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Cover Page of the bestselling book by Cohen on
the art of Negotiation
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Herb Cohen, The Negotiation Guru
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What is Negotiation? Your real world is a
giant negotiating table, and like it or not, you are a participant. You as
an individual, come in to conflict with others like family members,
friends, sales clerks, competitors, etc, etc. Negotiation is a field of
knowledge that focuses on gaining the favour of people from whom we want
things: prestige, freedom, money, justice, status, love, security and
recognition. This book tells you how to achieve them.
Traditionally,
rewards presumably go to those possessing the greatest talent, dedication
and education. But life has disillusioned those who hold the virtue that
hard work will triumph at the end. The “winners” seem to be people who
not only are competent, but also have the ability to “negotiate” there
way to get what they want .So what is negotiation? Cohen defines it as the
use of information and power to affect behavior within a “web of
tension.” If you think about this broad definition, you will realize
that we all, in fact, negotiate all the time - both on the job and in our
personal life.
What
are the instances of negotiation in our personal life? Husbands negotiate
with wives, and wives negotiate with husbands. You use information and
power with your friends and relatives. Negotiation may occur with the
traffic police poised to write a fine, with a store reluctant to offer you
credit, with a landlord who fails to provide essential services or wants
to double your rent, or with a hotel clerk who has “no room” even
though you have guaranteed reservation. Negotiation is also in the
family, where parents and children often unknowingly engage in this
activity.
You
constantly negotiate at work though you may not always be aware that you
are doing it. Subordinates or employees use information and power to
affect the behavior of these above them. Let us say you have an idea or
proposal you want to be accepted .What
is required
is that
you package
your concept
in such
a way
that it
meets the current needs of your boss as well as the present
priorities of your organization. There are many people with technical
expertise who lack the negotiating skill needed to sell their ideas. As a
result they feel frustrated.
In
every negotiation three crucial elements are always present.
1.
Information:
The other side seems to know more about you and your needs then you
know about them and their needs. If information is the heart of any
matter, it can unlock the door to the vault called success. It affects our
appraisal of reality and the decision that we make. Why then do we fail to
get adequate information? Because we tend to regard our negotiation
encounters with people as a limited happening or an event. We seldom
anticipate that we will need information until the occurrence of a crisis
or a “focal event” which creates a cascade of dysfunctional
consequences.
During the actual negotiation, it is often the common strategy for one or
both side to conceal their true interest, needs and priorities. Their
rationale is that information is power, particularly in situations where
you can not trust the other side fully. Old horse traders never let the
seller know which horse really interests them, because if they did the
price might go up. It would give you a big advantage if you could learn,
before the negotiation begins, what the other side really wants, their
limits and their deadlines.
2. Time:
The other side does not seem to be under the same kind of
organizational pressure, time constraint and restrictive deadlines you
feel you are under.
Time moves at the same rate for all of us, no matter what we do. Since we
can not control the clock, we must
examine how the passage of time affects the negotiation process.
Cohen says that “No” is a
reaction, not a position. The people who react negatively to your proposal
simply need time to evaluate it and adjust their thinking. With the
passage of sufficient time and repeated efforts on your part, almost every
“no” can be transformed in to a “may be” and eventually a
“yes” if you allow a sufficient period for acceptance time and can
furnish them with the new information that they have not considered in
formulating their initial, “no”, you can win them over.
3.
Power:
The other side always seems to
have more power and authority than you think you have. Cohen defines power
as the capacity or ability to get things done to exercise control over
people, events, and situation.
Power is a way of getting from one place to another. Let’s say you are
currently at position A {present situation} you want to go to position B
{your objective, goal, or destination}. Power enables you to go from A to
B. It enables you to change your reality to achieve that goal. Power
should never be a goal in and of itself. It should be a transport to a
destination.
You have plenty of power. Cohen talks
of using it to sensibly implement objectives that are important to you.
You have more power sources at your fingertips than you realize! Some of
them are the power of legitimacy, the power of risk taking, the power of
commitment, the power of expertise, the power of knowledge, the power of
morality, and the power of attitude.
The book is written in an extremely lucid language and is enriched with
plenty of day to day examples. However, the context is American but still
the examples are so simple that we can easily relate to them and learn.
The book is definitely a must read for all budding professionals and
leaders of tomorrow.
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