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Although
there are 45 highly regarded negotiation traits there is agreement
in the negotiation world that planning is the queen of negotiation
skills. A good negotiator must, above all else, develop a plan before
going into the discussion stage. However, planning is the one thing
many negotiators leave out or attempt at the last minute. Why? People
assume they already know everything or they think planning takes
too much time.
The
truth is when you negotiate without planning beforehand, you are
more likely to lose track of your goals, make bad deals, blunder
into avoidable conflict, buckle under pressure, and become disoriented
around surprises. This wastes time. Blind assumptions and incomplete
information can also undermine a good deal.
Any
time you feel nervous or apprehensive about a situation, the chances
of being reactive or unconstructive are extremely high. Planning
is time to get centered and focused on your goals, thereby minimizing
negative reactivity. To manage emotions, theirs and yours, it is
critical to build in some planning time before you negotiate.
The
planning stage is when you diagnose the current situation so that
you can develop a strategy. To diagnose the current situation, you
need to explore what your interests are, their interests, and interests
held in common. This is where you will find options for solutions.
It
is important to know what your goals are, the small ones, the large
ones, the short term as well as the long term goals. Interestingly,
many people go into negotiations not knowing their goals well. Conversely,
most people are not well versed to tell you what their goals really
are. To find out, you have to do some homework speculating about
their interests, talking to people who might have the information,
as well as exploring with the other party themselves. The time spent
is time saved as you will be more competent at addressing the other
party’s concerns while advancing your own.
Planning
allows you to develop a strategy for dealing with differences. Different
industries tend to prize different things. For instance, design
engineers tend to avoid risk, salespeople tend to value persistence,
whereas program managers show a strong willingness to be disliked
compared to purchasing executives who tend to avoid being disliked.
Contract administrators value caution and tend to be more bureaucratic.
Hence, members of different professions need to be aware of different
values and include them into the negotiation.
In
conclusion, planning is a great tool to getting grounded in your
multiple goals and finding what values and perceptions are prominent
so that you can craft better solutions. Planning actually saves
time and you are also more likely to get your needs met.
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