Businesses involve a fair amount of negotiation as part of the routine. An organization that manufactures products or delivers services/solutions to end-users will require negotiation. This could be negotiations with vendors, other service providers, clients or authorities in government. Anand Mishra Entrepreneur put this in perspective, “Without the right kind of negotiation skills, it is hard to imagine the success of any enterprise or entrepreneur”. Discussions and negotiations are an integral part of business and enterprises that cannot negotiate successfully are more likely to suffer from a negative impact of poor negotiation.
Unlike other skills that are natural, the art of negotiation can be acquired through training and experience. Certain skills cannot be imparted through training. For instance, art and creativity are innate talents and cannot be learned in a workshop - it can only be honed and improved through sessions. Contrastingly, the art of negotiation can be picked up from the right kind of training and exposure to different situations. It is more of a tactful balance the involves listening to the other, understanding the points being raised, putting forth with great clarity your side of the discussion, and agreeing to disagree on certain points, while mutually arriving at a conclusion that benefits all. The primary objective of any discussion is to get others to understand your point of view, while also understanding the points being raised by the others. All discussions have a middle ground, and it is possible for various parties to agree to the middle ground without having to change their stance completely.
This begins with listening patiently to the others in the discussion. It is important to understand that listening without understanding or grasping the main points is a futile exercise. You could take down notes during a discussion, it helps to get the point in a particular sequence. It is possible that you have a very good memory, and would like to commit everything to memory rather than taking notes. However, it is hard to imagine the possibility of using all the memories points for effectively carrying the discussion forward. It is highly likely that you may be interrupted when you discuss, and as a result, the possibility of skipping a point is high.
While you may be a good negotiator, extending the privilege of a patient listening to the other, it is not necessary that you are dealing with a good negotiator. If both parties to a negotiation are good negotiators, problems can be easily solved. However, far from it, you may be in a difficult position where you happen to be a good negotiator while the other party is poor in negotiating. This is where your skills need to be put to good use. You need to fully understand the points being raised by the other person, you need to be able to come up with clear and effective discussions regarding the same, and this needs to be summed up by getting the others in the discussion to see your point of view.
