Listen this story
Negotiation
Radha and Mira, two sisters, had been fighting for some time over an orange. Eventually, they got a knife and cut the orange. Radha took his half, peeled, and picked up the fruit. Mira peels her half an orange but threw the fruit as she wanted to use the peels to make a cake. Both ended up getting just half while both had the best chance to get either a full fruit or a full peel. Identifying underlying needs, interests and desires is essential to negotiation. So, look beyond, and hear more in negotiation than talk. Living life is a constant process of making transactions, in every moment, we negotiate with our children, our workers, staff, customers, vendors and, so on. A significant amount of time passes. We need to invent new way of doing things.
Efficient negotiation requires less speech and more listening. It is critically important to place greater emphasis on understanding the underlying needs, interests, motivations, and desire to reach an agreement.
The concept of a soft and hard approach to negotiations is effective in conducting negotiations and, helps to avoid deadlock too. As you negotiate, separate people from the problem. Using a soft approach to people sitting on the table and a tough approach to the problem at hand is going to create magic. Be firm on the price you want for your products, but be sweet, respectful, polite to people seated in front. But the stalemate is inevitable when applied in reverse.
Efficient negotiation requires less speech and more listening. It is critically important to place greater emphasis on understanding the underlying needs, interests, motivations, and desire to reach an agreement.
Negotiation is a dynamic process where positions can change and evolve, so focus on interest, not on positions. If the likely outcomes are not very encouraging, pause. Go to the Balcony. The Balcony is a place of perspective, self-mastery and calm where you can open to yourselves. You may not progress well in the negotiation but keep your confidence intact. Losing confidence during a negotiation is a disaster. Identify the best alternatives and continue to work on it, which will act like a booster for your confidence. Think, if your confidence is on the rise, nothing is wasted.
Negotiating means changing someone else’s mind. This is an exercise in influence. But how can you influence someone unless you master on managing your own thoughts and actions. So, Master on yourself first. Understand that mutually beneficial results do not necessarily require equal sharing. Look beyond that; both parties can have the best chance to get what they need by identifying each other’s needs. The key is to learn from the orange quarrel of Mira and Radha
Do not mistake negotiation with bargaining. Ask yourself whether you are bargaining or negotiating? Negotiation is collaborative approach to find a mutually acceptable solution while Bargaining is a competitive approach to maximize individual gain. Quite often, we are bargaining thinking as if we are negotiating. In negotiation, we want to know why they want and in bargaining, what they want. We cannot discuss what they really want without knowing why they want it. Thus, what they want will follow why they want, no other way.
Enjoy the reading. Keep listening.
Purna Chandra Choudhury