Strategic Negotiations: Three Factors to Consider

Leaders are always in negotiation-mode, with their team members, with their clients and customers, with suppliers, contractors, community organizations, every interaction can be a negotiation for a leader.

However, strategic negotiations involve being clear about organizational goals and their alignment with expectations around potential negotiations and applying emotional intelligence skills to the negotiation process.

First, determine if your negotiation is strategic. Not all negotiations are strategic, many are tactical or operational. Tactical negotiations are the ones you work with every day as a leader. They are minimal risk, transactional, quick, and have little stakeholder involvement. Tactical negotiations might involve changes to daily workload of team members, a request for a pay raise, changes in an individual’s hours of work, the amount a contractor intends to charge for requested services. Although contractual negotiations can be strategic as the leader is negotiating for the best outcome to meet specific goals of their team, strategic negotiations primarily focus on delivery of organizational goals and objectives. Strategic negotiations are particularly important, complex, lengthy, and have significant stakeholder involvement.

Second, leaders who negotiate strategically appreciate that self-awareness, social awareness, and relationship management skills will drive their success.

As an effective negotiator, it is vital to be open and focus on outcomes. It is about keeping emotions in check as they will play an influential role during each dialogue and interaction. Effective strategic negotiators have a keen sense of self-awareness and self-management, critical emotional intelligence skills for succeeding before, during, and after the negotiation. Ask yourself how you feel before starting and if expressing emotions is wise. Consider what could happen during the negotiation that might bring out anger or anxiety and how you will counter these emotional displays. Prepare for how you might feel once the negotiation ends. To avoid disappointment, be sure your expectations are reasonable and that you are prepared to adjust them throughout the process.

Alison Wood Brooks, at Harvard Business School states, “In negotiations that are less transactional and involve parties in long-term relationships, understanding the role of emotions is even more important…research shows that feeling or looking anxious results in suboptimal negotiation outcomes…”

Knowing how you might react in any given situation will provide you with the temperament necessary to succeed. Being positive helps to build relationships which translates into better and easier negotiations. Being able to anticipate the other party’s emotional reactions is also key. Think of them as a partner rather than an adversary.

Third, 80% of the time spent for any negotiation should be in preparation and strategy. Good strategic negotiators view the preparation time as an investment, to achieve a better outcome. Preparation means being clear about your goals and the goals of your organization, expectations of negotiators (both on your side and those with whom you will be negotiating), stakeholder needs and wants, what you might be able to trade for better services at a reduced cost, and coordination (where and when the negotiation will be conducted). Scope out what will happen before the negotiation, during the negotiation, and after the negotiation. A positive outcome depends on your ability to think through all the essentials, identifying and considering all options.

Consider not only strategy, but your emotional approach. Successful strategic negotiations are about execution, evaluation, and delivery.

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Donna Stevenson is an Instructional Designer and Facilitator who works with Mohawk College Enterprise to enhance the skills of clients in the area of leadership development.