by
Michael Chaffers
In every negotiation there
comes a time when the other side rejects your idea, no matter how well
you have done your homework, or how reasonable you think your proposal
is--especially when negotiating for more money. You can't force someone
to agree with you. What can you do to turn a "no" into a "yes"?
Assume that
"no" merely means "not yet," especially early on in the
negotiation. This is a concept that every child, and every good
salesperson, knows. You will be a better negotiator the minute you act
on it.
People say "no" when their interests are not being met. Your manager's
interests may include keeping a valuable employee, not setting a bad
precedent for future negotiations, or staying within her budget. Your
first task in this negotiation is to understand her interests.
How?
Ask about them. You could say, "I think we could make more progress
here if we talked about our goals for this negotiation. Here is what I
am trying to achieve . . . What are your goals?" Or you could say, "If
I were in your position, I would be especially concerned about staying
within my budget and retaining a skilled employee. Are there other key
matters I would be overlooking?" Ultimately, you need to consider the
interests of both sides to come up with options that satisfy them.
Once you understand your manager's interests,
work together to address
them. Persuade
her to join you in crafting a solution. You might say,
"I think we have a joint problem here -- if we are going to reach an
agreement, we will have to find an option that meets both of our
interests. I think we can do that most efficiently by working together
to come up with good solutions."
If your manager seems
amenable, provide guidelines for your joint problem-solving effort. For
example, you could say, "I think that if we put our heads together and
brainstorm for the next 20 minutes, we could generate a lot of ideas.
Then we can take 15 minutes to select the most promising ones and
refine them for consideration. Can we agree to brainstorm -- without
commitment -- for that time period?" With hard work, and a little luck,
this activity should carry you past the resistance and lead to an
agreement.
If you have tried to understand the interests of the other side and to
develop options that satisfy them, but you are still getting a "no,"
you have a choice to make. You can agree to whatever option your
manager does accept, or you can pursue alternatives. An alternative
might be making an appointment to talk with someone higher up in the
organisation who may have the authority to make a better deal. Or you
might begin to actively look for other positions in the company--or
elsewhere. Or you might decide to wait and try again later. In any
case, make sure you leave the door open as you walk through it. You
could say, "I appreciate the time we have spent trying to reach an
agreement. Right now I don't feel we are close enough to continue this
conversation. Perhaps we could revisit this topic in a few days and see
where we stand?"
The
key to negotiating is to
avoid letting a
negative response become an obstacle to agreement. You can do that by
recognising the legitimate reasons causing someone to resist your idea,
and then
working together to address them. Not only will
this approach
make agreement more likely, but it also will cause the other person to
appreciate the respect you have demonstrated -- a good outcome for any
negotiation.
*This article was taken from Monster.com.sg's e-newsletter, April 2006
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Why does the writer refers to the manager as Her? What abt He? Does it mean Guy managers won't spare a moment to do such with employees? Or is he tryin to say u gotta impress the Bitch before she rewards u? hmmm...nevertheless no harm tryin..but if still no increment, waste time & effort right?! Guess it's like every other thing, u want somethin, go for it, fight for it and show u r worth it...
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& time and again, u r on my mind!
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