Negotiation Skills Training Materials

Building Negotiation Skills

Negotiating is a key aspect of an individual's skill set. If you want your employees to be successful on the negotiating table, you need to teach them how to negotiate well. It’s not always an easy task, but it’s truly essential. There are many work situations where good negotiation skills are needed, and being prepared to argue your side is crucial.

Five Key Negotiating Styles

There are five main negotiating styles that you should be aware of when entering into a situation where you want to get what you desire. Some are more effective than others.

• Defeat. The defeat style focuses on getting as much as you can. Don’t worry about the relationship; worry about defeating them.
• Accommodate. The accommodation style focuses on building friendly relationships at the expense of the outcome.
• Withdraw. The withdraw style means resigning yourself to whatever happens.
• Compromising. The compromising style reduces conflict with tradeoffs and halfway measures.
• Collaborate. The collaboration style uses problem solving to reach an optimal agreement that creates a healthy relationship with the other party.

The "collaborate" style has been proven to produce the greatest benefits long-term because it places importance on both the outcome of the negotiation and the health of the relationship. This style makes it easier for both parties to build trust and share information.

Five Key Negotiating Skills

There are five key skills that everyone needs in order to become more successful at negotiation. They include:

• Maintaining Composure. When stakes are high, emotions can get heated. Maintaining your composure is important to be able to view the issue with objectivity and assess the situation better.
• Developing Data. The negotiator should develop and gather as much data and information as possible in order to negotiate.
• Refocusing the Discussion. Some difficult negotiators may try to throw the other person off. You should keep things focused in order to achieve the result you want.
• Being Creative. Creatively thinking outside the box can allow both negotiators to come up with better ways to compromise.
• Handling Information Strategically. An effective negotiator must handle information carefully. They need to use it to their knowledge and strategize about how to best use it for their own benefit.

A Successful Negotiation

Identifying the components of a successful negotiation is crucial to measuring performance. A successful negotiation includes the following:

• Consensus on the objectives of the agreement
• Creating guidelines that outline policies and procedures
• Resourcing commitments
• Establishing a framework for assigning and measuring responsibility
• Agreeing on the consequences of achieving the desired results