Negotiation skills are often associated with sales teams and high-stakes dealmakers. In reality, they shape far more of your working life than you might think.
Even if you work in some far-flung place far removed from your company's customers, you will still have to face negotiations at one point or another in your career. Understanding the skills we use to succeed in negotiation is key to furthering our careers and achieving our professional goals. Let's dive into what negotiation skills are, how you can use them, and what a successful negotiation looks like.
A negotiation is a process and discussion intended to settle a problem. This may be achieved through compromise or agreement and can take some time to facilitate as both sides are given time to offer their positions and intentions and discuss how best to reach a fair deal for all parties involved.
Negotiating effectively is often not just about getting what you want from the deal on the table, but also about building strong relationships with those who are also involved in the discussion with you. In business, we often succeed when we build strong and lasting partnerships with other parties. History is full of real-world negotiation examples for us to study, and doing so allows us to learn from the successful behaviours and strategies shown in each positive outcome.
Any social or persuasive skills we use during the negotiation process can be considered negotiation skills. Many of these are always present in our characters, but we can sometimes benefit from further training or coaching to help us evaluate our strengths and weaknesses.
Negotiation skills form part of our everyday conversations in our professional settings, even if you don't realise you are using them at the time. Here are some of the times you might make use of these key skills:
The first time many will call upon these skills may be during a salary negotiation. As part of every recruitment process, or even after someone has worked for a company for a while, they may wish to negotiate their salary to fit their role or expectations. This is one of the primary reasons why we believe everyone should be able to negotiate; every worker deserves to be paid what they think they are worth.
Not everyone is able to meet the deadlines expected of them. Other issues naturally pop up, or maybe a task requires a little more focus and deep work than initially expected. Either way, you may have to approach colleagues or external partners to explain why you can't meet the current deadline. As a result, negotiation may have to take place to find a new deadline that can accommodate everyone.
Negotiated agreements are commonplace in mergers and acquisitions, since this may be less about one party taking over the other and more about the two joining forces and sharing operational resources. Since these are deals intended to build something new, negotiation is needed to ensure that the takeover is indeed of mutual benefit.
Setting up supply chains and acquiring lasting partnerships are key to business. However, setting up these long-lasting relationships requires careful rapport building and tactics to build a solid foundation that can be built on in future years. Negotiation skills are important here to nurture these personal relationships and achieve a desirable outcome for both the supplier and the recipient company.
No work experience is perfect, and negotiations play an important role in conflict resolution between staff and their employers. A balanced negotiation process gives both sides the chance to air their grievances and hear the other side, and with some goodwill and grace, a common ground will hopefully be reached, and the dispute can be put to rest.
So, what skills are actually essential to good negotiation? Though this list is not exhaustive, we think these are some of the most important things someone might want to focus on if they wanted to improve their overall collection of negotiation skills.
Communication is the backbone of the negotiation process. It is far too easy to picture negotiation as two parties in opposition to each other. Though some negotiations do start with a dispute, it is far more healthy and productive to view the process through the lens of two or more parties working together towards a common goal.
Communication skills play a key role in this. From breaking the ice to structuring arguments to being able to read non-verbal cues and body language, good negotiators know how to communicate well.
The ability to actively listen is one of the most underrated and underestimated skills in both communication and negotiation. Active listening is the ability to attentively listen to what the other party is saying and then process and interpret it afterwards. Good active listeners are able to feed back to the original speaker and not just repeat what has been said, but also embellish it with their own thoughts.
If you can listen actively, you have a good foundation for effective negotiation. Whether the deal is made in one session or you have to discuss different factors over several sessions, active listening keeps you in the loop.
Emotional intelligence, also known as EQ, is the ability to recognise and manage your emotions. The bargaining table can sometimes be a passionate place, but it shouldn't be turbulent. Being able to manage both your own emotions and those around the table are skills that cannot be undervalued.
Sometimes, the other party may not be as forthcoming as you are in your position. A good understanding of EQ allows you to understand everyone's moods and take appropriate actions in response, steering conversations with more than just words.
Planning is a must for any negotiator. A lack of information and strategy can leave even the most charismatic negotiators floundering when they encounter a problem. Taking the time to research the opposing parties, identify areas of weakness or potential common ground, and set an agreed strategy to work towards will never go amiss.
At a minimum, negotiators need to know how to set both a best-case scenario to work towards and a best alternative to a negotiated agreement, or BATNA.
Negotiations can often take much longer than we initially expect. Details that we thought would be easy to discuss actually slow proceedings, and roadblocks we never could have anticipated emerge and slow discussions even further. Patience is needed to keep the peace and ensure that any resulting agreements actually meet the needs of everyone in the negotiation.
Don't be tempted to just jump for the first quick fix as soon as you find it. Sometimes, a little patience and some determination to stick with discussions and see them through can deliver better results than reaching a seemingly more convenient compromise.
Negotiation requires flexibility at every turn. It is not a simple thing to find common ground with the other parties involved, and there is no guarantee that you will be able to find it without being a little flexible on your end.
On top of this, factors in negotiation can change outcomes at any moment. Partners may be unavailable, requiring a session to be rescheduled, or world events could impact business and supply chains. Flexibility allows good negotiators to manage any changes and challenges that come their way with ease.
Finally, negotiators need to be able to reflect and learn from their sessions if they wish to grow. Negotiation is one of those life paths that you will never stop learning from. By reflecting on both difficult situations and ones that went in your favour, negotiators can begin to track where and how they went right and wrong.
A little reflection is crucial in helping us understand our strengths and weaknesses. If you wish to grow as a negotiator, you need to be prepared to address how you have performed in previous deals, for both good and bad.
Though many have a natural talent for negotiation, many can't afford to get by purely on their basic skills. Taking the time to focus on where you need improvement and where you can benefit from further coaching, even in skills you consider yourself to already be proficient in, is essential for expanding many careers.
You don't need to be in sales to be good at negotiation. Scotwork's experts work with everyone to create teams and companies of top-rate negotiators, so you can take on any challenge that comes your way and work towards the best outcome for all. Get in touch today to find out how we can help you master your negotiation skills in every deal you enter.
