Negotiating Skills

The art of negotiating seldom enters the minds of employees while at the workplace. They often seem to forget that, except in the most dictatorial households, bowling teams, social situations or shopping excursions, most people spend many waking hours negotiating items, from the trivial to the important.

Except in the most authoritarian companies, employees have the ability to negotiate many issues that apply to the workplace. While the phrase "employee empowerment" is often misused today, it really does exist in most modern corporations. Employees should take advantage of this ability and use effective negotiating skills to improve their comfort, performance and achievements on the job.

Effective Negotiation Style Tips
Learning and using effective negotiating techniques typically result in success for both parties in the workplace, regardless of their position on the corporate hierarchy. Some effective negotiating behaviour includes the following:

• Proactively request other people's point of view. Don't wait for co-workers or supervisors to display their perspective, ask them to tell you. This accomplishes two goals: First, you become aware of their position without trying to assume what they are thinking - always a risky and unrewarding plan. Second, you display your respect and concern for their position, diffusing any possible confrontation right from the beginning.
  
  
• Clearly state your needs, wants and point of view. Don't wait for your negotiating partner to ask. Vocalize your position in a positive, neutral, or at least, non-threatening manner. Your counterpart now knows your position clearly and can respond to what is real, not what is assumed.
  
  
• Unless a negotiating point or session is a total surprise, prepare some options in advance. If you've been in the workforce for a while, you inherently know that situations that may require negotiating are seldom surprises. For example, if you need some time off for personal reasons, prepare a few options to improve your chances of getting your supervisor's approval. Like a sales situation, make it easy for the prospect to 'buy' your product.
  
  
• Avoid arguing while maintaining a position of the 'helpful assistant.' Do your best to refrain from allowing a negotiation to descend to an argument status. Moving from a negotiation to an argument also changes a potential win-win situation to an automatic win-lose conflict. Not only does this typically mean that the person with the most authority wins and you lose, but longer term resentments or anger may result.
  
  
• Always consider the factor of timing. Become familiar with the "professional personalities" of co-workers and supervisors. Does a co-worker have a volatile relationship with a spouse or significant other? Does your supervisor become stressed before weekly sales meetings, board meetings, or other regular periods? Avoiding negotiating during these negative periods is always a good idea. If possible, choose times when co-workers or supervisors are in a positive or at least stable place, before a negotiating session.

Employees who become adept at negotiating with everyone in the workplace, regardless of title or job responsibility, find that their workday is more pleasant, their performance improves, and their career progress accelerates.

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