3 P’s to Position Yourself in a Negotiation
Negotiations come in all sizes and like art the significance is in the eye of the beholder. There will be times to prepare for negotiations and others where you have to play the hand you’re dealt. At all times it’s important to be creative with your resources and to play for keeps. Whether you’re facing the known or unknown, your power is in your choices.
To level set this think piece let’s begin by defining what a negotiation is then we’ll get to the fundamentals.
Negotiate [verb]: to confer with another so as to arrive at the settlement of some matter, to deal with, to arrange for.
Keep that in mind as we go through the 3 ways to position yourself for negotiations.
3 P’s to Find Out Your Needs
To negotiate what’s best for you, you need to identify what you need. As a first gen and a high performer who is in a service role, you may not always pay attention to or prioritize your needs. To begin considering what you need, consider the place, priority and pace of all parties.
Place:
Which direction are you headed? What’s your reason for putting all of this energy into this path? Are your actions aligning with your trajectory?
This type of forward thinking is how you make the best use of your power. Power shows up differently for entities; it may be your drive, reason or purpose. Companies manage their power by aligning their resources toward their mission and visions. You need to do the same as an individual. Identify where you are headed so you can make your time, energy, relationships work out the best scenario for you.
Priority:
This is your biggest reason for spending your time and energy on something. It’s meant to be singular not plural on purpose. Focusing on multiple things at once increases your chances at being average and dilutes your urgency.
Knowing your priority is key when you negotiate, especially if you’re a corporate consultant. In professional service industries, consultants use the BATNA framework to identify the priority and likelihood of getting a yes. BATNA stands for Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (Source: Harvard). Not centering your priority is where resentment breeds. Prevent yourself from future heartbreak by knowing your priority.
Pace:
The rate of movement. The speed of negotiations moves fast and changes per environment. You can get left behind quickly or caught up in a bottle neck like in traffic. Knowing the place you're headed and priority before you enter a negotiation helps you keep up with the pace.
Negotiations are about power. The end game is to get the negotiation to work in your favor. Use all three to play your best hand no matter the circumstances. The goal is to always prepare for a yes.
Negotiations are a part of your everyday life. The goal is to play your hand the best way you can. You can win some and lose some. Make it count as much as you can. Your odds increase with practice.
Wishing you all the success you act on.
Need more negotiation tools?
Learn more about negotiating from the experts with this Art of Negotiation Panel
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