SUBJECT: Negotiating
APPLICATION: Creating Win-Win Outcomes

Management Memo
By Thomas P. Sattler, Ed.D., and Carol A. Doniek, M.S.

Your attitude behavior can affect the outcome of many encounters in your life, including negotiations. When negotiating anything, from a positive response from a member of your fitness facility to revising and renewing a maintenance contract, a win-win philosophy is most profitable. A successful negotiation process results in both sides feeling like they have gained something for their efforts. Objectives, strategies and tactics are only part of the negotiation game. Read on to check your attitude and behavior against the nine characteristics of a successful situations may give you more confidence at the negotiation table.

  1. Be sensitive to the needs others. Being empathetic can gain the respect of others and forge a long-term business relationship with the other party. Empathy implies that you are trying to see the needs, wants and desires through the eyes the other person.
  2. Be willing to compromise. A rigid position will leave closed to creative ideas. In a win-win situation, the words negotiation and comprise are synonymous.
  3. Develop your creative problem-solving skills. Practice the following brainstorming technique: Pick a problem to solve; then list all the solutions that enter your mind within a three-minute period (no ideas are judged at this point). Work from your list to decide on and fine tune a solution. Don't be afraid to voice an idea that is unusual. Your unusual idea may turn out to be the best solution to the problem.
  4. Learn to welcome conflict. Conflict is a natural part of the negotiation process. Brush up on your conflict management skills by role-playing conflict situations with friends and co-workers. The practice in handling difficult situations may give you more confidence at the negotiation table.
  5. Practice patience. Losing your temper is a sign that you are losing your win-win attitude. Take a break to regain your focus if you find yourself becoming aggravated.
  6. Increase your tolerance for stress. Negotiating can be intimidating and stressful. A manager of a pro shop shared the story of a staffer who was treated gruffly by a vendor with whom he had been cordial. The manager expressed surprise at the staffer's pleasant response when treated with such rudeness. The staff member replied kindly, "Why should I let his actions determine my behavior?"
  7. Improve your listening skills. Paraphrase what the other party is saying to avoid misunderstandings. The more you listen, the more you will understand and eventually you will be understood.
  8. Learn to identify bottom-line issues quickly. Do your homework prior to the negotiation meeting to ensure you know the value of each issue. A winner knows how much they have to learn even when they are considered an expert. A loser wants to be considered an expert by others, before they have even learned enough to know how little they know.
  9. Be assertive, not aggressive. Use a confident, persuasive tone for best results. The danger in acting aggressively is that the harder you push, the harder the other party will push back. If you are trying to make a big splash, then you are probably the one who has gone overboard.

A rigid position will leave you closed to creative ideas. In a win-win situation, the words negotiation and compromise are synonymous.

REFERENCES

  1. Maddux, R.B. Successful Negotiations. Crisp Publication Inc. Los Altos, Calif., 1988
  2. Patterson, J.G. How to Become a Better Negotiator. American Management Association, New York, 1996.

Thomas P. Sattler, Ed. D., is professor of kinesiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Carol A Doniek, M.S., is manager of the Stuart Fitness Center at the Quaker Oats Co., Chicago.


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