We use it is business, we use it with out families and we use is as workers and leaders. More and more frequently in the business setting, negotiation skills are needed. But this is not to say that everyone has the ability to negotiate effectively. I will be able to enhance my potential for leadership by honing my negotiation skills. If I can learn my own personal negotiation style, if I can learn to keep the personal out and bargaining down, this will make me an asset to my company and help me in my chosen profession. And as the basic aspects of successful negotiations really do not change from situation to situation, I will be able to use these negotiation skills to my advantage wherever I go.
Question 9: Give a personal example of a successful negotiation and an unsuccessful negotiation you have engaged in. Would you do anything differently after learning these new skills? Why or Why not? What would it be?
I was about to be considered for a new position - not just a new position with my organization for me, but a position that was entirely new to the company. And they had never before considered placing someone like me, with my particular skill set in this position. There was another candidate for this position, probably with a greater likelihood of getting the position because of time with the organization. I knew, however, that this person did not particularly want this job because of the time and effort it would take up starting the new program.
With the other candidates blessing, I went to the powers that be and made my pitch to them that I would be willing to take over this new position. I brought to light some of my better attributes, history of my work experience that they had not known. I shared with the employers some of my vision for the future of the program and what I thought could be done to make...
I also suggested that, since it was still not sure what commitment of resources would be required for this new position starting out, that I continue to work my old position part time until the true work pattern became clear, and left the door open for renegotiation of the position at a review in three months. As it turned out, I did get the position, it was eventually made full time and I excelled at it.
A poor negotiation I was involved in was one that took place surrounding an employee who required a performance improvement plan. I had had little experience dealing with unionized personnel who had work problems, so I went and spoke to the HRO office to understand her and my responsibilities in the situation. When I approached the employee about her difficulties in the work setting, what had originally be planned to be a discussion and improvement plan descended into a battle with many harsh words and accusations. For my part, I had been warned that this could occur with this particular employee and I did not respond in kind. But because of the harsh manner of her approach I had no choice but to implement termination procedures for her. It took me a long time to complete the termination, and even ended up being involved in her bringing a wrongful termination complaint against my company (in which we prevailed, I am glad to say) but I have to say that was a negotiation that went no where. Looking back on both these situations, I can see that there are certain things I could have done in the unpleasant situation, not necessarily to improve the outcome but rather to lessen the personal toll it took on me. This book would have helped me a lot at the time.
Bibliography
Fisher, Roger and Ury, William. Getting to Yes. Negotiating Agreement without Giving in. Penguin Group. New York 1981.
