6 Negotiation Skills All Professionals Can Benefit From

As a business professional, negotiation is likely an essential aspect of your role. Here are six skills to arm yourself with before your ... …→ HarvardBusinessSchool→ HBSOnline→ BusinessInsights→ BusinessInsights HarvardBusinessSchoolOnline'sBusinessInsightsBlogprovidesthecareerinsightsyouneedtoachieveyourgoalsandgainconfidenceinyourbusinessskills.   FilterResults ArrowDown ArrowUp Topics Topics Accounting Analytics BusinessEssentials BusinessinSociety CareerDevelopment Communication Community ConneXt Decision-Making EarningYourMBA Entrepreneurship&Innovation Finance Leadership Management Marketing Negotiation News&Events Productivity StaffSpotlight Strategy StudentProfiles Technology Work-LifeBalance Courses Courses AlternativeInvestments BusinessAnalytics BusinessStrategy CORe DesignThinkingandInnovation DisruptiveStrategy EconomicsforManagers EntrepreneurshipEssentials FinancialAccounting GlobalBusiness LeadershipPrinciples LeadingwithFinance ManagementEssentials NegotiationMastery OrganizationalLeadership PowerandInfluenceforPositiveImpact StrategyExecution SustainableBusinessStrategy SustainableInvesting SubscribetotheBlog RSSfeed Topics Topics Accounting Analytics BusinessEssentials BusinessinSociety CareerDevelopment Communication Community ConneXt Decision-Making EarningYourMBA Entrepreneurship&Innovation Finance Leadership Management Marketing Negotiation News&Events Productivity StaffSpotlight Strategy StudentProfiles Technology Work-LifeBalance Courses Courses AlternativeInvestments BusinessAnalytics BusinessStrategy CORe DesignThinkingandInnovation DisruptiveStrategy EconomicsforManagers EntrepreneurshipEssentials FinancialAccounting GlobalBusiness LeadershipPrinciples LeadingwithFinance ManagementEssentials NegotiationMastery OrganizationalLeadership PowerandInfluenceforPositiveImpact StrategyExecution SustainableBusinessStrategy SustainableInvesting SubscribetotheBlog RSSfeed 6NegotiationSkillsAllProfessionalsCanBenefitFrom 02Sep2021 KelseyMiller Author Contributors tag Negotiation NegotiationMastery Asabusinessprofessional,it’salmostguaranteedyou’llberequiredtoparticipateinnegotiationsfromtimetotime,regardlessofyourjobtitleorindustry.Infact,chancesarethatyoualreadyparticipateinnegotiationsmoreoftenthanyourealize. Negotiatingajoboffer,askingforaraise,makingthecaseforabudgetincrease,buyingandsellingpropertyorequipment,andclosingasalewithacustomerarejustafewexamplesofthemanydealsyoumightbeinvolvedin.Outsideofprofessionalsettings,you’relikelytoflexyournegotiationskillsinyourpersonallife,too. Ifyou’renotconfidentinyourabilitytostrikeaneffectivedealorwanttoimprovetheoutcomeoffuturenegotiations,thereareahandfulofskillsyouneedinyourarsenal.Investingtimeandenergyintodevelopingthemcanprepareyoutomaximizethevalueyouandyourcounterpartsleavethebargainingtablewith. “Enhancingyournegotiationskillshasanenormouspayoff,”saysHarvardBusinessSchoolProfessorMichaelWheelerintheonlinecourseNegotiationMastery.“Itallowsyoutoreachagreementsthatmightotherwiseslipthroughyourfingers.Itallowsyoutoexpandthepie,createvalue,soyougetmorebenefitsfromtheagreementsthatyoudoreach.Italso,insomecases,allowsyoutoresolvesmalldifferencesbeforetheyescalateintobigconflicts.” Here’salistofsixessentialskillsformasteringtheartofnegotiation,alongwithwaysyoucandevelopyourknowledgeandconfidence. NegotiationSkills 1.Communication Toachieveyouridealoutcomeatthebargainingtable,it’sessentialtoclearlycommunicatewhatyou’rehopingtowalkawaywithandwhereyourboundarieslie. Effectivecommunicationskillsallowyoutoengageinacivildiscussionwithothernegotiatorsandworktowardanagreeablesolution.Deal-makingnaturallyrequiresgiveandtake,soit’simportanttoarticulateyourthoughtsandactivelylistentoothers’ideasandneeds.Withoutthisskill,keycomponentsofthediscussioncanbeoverlooked,makingitimpossibleforeveryonetoleavethenegotiationsatisfied. 