368 / PREPARING TO NEGOTIATE
Becoming a negotiator
Seeing the benefits
When you become skilled in negotiation,
you can be of real value to your
organization. Negotiation allows you,
for example, to secure cost-effective
and reliable flows of supplies, enhance
the financial value of mergers and
acquisitions, settle potentially damaging
disputes with government officials or
union leaders, and resolve internal conflict
constructively. Negotiation is increasingly
recognized as a core competency. Many
companies develop their own approaches
and methodologies, and offer training and
mentoring programs for negotiators.
Many people shy away from negotiation because they think it implies
conflict. In fact, negotiation is what you make it. When undertaken with
confidence and understanding, negotiation is a creative interpersonal
process in which two parties collaborate to achieve superior results.
LEARN YOUR ART
Developing the skills needed to be a
successful negotiator can take time,
so be patient. Try to learn from every
negotiation you undertake, both for your
organization and in your life outside work.
Tip
of negotiators start
by assessing the
other party
80%
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BECOMING A NEGOTIATOR / 369
Understanding the basics
Good negotiators are made rather than
born. Although some may be naturally
gifted and intuitive (possessing, for
example, the ability to empathize with
others), most have developed their
principles and tactics over time and
recognize that negotiating is a largely
rational process.
To be a successful negotiator, you
have to feel psychologically comfortable
in the negotiation situation. This means
being able to tolerate uncertainty,
deal with unexpected behavior, take
measured risks, and make decisions
based on incomplete information.
You need to think about solving
problems and creating opportunities
rather than winning or losing: if you
are confrontational, you are likely to
have a fight on your hands. And if you
“win” there will necessarily be a loser,
with whom you may have to work in
the months to come.
Keeping an open mind to learning
new techniques
Treating negotiation skills as a
mixture of rationality and intuition
Developing trust slowly
Expressing empathy while
negotiating assertively
Having a strategy and sticking to it
Believing that negotiating is an
innate ability
Negotiating from a fixed viewpoint
Appearing too eager
Behaving assertively without
expressing empathy
Chasing haphazard opportunities
BUILDING A FOUNDATION
Do’s Don’ts
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