What are some effective negotiation skills for leaders in a changing world?

1 Know your interests and alternatives

Before you enter any negotiation, you need to identify your interests and alternatives. Your interests are the underlying needs, values, and motivations that drive your position. Your alternatives are the best options you have if the negotiation fails. Knowing your interests and alternatives helps you clarify your goals, set your priorities, and determine your walk-away point. It also helps you avoid accepting a deal that is worse than your best alternative.

3 Prepare your strategy and tactics

Once you have a clear idea of your interests and alternatives, and those of the other party, you need to prepare your strategy and tactics. Your strategy is the overall approach you will take to the negotiation, such as cooperative, competitive, or integrative. Your tactics are the specific actions you will use to implement your strategy, such as framing, anchoring, concession-making, or problem-solving. Preparing your strategy and tactics helps you plan your moves, anticipate their responses, and adapt to changing situations.

4 Build rapport and trust

Negotiation is not only about logic and numbers, but also about emotions and relationships. You need to build rapport and trust with the other party to facilitate communication, cooperation, and agreement. You can build rapport and trust by using positive body language, expressing appreciation, finding common interests, and sharing personal stories. You can also build rapport and trust by being honest, transparent, and consistent in your words and actions.

5 Manage emotions and conflicts

Negotiation can be stressful and emotional, especially when there are high stakes, strong differences, or personal attacks. You need to manage your emotions and conflicts effectively to avoid losing focus, making mistakes, or damaging relationships. You can manage your emotions and conflicts by staying calm, breathing deeply, taking breaks, and reframing negative thoughts. You can also manage your emotions and conflicts by acknowledging, empathizing, and addressing the emotions and conflicts of the other party.

6 Seek win-win outcomes

The ultimate goal of negotiation is to reach a mutually beneficial agreement that satisfies the interests of both parties. You need to seek win-win outcomes that create value for both sides, rather than compete for a fixed pie. You can seek win-win outcomes by exploring options, generating ideas, trading-off issues, and finding creative solutions. You can also seek win-win outcomes by focusing on the future, expressing gratitude, and celebrating success.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?