Negotiate Successfully

How to get Your Way and Find Win-Win Solutions

Bloomsbury Publishing

• Publisher: A&C Black Business Information and Development
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9780747572091
• eBook ISBN: 9781408134108
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Crescita personale
• Subtopic: Trattative

You negotiate every day in all types of situations and in many ways.
This book will help build confidence and get better results with
practical advice on the basic principles of negotiation, how to
prepare, how to keep cool under pressure and how to understand and use
body language to your advantage.

The book contains a quiz to assess strengths and weaknesses,
step-by-step guidance and action points, top tips to bear in mind for
the future, common mistakes and advice on how to avoid them, summaries
of key points, and lists of the best sources of further help.

1 Developing negotiating skills

We all negotiate a lot more than we think we do, in every area of our life, and developing negotiation skills is an essential part of moving up the career ladder.

Negotiation is the process of trying to find an agreement between two or more parties with differing views on, and expectations of, a certain issue. Some people dread negotiating because they associate it with conflict, bad feelings, and having to make sacrifices. However, good negotiations find a balance between each party’s objectives to create a win-win outcome.

Step one: Understand the different types of negotiation

The negotiation process works by means of discussions, compromise, and ‘trading’. It goes without saying that negotiations can take different forms, depending greatly on the people involved—their skills, attitudes, and style. Other factors influencing the character of a negotiation are the context or background to the negotiation, time pressures, and the issue under discussion. Negotiations tend to be competitive or co-operative, though.

1 Competitive negotiations

Competitive negotiations often have an unfriendly atmosphere and each party is clearly out to get the very best deal for themselves—the other party’s objectives tend not to come into the equation. It’s best to avoid this type of negotiation if possible, but if you find yourself in this situation, bear the following in mind.

If you can, avoid making the opening bid as it gives a great deal of information to the other party. Try not to tell the other party too much and aim to keep control of the meeting’s agenda.

Conceding in a competitive situation is seen as a sign of weakness, so do this as little as possible. The size of the first concession gives the opposing party an idea of the next best alternative, and tells them exactly how far they push you.

If conflict flares up, negotiators need to use assertiveness skills to maintain a prime position, and to defuse the situation.

2 Co-operative negotiations

Many people see negotiation as a battle where the stronger party defeats the weaker party, where there is a winner and a loser. In some cases, negotiations can break down altogether, such as in industrial disputes which result in strike action. In this scenario, there are only losers. It needn’t be like this, however. In co-operative negotiation, conflict is minimised and the whole idea is to reach a solution where everyone benefits. This approach tends to produce the best results, mainly because there is much better communication between the parties. In addition, it makes for better long-term relations if it is necessary to work together over a long period.

The opening will involve gathering as much information as possible but also disclosing information so solutions can be developed that are acceptable to both parties. This involves:

considering a number of alternatives for each issue

using open questions (which do not have ‘yes’/‘no’ answers)

being flexible

helping the other party to expand their ideas about possible solutions

Both parties will make concessions if necessary, normally aiming to trade things which are cheap for them to give but valuable to the opposing party, in return for things which are valuable to them (but may not be so cheap for the other party).

TOP TIP

By listening, summarising, paraphrasing, and disclosing in co-operative negotiations (for example, ‘I would like to ask you a question. . . .’ or ‘I feel that I need to tell you that. . . .’), conflict will be kept to a minimum and it’s much more likely that a solution favourable to everyone will be reached.

Step two: Prepare yourself

As with many business situations, good preparation will help to reduce your stress levels. Don’t think that preparation time is wasted time; it’s anything but. Begin by working out your objectives, and making sure they are specific, achievable, and measurable. It’s also important to have a clear idea of what you are expecting from the other party.

Be sure that your expectations are realistic and that their results are easy to assess. It’s a good idea to write down objectives, ordered by priority. One way to do this is to classify them as ‘must achieve’, ‘intend to achieve’, and ‘like to achieve’. For example, a new photocopier has been bought for the office. It breaks down after a week and you need to contact the su...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• How well do you handle negotiations?
• 1 Developing negotiating skills
• 2 Using non-verbal communication
• 3 Planning your negotiation
• 4 Coping in difficult negotiations
• 5 Negotiating by e-mail
• 6 Negotiating with people from other cultures
• 7 Negotiating the pay rise you deserve
• Where to find more help