In the wide pool of available and heavily promoted trainings on negotiations, it is really hard to pick the most appropriate course. Promises are loud and stories of success are told proudly, but what’s behind this perfect appearance? You can only guess.
One way to find out is by experience. You book the training session, take part in it and then look at the outcome. If the results are not what you expected them to be, you cannot reclaim your funds because you did not specify what you needed, to begin with. Money is wasted, but you get the experience.
Another way is to ask specific questions before you book a course. If the organizers confirm they included the essential points in the training, you can book it safely. If not, then look elsewhere.
Now the most important part: what should you expect from a really professional and useful session? What are the benchmarks to compare it to? To simplify the choice, we offer you a succinct list of skills that are a must for a good negotiator and should be taught obligatorily. We borrowed the list from this page, https://cmaconsulting.com.au, so, we can recommend to you safely at least one reliable and informative training course.
Hard Talks Scenarios And Skills
While entering the talks, it is OK to hope for the better and for a collaborative meeting that will end in a win-win outcome. Yet, it is necessary to be prepared for things going south and to know what to do when the other party gets pushy or openly aggressive. Hence, the skills of detecting the aggressive strategies and reacting to them in an equally hard manner are the first points one needs to acquire. One cannot succeed in business talks relying on a collaborative approach only.
Soft Talks Skills
These skills complement the hard talk competence. When you know how to handle the threats and bluff if they are applied by the other party, you do not need to flex the muscles immediately to impress the other side. Instead, you can start the talks on a quieter note and then see how they will unfurl. Soft skills include many elements, including active listening, the building of trust and rapport, and so on. These skills are, in their essence, the skills of perfect human communication. So whether you apply them in the talks or not, they will be of great benefit to you at any given moment in your professional life.
Acknowledgment And Control Of Emotions
Usually, emotions are unwelcome in the negotiations because they may hinder the estimation of the situation. For this very reason, the other party may try to push you and your team off balance so as to make use of your disgruntled state of mind. Hence, the ability to detect your own emotional state and harness it is one more essential skill for a negotiator.
Conflict Of Interests
There are situations when the best and the most experienced negotiations cannot succeed because there is a conflict of interests. If a deal is concluded, the consequences will be legally and financially disastrous. So it is important to have an understanding of possible conflicts of interests (financial, managerial, ethical, etc.) and to avert them or to exit the talks altogether.
Mistakes and How To Learn From Them
Not all negations end in success or at least an acceptable outcome. Some end in an outward failure. However, there are two skills that can help you even in this situation. The first one is the skill to accept a failure or a mistake not as a personal drama but as a working process. The second is to analyze and learn from these mistakes.
When put together, all these skills will pave you a path to success through the wildest of storms and the trickiest of negotiations. Just take your time to master them.