WAY TO NEGOTIATE !!

In my company , there is this training given to freshers and almost freshers(one yr experienced people) to improve their foundational competency skills. For each class the company has to pay $75 to the contractors who handle theses classes for the company. OMG!! what a waste of money is my first thought towards these kind of trainings. But I was made to attend one such training, that main aim of which is , I can put something in my PBC or goal sheet or whatever they call those worst evaluation sheets which they use to weigh us (The poor techies !!) for a possible or probable hike :D

So I was given a wide variety of options to choose from , I worked on the options and finally picked up " negotiation skills training" , for these reasons

1. It was on a (THANK GOD) friday !!

2.I liked the name of the instructor which is Maya !

3.It was held in some place away from my normal working place

4.And it is a one day training unlike others which lasted for 2 days

So , the training day came ,I was reluctant to go , I was very sure that I'm going to sleep .And , I hate these classes where instructor asks us to do some stupid activities and make us go to end of our wits. However I feel , I have to attend this class , else my manager will kill me .

I entered the class, some of my colleagues were already there and in total twelve people were there. Instructor Maya was there already she greeted me ,such a warm smile . She started of with introduction and such stuff. Then of course comes the first lesson which is "definition of Negotiation" . I started scribbling something in the handouts she gave me , but surprisingly I found the class quite interesting , May be it was because It was all about how to make successful negotiations and we all were keeping our managers in mind and imagined ourselves winning the deal..oh ! It was such a wonderful feeling !! :D So that thought brought the whole class together !! Everyone were active and there was whole lot of zeal !!

I wished to share some of the very good points that came up in the training , so here I am

Negotiation is a process of

1. Getting things done

2.Action oriented doing process

3.Influencing behaviour

4.A changing relationship

The main aim of this whole class of course , is to learn a better way to get things done , and achieving a WIN-WIN situation, without affecting the existing relationship (My manager in mind again !! :D).Many people , No matter how familiar they are with the subject , there are still pitfalls and perils when negotiating with an individual or a group of people , like

1. difficult questions which we struggle to answer

2. forgetting what to say

3.Losing the attention of counterparts

4.Not capturing interest in first place :( (worst thing to happen )

when there is a problem there is also a solution , so lets move on to the solution and Negotiation TACTICS . The solution is simple " THE THREE Ps "

1.Prepare

2.Practise

3.Participate

Do as much as you can before the event and don't be a bystander , should get involved , say your piece, argue your point and make a difference . Often seeing the problem from a different angle helps a lot .

There were many movie buff s in the class , they brought up some best quotes from movies.. The class was going great , Then someone in the class started talking about THE GOD FATHER's ways, oops!! there are no "ways" only one " way"

"Make him and offer which he can't refuse " (plz dont try this !!)

Then came the best part , negotiation tactics , Im putting few points which i liked the most

* Give the impression you have more information than you actually do

*Skilled negotiators think carefully before reacting , sometimes doing nothing is the most appropriate response

*state your offer on a clear 'take it or leave it' basis

*send two demands , pressurise other party to accept one

*Purposefully misunderstand : deliberately misinterpret the other party and behave as if misinterpretation was fact

*re-open previoulsy settled issues (this gives you some time in the whole process)

*Use humor : lighten up the situation . Usually best to makes jokes against yourself

*Remember to smile

We were made to give counter tactics for the above tactics, That was the last session of the training . Finally we were given certificates (the main reason to attend this training ). It was not so bad after all , turned out to be a fruitful day :D .And I walked back to office for continuing my work ,even though I was very tired after attending this whole day training , as I cant negotiate with my team lead :D . But I made up my mind to use the lessons learnt someday :)