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The difference between sitting down at the negotiating table and negotiating effectively is rather like the difference between the ball player who just shows up and the one who shows up ready to play. Which is why all good negotiators (and ballplayers) show up with their game face on. This experienced negotiator has excellent advice that will prepare any manager to play to win.
Style and effective interpersonal skills are qualities that any negotiator must have. But in my observation, the most successful negotiators, those whose track record enables them to be called master negotiators, have seven specific strategies. They are:
1. Build the future with creative solutions.
2. Come to the table incredibly well-prepared.
3. Create and claim maximum value.
4. Understand negotiating style.
5. Master the negotiation process.
6. Build strategic alliances.
7. Become a life-long learner.
Each of these strategies will be described below.
1. Build the future with creative solutions. Master negotiators are both excellent problem solvers and opportunity seekers. The characteristics of opportunity seeking combined with masterful problem solving are manifested in how these negotiators perceive, and interact with, the world. For example, Canadian National Railroad (CN) and Canadian Pacific Railroad (CP) were east coast to west coast railroads. All that changed dramatically with the advent of NAFTA (The North American Free Trade Agreement). CN bought the Illinois Central Railroad, which transformed it into the first NAFTA railroad. Today, more than 58 percent of CN's revenue is based on north-south, not east-west, traffic.
Creative solutions lead to expanding the pie, thereby providing more opportunities for all of the parties in the negotiation to benefit from being in the negotiation process. However, to develop creative solutions, we must come to the table incredibly well-prepared.
2. Come to the table incredibly well-prepared. After teaching negotiating skills and coaching individuals for more than 20 years, I have found that the biggest mistake people make is to come to the table overly confident and under-prepared.
We can not assume that we are prepared for a negotiation only to find out, to our chagrin, in the middle of the negotiation, that we were not as well prepared as we thought we were. For example, in 1999, Halifax lost the bid to host the...