Whether you\u2019re buying a new car, trying to get the best deal from your suppliers, debating whether your company should invest in a real estate deal or just discussing how to spend your next paycheck with your spouse, you are negotiating. In order to negotiate successfully, you need to get enough of what you want and your partner needs to get enough of what he or she wants so both of you feel satisfied with the outcome \u2014 perhaps not exhilarated, but satisfied. In order to achieve this, you need to identify two elements: first, your own negotiation style, and second, the style of your negotiating partner (or foe, as the case may be). To identify your own style, think back on how you handled making requests when you were a child \u2014 when you wanted your first bike or asked to stay up late. Then, try to remember with whom you were negotiating: what was your strategy, and did it work? Chances are that your style today is influenced by your early experiences with negotiation. Were you listened to, dealt with fairly, or ignored and denied? Were the people in authority in your early life the models you use today for dealing with potential conflict? What were their styles? Try to remember specific incidents and visualize yourself and the other in a negotiation stance. There you are, a small child, standing in front of a large adult, perhaps your father. You want to go over to a friend\u2019s house. Perhaps at first your father doesn\u2019t even notice you, he\u2019s reading the paper. You insist, he asks if your homework is done, you say yes. Still he hesitates, you press on, knowing that to insist too much will irritate him, so you plead, give reasons, cajole him. Finally he lets you go. You may have learned a pleading. But that negotiation style that works with your father may not be appropriate in your dealings as an adult. It is important to identify your usual strategies so that you can decide whether your style is effective or not, and if not, change it to suit the situation and the style of the person you\u2019re negotiating with. This is situational negotiation. The people you negotiate with fall into four main categories: bulldozers, fact finders, jumping jacks and doormats. When you\u2019re with bulldozers, speed is of the essence; they will only read short memos and summaries, so talk fast and to the point. Bulldozers are aggressive and use attack tactics. You\u2019re not the target; it is just how they do business. On the opposite end of the scale are the fact finders. Thoroughness is their preference \u2014 they should be presented with a lot of material beforehand thing. If pushed too fast they will withdraw, which is just a defense tactic, not a rejection of you or the idea. You must have a lot of patience with fact finders. While bulldozers say “what,” fact finders say “how.” Don\u2019t ever use the word “approximately” and don\u2019t ever surprise a data lover. Negotiating with jumping jacks is different. As their name implies, they jump around, change topics and love to talk about themselves. They have high energy, but a short attention span. Jumping jacks require a lot of attention. You\u2019ll need to build a relationship with them, break bread and ask about their families. Jumping jacks always want something extra “thrown into the deal.” Be prepared for that, and don\u2019t expect consistency. Then finally, there are the doormats. These people are uncomfortable with conflict and strong opinions. The problem with doormats is they have trouble committing themselves to anything, or saying what they want, so you have to push gently for an answer, opinion or position. Use inclusive words like “we” and “us” and set time limits for making the decision. This is also known as the “OK person”-style of negotiation. They say yes to everything, nod and smile a lot, and then don\u2019t sign the contract or don\u2019t show up when expected. They may feel that it is impolite to refuse a request or to simply say “no.” You can figure out negotiation styles by observing people: who wants quick answers, who requests a lot of explanations, who won\u2019t stay focused and who is noncommittal. You, too, fall into one of these categories or a combination of them. Figure out your style so that you can negotiate successfully by learning to adapt to the style of others. This, by the way, applies equally well at home as at work. Any negotiation includes two styles of working together \u2014 theirs and yours \u2014 and becoming aware of both will help you deal better with any situation. \u2014 Natasha Josefowitz imparti\u00f3 el primer curso en los EE. UU. sobre mujeres en la gesti\u00f3n y es autora de 19 libros. Vive en White Sands La Jolla.<\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Whether you\u2019re buying a new car, trying to get the best deal from your suppliers, debating whether your company should invest in a real estate deal or just discussing how to spend your next paycheck with your spouse, you are negotiating. In order to negotiate successfully, you need to get enough of what you want […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":282781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"The art and skill of negotiation","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11552],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-282780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}