2.EmotionalIntelligence Emotionsplayaroleinnegotiation,forbetterorworse.Whileit’simportantnottoletthemgetinthewayofreachingamutuallybeneficialdeal,youcanusethemtoyouradvantage.Forexample,positiveemotionshavebeenshowntoincreasefeelingsoftrustatthebargainingtable,whilefeelingsofanxietyornervousnesscanbechanneledintoexcitement. Ahighdegreeofemotionalintelligenceisneededtoreadotherparties’emotions.Thiscanenableyoutomoreeasilypickuponwhatthey’reimplyingratherthanexplicitlystating.Inadditiontounderstandingwhatyouandothersareexperiencingthroughoutanegotiation,emotionalintelligencecanhelpyouadvantageouslymanageanduseemotions. Related:TheImpactofEmotionsinNegotiation 3.Planning Planningaheadwithaclearideaofwhatyouhopetoachieveandwhereyourboundarieslieisanessentialstepinanynegotiation.Withoutadequatepreparation,it’spossibletooverlookimportanttermsofyourdeal. First,considerthezoneofpossibleagreement(ZOPA)betweenyouandtheothernegotiatingparties.ZOPA,sometimescalledthebargainingzone,referstotherangeinanegotiationinwhichtwoormorepartiescanfindcommonground.Apositivebargainingzoneexistswhenthetermsthatbothpartiesarewillingtoagreetooverlap.Ontheotherhand,anegativebargainingzoneexistswhenneitherparty’stermsoverlap. Next,it’sbeneficialtounderstandyourbestalternativetoanegotiatedagreement(BATNA).Ifyourdiscussionlandsinanegativebargainingzone,yourBATNAisthecourseofactionyouplantotakeifthenegotiationisunsuccessful.KnowingyourBATNAaheadoftimecanhelpensureyouhaveabackupplanincaseanagreementcan’tbereachedandavoidleavingthetableempty-handed. 4.ValueCreation Creatingvalueinanegotiationisoneofthemostpowerfulskillsyoucanaddtoyourtoolkit. Toillustrateitsimportance,considerthisanalogy:Whenparticipatinginanegotiation,eachpartyistypicallyconcernedwithobtainingthebiggest“sliceofthepie”possible.Witheachpartyvyingtomaximizetheirslice,thisinherentlymeanssomewillbeforcedtoleavewithamuchsmallerpiece. Tobreakfreeofthistraditionalideaofnegotiation,expertssuggestshiftingyourgoalsfromgrowingyourslicetogrowingthewholepie.Thebenefitsaretwofold:First,eachpartycanrealizegreatervalue;second,asenseofrapportandtrustisestablished,whichcanbenefitfuturediscussions. 5.Strategy Inadditiontothoroughpreparationandtheabilitytocreatevalue,youneedaclearunderstandingofeffectivenegotiationtactics.Knowingwhatworksandwhatdoesn’tcanallowyoutocreateatailoredstrategyforeverynegotiationyouparticipatein. Todevelopastrongnegotiationstrategy,considerthefollowingsteps: Defineyourrole Understandyourvalue Understandyourcounterpart’svantagepoint Checkinwithyourself Followingthisprocessaheadofeachnegotiationcanenableyoutoformulateaclearplanofactionforthebargainingtable.Byunderstandingtherolesofthoseinvolved,thevalueeachpartyoffers,andyourcounterpart’sadvantages,youcanbetterpreparetoworktowardacommongoal.Checkinginwithyourselfthroughoutthediscussioncanalsohelpensureyoustayonthepathtosuccess. 6.Reflection Finally,toroundoutyournegotiationskillsanddevelopyourproficiency,youneedtoreflectonpastnegotiationsandidentifyareasforimprovement.Aftereachnegotiation—successfulornot—reflectonwhatwentwellandwhatcouldhavegonebetter.Doingsocanallowyoutoevaluatethetacticsthatworkedinyourfavorandthosethatfellshort. Afterevaluatingyourstrengthsandweaknesses,identifyareasyouwanttoworkonandcreateaplanofaction.Forexample,ifyouhadtroublealigningyourgoalswithyourcounterpart’s,considerreviewingconceptslikeZOPAandBATNA.Or,ifyournegotiationsoftenleaveyoufeelingdissatisfied,youcouldbenefitfromlearningnewwaystocreatevalue. BecomingaMasterofNegotiation Nomatteryourstrengthsandweaknesses,practiceisasurefirewaytodevelopyourskills.Themorenegotiationsyoutakepartin,themorepreparedyou’llbeforfuturedealings. Structuredlearningopportunitiescanalsoprovetobehighlybeneficial.Negotiationbooksandarticlesareagreatstartingpointforlearningthebasicsofstrikingadeal.Resourcesthatexplorereal-lifeexamplesofsuccessfulnegotiationscangiveyouperspectiveonhowothersnavigateddifficultdiscussionsandprepareyoutofacesimilarscenarios. Anothereffectiveoptionistotakeanonlinecourse,suchasNegotiationMastery.Inadditiontohearingfromrealexperts—includingpublicofficials,executives,andmilitaryofficers—learnersbenefitfrominteractivenegotiationsimulationsthatallowthemtoapplytheirknowledgeandfurtherdeveloptheirskills.Participantsarealsoexposedtocontentonthemoreemotionalaspectsofnegotiationandlearnhowtoconductan“after-actionreview”togaininsightsforfuturedealings. Doyouwanttofurtherhoneyourbargainingskills?Exploretheeight-weekonlinecourseNegotiationMasteryanddiscoverhowyoucanbeamoreeffectivedeal-maker. AbouttheAuthorKelseyMillerisamarketingspecialistandcontributingwriterforHarvardBusinessSchoolOnline.