3 Days Before the Simulation: Improve Your Negotiating Skills

In the light of waiting and preparing on Thursday's first GA session, we have written a series of articles on different topics.

Negotiations are a huge part of achieving your goals in the General Assembly. No matter how small the state you’re representing is – or how much it lacks power, you can always turn the negotiations for your benefit. As our professor Svetličič said last year at the lectures – “power isn’t just money. Power is also the ability to articulate and convince.”

But how well are you able to negotiate? We know that most of you have been through the lectures of “Negotiations” last year at the faculty, but maybe you will need to refresh your memory a bit? We collected some pieces of advice from experts on negotiating!

»Everything is negotiable. Whether or not the negotiation is easy is another thing.« (C. Fisher)

1. Preparation is key.

DEFINE YOUR GOALS
If you are negotiating with someone, you probably have a goal that you need to achieve. What is that goal? Define it well and look out of the box – is there some alternative goal that you could also go for if plan B is needed?

RESEARCH
Know your negotiating party well. Make a background check and get to know the other party's interests. You need to distinguish between your negotiating party’s interest in position. Position in something that he/she wants, something that he/she argues for. But WHY? What is the underlying motivation behind that position? To find that out you need to do an in-depth research.
Research is also important because knowing your opponent and his/her personality is key – what are his/her weaknesses, his/her strengths?

Keep in mind – your opponent might do the same. So make sure you also know your weaknesses and strengths. Try to avoid situations where your weaknesses might harm the negotiation process.

SCENARIO
Prepare a scenario of the negotations process and predict possible obstacles, opportunities and outcomes.

And most important – make sure all your preparations proceed in the language that will be used throughout the whole negotiation process.

“In business as in life, you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.” (C. L Karrass)

2. Prepare your BATNA.

You need to determine your BATNA (Best Alternative To Negotiate An Agreement) before the negotiations start. With your BATNA you will measure how successful you were. You need to pick the best BATNA and you also need to know your opponent's BATNA. Do not tell your BATNA to your opponent until it is absolutely necessary – when the negotiations are stuck.

»Diplomacy: the ability to tell someone to go to hell so that he'll look forward to making the trip.« ;-)

3. Negotation process: Listen. Communicate.

»Half of negotiation is listening,« said our prof. Svetličič last year. Prove to your opponent that you are listening to him – repeat his words, ask him something. When talking, use less aggressive terminology. Instead of »suggesting« something, »offer a suggestion«. Deliver a compliment to ease up the atmosphere.

Try to listen to the opponent’s wishes and interests and see if they can meet with yours to make a compromise. Don’t forget: your goal is to leave the negotiations with a favourable agreement in your hands. And make sure the solution fits the opponent too, otherwise he/she might not want to implement it later.

Always negotiate on the basis of objective criteria.

And do distinguish between the problem and the person.

4. Evaluate.

Did you do well or could you do better? Were your goals achieved or did you compromise them too much? This is key to improve your negotiating skills. It goes without saying - we learn by making mistakes, so make sure you don’t repeat them next time!

We hope we’ve helped at least a little and made your way to achieving your goal in the GA easier. 

Set your goals high and don’t stop there!

Start achieving your goals on Thursday and… “Be the change you want to see in the world.” (Gandhi).

Are you wondering what we’ve prepared for you in the second sequel tomorrow? Aleksandra will inspire you, so stay tuned and check for new posts!

Tamara Kajtazović

Very brifely summarized from last year's lectures:
Svetličič, Marjan. 2011. Lectures: Negotiations. Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences.

Source of quotes: brainyquotes.com, leadership-quotes.com