10 Essential Negotiating Skills for Strategic HR Managers (1)
Transcript of 10 Essential Negotiating Skills for Strategic HR Managers (1)
-
8/2/2019 10 Essential Negotiating Skills for Strategic HR Managers (1)
1/2
10 Essential Negotiating Skills for Strategic HR
Managers
1. Take a dispassionate, emotionally neutral look at the issue. Never start with an
assumption. When you start with any kind of assumption, such as that employee
is asking for more than well give her, and she knows it, then every decision that
follows in the dialogue will be based on your initial assumption. You cannot know
what is on the other persons mind until she tells you. Assumptions, biases, and
fears are all emotion-based states, and decisions based on emotions are not sound
decisions. Begin, instead, by clearing your mind of any preconceptionsand
asking team members on your side of the table to do the same. Throughout the
negotiation, try to stay focused on what is being said, not what you think.
2. Find out the real, not the assumed, needs of every stakeholder group. Before
you begin labor union talks, financial meetings, negotiations with IT firms, or
discussions with key department heads, you should have a deep understanding of
each stakeholders interests and current situation. Again, never base decisions on
assumptions. Do your homework and come prepared. Conduct intensive fact-
finding sessions with each group to find out where they currently stand on a
variety of issues. Coming to a negotiation well informed trumps your people
skills any day.
3. Deal with the real power holders. Lets say your tech people are having trouble
communicating and cooperating with your financial people. Think carefully about
who the true decision makers in this scenario are. Whom you negotiate with will
depend on the problem, but make certain that you are negotiating with the real
power brokers and not with blockerspeople who try to keep you from the real
decision makers. These people may even consider blocking part of their job
description. Do show blockers respect, however, as you find a way to get around
them. It is a waste of everyones time to negotiate with blockers.
4. Identify all problems you see holding back a successful arrangement. Before you
go into a negotiation, you should have a clear idea of what might stop or keep you
from a successful solution. State those problems clearly at the outset of your talks
and ask the stakeholder how these problems might be solved. Get stakeholders
talking, while you listen. Their answers to these questions will provide criticalinformation that will be of strategic importance to you as you proceed.
5. Keep your mouth shut. Every step of the way, its critical to be fully present in
the moment, almost a zenlike state. Remain open to innuendos, the other partys
emotions, and listen carefully to everything that is said. Each time you ask a
question, it should be built on facts that have been disclosed, never on opinions,
needs, or hunches. Keep quiet as much as possible and take thorough notes. You
will be amazed at how much better you listen when you record rather than speak.
6. Clarify all questions with interrogative-led questions. When an upper-levelexecutive asks you which departments you believe might prove resistant to his
-
8/2/2019 10 Essential Negotiating Skills for Strategic HR Managers (1)
2/2
new initiative, respond with your own question, and be sure to compliment him in
the process. Ask interrogative-led questionswho, what, when, where, why, and
howto get him talking and revealing more facts to you. For example, you might
say, Thats a great question, Bill. What types of obstacles do you feel are most
problematic to our people as they decide whether to come on-board with your
proposal? In one fell swoop, youve put the executive at ease, youre directed the
dialogue, and youve gotten him to fill in much needed details that will help you
explore the issues more thoroughly.
7. Have a valid M&P. Never enter into a negotiation with any of your stakeholder
groups without a valid mission and purpose, an M&P that is set in the
stakeholders world, one thats based on the stakeholders needs, requirements,
hopes, fears, and plans. Because every decision you make along the way has to
fulfill this M&P, it will handle any contingency that comes up during the
negotiation, and will not fail to give you a good outcome. For example, your M&P
might be: to create a prosperous and secure future for the stakeholder by keepingthe company competitive.
8. Never begin negotiations by offering a compromise. Also, never ask your
respected colleague to say yes. If you start with a yes agreement, theres
nowhere to go from there. Instead, start by inviting them to say no. Tell them you
are comfortable with a no answer and you want them to be comfortable to say no.
Tell them that you will take no as an honest decision that can be discussed and
perhaps reversed during the course of your talks. If your opponent asks you to tell
him or her what you want, resist the urge to answer. You need to get the other
party talking and revealing and spilling the beans.
9. Do not try to be friends. The stakeholders involved in daily HR negotiations are
not your friends; they are respected colleagues. Trying to be friends is one of the
ways we let neediness slip into the process. Neediness is an emotion; keep
emotions out of the equation. The purpose of this negotiation is to reach a
respectful and fair solution that accomplishes your mission and purpose, which will
be in your respected opponents interest as well.
10. Never think about closing. Whether its budget reallocations for the next fiscal
year or a new labor contract, do not think about, hope for, or plan for the outcomeof the deal. Focus instead on what you can control: your behavior and activity
during the negotiation. The second you focus on closing, the deal is dead because
youve let your emotions into the negotiation.