Mastering The Art Of Daily Negotiation

Welcome back, everyone. This week I will be discussing how to master the art of daily negotiation. 

So many of us never understand, let alone master, the art of negotiation, and yet, each of us is required to negotiate throughout our day as a form of navigation.

In this week’s discussion, I will discuss negotiation and how we each do this daily. I will then give you some steps you can take to master your art of negotiation. So let’s begin if you are ready to take this next step with me.

What is negotiation?

Negotiation is, simply put, a discussion aimed at reaching an agreement. Every negotiation has three essential elements: the what, why, and how factors. The “what” element is known as the issues, the “why” element is known as the position that each party will take, and the “how” element is the interest of each party that is being discussed or negotiated.

How well you approach these three positions will determine whether your result will be one of four outcomes.

1. Win, Win
2. Win. Lose
3. Lose. Lose
4. No deal/Walk away

Of course, the main objective of every negotiation should be to benefit all parties or to reach a win, win result. This will take compromise on both sides, and to find this result, neither party will likely walk away without being completely unsatisfied.

In what areas of life do we negotiate?

Most people strictly associate negotiation with business, but if you take a step back, you will find that you negotiate in every area of your life. If you are a parent or a child, then it might feel like the negotiations never end.

Many people would not think of inner conflict as a negotiation with themselves working to find inner peace. Let alone make decisions to do the healthy things you should be doing vs. all those fun things that might not be so healthy.

Yet, these and so many other things we do throughout our day can be considered negotiations either with ourselves or others. Below I will list some of these areas,

• With ourselves
• family
• Friends
• Partnership ( personal and business)
• Business
• Daily life

As you can now see, we all have to negotiate in almost every area of our lives and, in many cases, every day.

What are the ways we negotiate daily?

Now that you can see the areas of your life that you must negotiate to navigate through decisions and situations. Let me show you some ways you approach negotiation each day.

 Starting with the gathering of information or background and then followed by.

• Assing your negotiation tactics and strategies:
• Creating your plan.
• Starting the discussion
• Aiming for the benefit of all.
• Researching agreeable terms
• Empilimiting terms agreed upon.

Let me recap this information in terms you might understand better. You will,

• Gather your thoughts and ideas so that you can clearly express them.
• You will take measures to figure out the best way to approach the discussion that will lead to the best result.
• You will find the right time and start the discussion
• You will stay open to the other person’s views and be open to compromise.
• You will find a way for both parties to be happy if not everything is agreed upon
• You will follow through with everything you said you would.

By following this approach to all your negotiations, you will find a mutually beneficial way to navigate every situation and relationship and open yourself to building stronger and longer-lasting relationships as a whole.

Why is negotiation necessary?

Negotiation is the key to getting ahead in the workplace, resolving business or personal conflicts, and navigating through daily decisions and situations. When disputes arise in business and personal relationships, it’s easy to avoid conflict in an effort to save the relationship.

However, communication is the right approach when it comes to any relationship. History shows us repeatedly that there is a time to fight or walk away. Still, you will never know which way is the right approach unless you start with communication and open yourself up for the negotiation that will align you with a compromise or agreeable terms.

Negotiations, debate, or discussions allows us to always know how others think and feel, and just as importantly, it will enable them to understand how we feel and think. By working to find a compromise for every situation or scenario, you are putting forth the effort to keep the life scale balanced and everyone as happy as possible.

The steps we can take to master negotiation.

Hopefully, you can now see how you can approach negotiation as well. Now let me point out some ways that you can approach your negotiation a bit better. Something to keep in mind before, during, and after every negotiation, debate, or discussion are,

• Do not approach any negotiation with assumptions that you know the outcome. Going into a negotiation with confidence is always a good approach, but you can not assume that things will turn out entirely as you think they will. It is likely that this is not how things will work.
• Do not go into or out of a negotiation with a judgemental attitude. It is far better, no matter what the result, that you understand one thing over all else; you do not see the whole picture, no matter how much you think you do, and therefore have no room to judge without all the facts.
• Do not take anything said or done before, during, or after personally. Taking things personally tells you that whatever they are saying or doing toward you is something that has some level of truth and tells them that they have leverage over you. Nothing good comes from taking things personally.
• Always allow for enough time to take your time when taking on a negotiation. Giving yourself and the other person or persons time to take the negotiation slowly ensures all issues are being approached, any conflicts are or will be resolved, and everyone is getting the time they need to share and be heard. This helps to stay of mistakes or future conflicts.
• And finally, Take the time to build in the skill of reading people and the room. Everyone has a queue to let those around them know if they are in a good or bad mood. Whether or not they are set on having things done their way or if they are open to an honest and mutually beneficial discussion. By building this skill, you will almost always know when to lean in and push a little, When you should tread softly, and if you will be wasting your time by trying at that moment. Having this skill will save you a lot of time and effort.

Final thoughts

Now we have yet again come to the end of another newsletter. I hope you can now better see how you use negotiation in your daily life and what steps you can start taking to master the art of negotiation in the future.

If you know someone who would benefit from this information, please share this or any of the information I share in my newsletters with them. Also, if you have a thought that you would like to share about this topic, please do so in the comment section below.

As always, thank you for taking the time to read this information and for taking this step with me on the journey towards becoming positively improved. Until next week, namaste.