to more positive outcomes.

Here are three patterns to start looking for in your agents and recruiting prospects…

Emotions Before Reason. Professionals are often trained to dispense with emotions in favor of rational analysis and urged to make choices using logical devices, such as decision trees and spreadsheets.

But the underlying emotion drives the reason.  Always ask yourself:What is this person feeling (e.g., anxiety, excitement, boredom, etc.), and how is this driving their behavior?

Loss Aversion Except When Threatened.Humans are hardwired to avoid loss when comfortable but to scramble madly when threatened.

When we’re asking someone to take a risk (i.e., change brokerages), your dialog should focus on why they’ll be safer here than where they are now.  The exception to this rule is when a person is truly in crisis.

Confidence Before Realism. People are driven to feel good about themselves, and they sometimes act as though there isn’t a problem they can’t control through the right attitude and mindset.  

When someone leads with ego, an argument based on realism will often be met with an irrational level of resistance.  It’s better to address the emotions first with a more subtle approach.

Nicholson identifies six additional patterns in his article that may also be helpful as you navigate your recruiting and retention dialogs.

Bottom line:  If you can’t recognize or just ignore these innate behavioral patterns and push forward with your agenda, you’ll find out just how strong these patterns are when those around you don’t follow your lead.