Negotiation skills for successful personal and practical relationships

Do you think negotiation skill is only necessary for successful deals, marketing or politics? The truth is that negotiation skill is one of the basic and necessary skills in all practical fields and personal relationships as well. It's a skill you need in all your relationships and whatever your age.

The negotiation skill is the agreement between two parties in a way that both parties feel the win-win situation. Negotiation is a soft skill or personality and is therefore about who you are, how you think and how you act. It is a skill linked to other interpersonal skills, as it includes your ability to communicate with others and your skill in persuasion. What emotional intelligence you have and how you listen to others when they speak. It is also your ability to solve problems and your patience until you reach that solution. If you are a successful negotiator, you are a person who understands the desires and needs of others and knows how to use all these skills to reach common ground from which everyone comes out with benefit. Note that we reminded everyone that, the issue is not just to come up with what you want, but to reach common ground and an effective scenario for successful relationships.

If you find it difficult to negotiate and understand with others, or if you are an employer or even a team manager, or if you are a husband/husband, mother/father, or if you are a child / daughter in the stages of study, this article is useful to you and its lines may help you develop those abilities that can make you a successful negotiator with successful personal and practical relationships.

1- Basic skills to master negotiation

Successful communication: reading the body language of your interlocutor, active listening, and a good ability to express yourself clearly. Imagine that you want to ask someone for something and you ask for it immediately and without explaining the reasons once they return from abroad tired and sweaty because of the hot weather outside and your request is rejected without thinking.

What's the problem? Why was your application rejected? You have failed to read the signs of stress and exhaustion visible on the other end. You don't have enough information, it's hot outside and the other side hates feeling hot. You didn't choose the right time and didn't put your request in appropriate words. All of these reasons have made the chances of your application being accepted almost non-existent, while your application can be negotiated at a more favorable time and circumstances.

Persuasion: Are you a persuasive person? Have you been described as persuasive by those close to you? The way you discuss what you need must be convincing otherwise you won't have the opportunity to have a discussion that allows you to negotiate. Are you able to make convincing arguments during the discussion? A persuasive argument needs to understand the other party and his desires. If the other side does not see the benefit of what the agreement offers, it is difficult to convince them. Before concluding any agreement of any kind, consider not only your needs and reasons, but also the needs of the other party.

Suppose you want to invite your friends to watch an important match but your wife does not welcome such invitations as they limit her freedom and the house gets messed up. You can think of an activity your wife likes to do or something she needs, such as a picnic with her friends, visiting her family, or shopping for new clothes.

You can come up with the idea of both of you doing your favorite activity to ease the stress and boredom you have recently felt while promising to help tidy up the house after visiting your friends. It has become more attractive, more persuasive and win-win. Imagine the same situation by insisting on calling while not offering any advantage to your spouse? What are the consequences of this?

Planning: For negotiations to succeed, you must plan them in advance and understand your needs and those of the other party. Prepare for all points that the other party may object to. You are a good negotiator if you have planned all the consequences of any agreement you make. It's more than getting what I want now, there are consequences for all agreements and decisions.

Strategic thinking and problem-solving skill: Do not enter any negotiation without a plan B, negotiation is more than just an offer. If you want to sell your used car at a certain price, set a price higher than the number you need and think about some of the features you can add to make the deal profitable for both parties to reach the desired number.

Problem-solving skill is basic and is related to your strategic thinking as well. Your ability to find innovative and creative solutions to various problems is essential in negotiation. Imagine that you need to run and reach the finish line at a specific time but there are a lot of obstacles that cannot be removed along the way. You have to find a solution to overcome obstacles without wasting time.

2- Ways to develop negotiation skills

Now that you know some of the key skills you must have to be a successful negotiator, you are of course wondering how to develop those skills to reach the persuasive level required in negotiation. The following lines will put forward some steps that you can follow and get better results.

Set your goal: You can't run in a race without an end point. Even if you run under these conditions, you will lose your enthusiasm over time and slow down because you don't know exactly what you're going to achieve and you can also go astray because the end goal is unclear. What do you want from this negotiation? It is the goal you should keep in mind.

Building relationships: The more you understand others and have common ground between you, the more successful the negotiations will be.

Get ready for the meeting halfway: don't go in with an all-or-nothing mentality because you're bound to lose.

Alternatives: I always prepare with alternatives, successful negotiation does not take place without compromise and alternatives.

Be confident: The more self-confidence you have, the greater your chances of persuasion and negotiation.

Discover your weaknesses: It's very rare to master all those skills without working on them. Discover your weaknesses that you need to work on to become a successful negotiator. It takes study and training.