Every day you are faced with options to choose from. Which outfit to wear to an important meeting? Which route to take to the nearest petrol station? Which school to enroll your child? Gone are the days when there was only one option. I recall in my childhood days, there was only one television broadcaster. The station opened at 5 o'clock and shut down at midnight. Flipping channels was a foreign concept. You only watched what the national broadcaster scheduled. Today the story is different.
Who you are today is a sum total of the decisions you have made in life. Some people often resign to the fallacy that life just happens to them. They believe it is already decided who they become. I call it a fallacy because we have the power to decide what we want. The challenge lies in negotiating to get it. Someone has what you need to achieve your goal. You need to figure out how to get it from them. We often make the mistake of assuming the desperate position when in need. We fail to see the value we posses that we can trade for what we want.
Negotiations are an important part of our lives. As a leader, even with a grand vision, you are faced with scarce resources. You may not have everything you need to achieve your vision, but someone else has it. You sell yourself short when you are unprepared to negotiate for the resources you need. How can you negotiate effectively?
The first thing you ought to be clear about is what exactly you want. If you need a certain professional to carry out a task, you don't just walk into the street and pick out the first person you meet. Preparation, whether formally on paper or a mental note, is the first step. You decide what skills you want in this professional. How you want the task done and determine the range of compensation you are willing to offer in exchange of their services. You determine the value of each attribute you are looking for and set them in order of priority. You separate the non-negotiable from the good-to-have attributes.
You then begin your search and narrow down to that one candidate. The candidate has the credentials and a commensurate track record. You are certain they can do the job. It is likely that the candidate has also prepared for this moment. You have something they need - they have something you need! You listen to what he wants in the deal and you also disclose what you want without necessarily indicating the terms on which you might settle.
As you get to know the person better, you discover he has his set of priorities for this opportunity. He prefers to work with his fellow professionals. He also asks for autonomy in decision making and full access to management at critical points of the task. The icing on the cake is the price at which he is willing to offer the services. You now have two choices, you either get all sweaty and desperate for this great deal, or you make a good proposition. You should never agree to give in to the other party's wants without requiring them to meet some of your own. You must use the "If…then" condition language. "If you include some of our staff in this task for capacity building, then we can consider a level of autonomy for this task". Always ensure you get something for what you are offering to concede.
You will get into a bargaining phase from this point. This is where you exchange wants with the other party until you reach an agreement. The key is to be certain about your limits for conceding to his wants while ensuring you still obtain your wants. The final step is when you have an agreement and all aspects of the deal are agreed. Make sure the agreement is recorded. It could be in the form of a contract.
So next time you are negotiating a deal, remember these four simple steps:
1. Prepare before hand. Define what you want, prioritise and set your limits;
2. Debate. Listening to what the other party wants and disclose what you want.
3. Make your proposition. Use the "If…then" language.
4. Bargain by trading wants until you agree a specific solution
Make the deal, but DO NOT sell yourself short!
