Negotiations

What is Negotiation?

Negotiation is when people come to a consensus.

It isn’t about winning. It’s about Win-Win!

We can’t just think about ourselves. We have to think about everyone. A philosophical argument can be this: What’s good for others is good for me.

Not convinced? Yeah. The philosophical argument isn’t persuasive enough here.

If you think about it carefully, someone can only follow a plan if he/she feels satisfied and convinced of its merits.

If someone else is happy, they’ll pay us back somehow. Similarly, when we are happy, we’ll pay them back.

If someone is unhappy, they’ll either reject or abandon the plan. Similar to us.

Therefore, the probability that negotiation is reached and followed through is entirely dependent on how happy both parties feel at the end of the negotiation.

Is it that important to learn to negotiate?

Negotiation happens in every stage of life. And many times a day.

• Monetary negotiations are the most transparent form of negotiations.
• Negotiations happen beyond money matters too. Things like marriage, friendships, idea proposals, etc.
• Conflicts are also a negotiation of sorts.
• Even you negotiate with yourself to get work done. Like, oh, why do I not want to do this? Can I work for 5 min?

Negotiations are non-stop and non-avoidable. Therefore, negotiations are essential.

The rules of negotiations change and depend on the situation at hand. You can’t do a marriage discussion like you do salary negotiation.

What do negotiations involve?

Negotiation involves many steps:

1. Knowing
   • What you want.
   • What does the other person want?
   • What’s common in the market?
   • What’s practical?
2. Communication
   • Expressing what you want clearly without reducing or overdoing it.
   • Listening and understanding what the other person really wants. Asking them questions to understand more of why they want something. #startWithWhy. Good listening skills play a huge part here.
3. Discuss possible scenarios, outcomes, compromises or different angles.
4. Accepting, being content and following through on your part
5. Hoping the other person feels accepted, content and follows through.

Since there are these many steps, the area where things can fail many. Therefore negotiations are complicated. And they have to be learned and practised.