Using our negotiation skills wisely will open many doors for us in our professional careers. We explain the benefits and phases of a good negotiation.
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| Negotiation skills |
Absolutely everything in life is negotiation. Crossing the street is negotiation, for example. Deciding which restaurant to go to is a negotiation. In most cases, we are not aware that we are negotiating, and that makes us lose opportunities.
In the workplace, for example, knowing how to negotiate is key to professional growth. Negotiation is an interaction effort aimed at generating profits.
That is, we have two parties that have common interests, but also have a conflict between them that must be resolved for mutual benefit. For example, if we want a salary increase, the conflict will be in that increase itself, while the common interests will be to continue working and contributing to the company.
A negotiation is not a confrontation, but a tool to establish a framework with which we can improve. We can learn positive values, empathy, and be able to close deals and get results.
Benefits of negotiating at work
There is no doubt about the all-important role of negotiation in conflict management. That is something that is not necessarily negative: a conflict does not imply fight or fight!
The negotiation work is that to provide three main benefits:
· Contributes to building better relationships.
· They allow reaching lasting and quality solutions, instead of mediocre short-term solutions that do not satisfy either party.
· It helps us avoid future problems and conflicts.
At work, negotiation can help us improve our careers in many ways. One of them, the most obvious, is to get a better salary. But it is not, by far, the greatest benefit you can get in your career. You can negotiate a better schedule, flexibility, work-life balance, better social benefits, training geared towards a certain purpose ...
Why limit yourself to money, if you can greatly improve your life? The first step in any negotiation is to be clear about what we want to achieve. Then, we will have to see how we can develop a strategy that brings us closer to that goal that we have set. Look at the children, expert negotiators: they are very clear about what they want, they know who to get it from, and they don't accept a no.
The Negotiation Phases: How to Master Them to Succeed
Negotiation is a process that needs a good strategy and preparation. You have to draw all your "weapons" when negotiating to achieve the objective you want ... or a close one that suits you by making some minor concessions.
To be successful, look at the four typical phases of the negotiation that we are going to tell you next. Think that, like everything in this life, you will improve with the experience. However, it is always good to start on a good basis. Let's look at those four phases of negotiation in detail.
Preparation phase
It is crucial to prepare very well before going to the meeting with the opposing party. This implies studying well what arguments we can use and, of course, how our "adversary" may respond to us. We must be clear about the objective of the negotiation and use all the tools at our disposal to know all the details that will help you in the process.
Practicing a little before the meeting will give us the necessary confidence in ourselves and our arguments, and we will thus be calmer in the next phase.
The discussion
It is, as you imagine, one of the most important phases because here all the previous preparation comes into play, but also your communication skills. We not only talk about verbal language but also non-verbal language (very important because it can show your weaknesses and a skilled interlocutor will use it against you), as well as your attitude in the negotiation, your tone of voice, and many other details. In this phase you are going to raise your position and, of course, defend it.
The time of the proposals and the closing of the negotiation
What do you propose? How far can you give in? It is time to put on the table everything you want to achieve your goal, defending your position well, but always keeping the other side in mind. It is not about winning at all costs, but about reaching a compromise situation that benefits both parties.
The idea indeed is to reach an agreement that is very positive for everyone, but it is not the usual thing. Typically, one party will compromise in one position, and the other party will compromise in another position. It can also happen that you receive an ultimatum if you have not played your tricks correctly.
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