lifehacker.com: We think of negotiation as a game for experienced professionals, but in reality, it's not very hard to do. From getting a salary increase to haggling a better deal on a car, even the shyest amongst us can get what we want out of a negotiation. Here's how.
Whether you realize it or not, you probably negotiate all day long. It's not always about getting $2000 off a used car. It might be as simple as getting the lunch time you want, or convincing your significant other to go to a party with you. That means you have practice, and even if you don't consider yourself an expert negotiator you can still get what you want without being confrontational. Let's start with the basics of preparing yourself for a negotiation (when it's possible) before digging into some tips anyone can use.
5 comments:
I really connected with this article. My dad is an amazing negotiator. I haven't picked up the skill from him yet but I have watched him make many deals in the past. This article really helped me to better understand the tools in my dad's arsenal. The line in the first section "...it's about making a deal where everyone walks away with something of value." really struck me as true. I think that often people avoid negotiating because they think it will be bad for the other party and they don't want to be mean. But the truth is that by negotiating you can actually help not only your self but all so the other person. When people work together we all win.
I have free internet, texting, and calls on my phone because when my dad was adding my phone to the family account he asked the company if he could have those things. They didn't mind and he really liked them for it. As a result he has been with that phone company for many years and they have made a lot more money then they might have if they said no.
Something I was thinking about as I read this article was that it's important to not only know how to negotiate but also what to do when someone else uses these negotiation tricks on you. For example if someone tries the "Keep Quiet and Listen for Clues" trick on you it's important to not just do the same thing because it's worked for you in the past. That would just result in a staring contest and no one would get anywhere. So when your negotiating I think it's important to remember that by making the other person happy you may be able to get a better deal for your self as well.
This article is a very fair overview of negotiation techniques, and sums up the basics of what you need to gain a little bit of leverage in the conversation. However, what wasn't really talked about in this article was that the way you do these negotiations affects your relationship with the other person, both in the sense that some techniques are more effective with a friend or close partner while others are better suited for one-off interactions, and that using some of these techniques may not be advisable if you plan on trying to negotiate with the other person in the future. For example, expanding the pie and finding side benefits which are valuable to you but not costly to your negotiating partner is the gold star of long-term relationship negotiation, while nickel and diming a boss or colleague with "one more thing" gets exhausting, annoying and frustrating over multiple scenarios. This is where planning really comes into play - if you know your target, the worst offer you can possibly take and the tactics you want to use, negotiation becomes much less of a stressful activity and more of a powerful tool for finding ways to make both you and your negotiating partner happy in the agreement.
I think Brian's point is exactly right. You have to know your audience in order to know what tips and tricks you can use on whomever you are trying to negotiate with.
Another thing that stood out to me in this article was something that I think everyone in the theater business should take to heart. "If you don't ask for something, you can't get it." This is true outside of the realm of negotiation as well as within it. If a designer is trying to get a show in budget, trying to work with the project manager in order to include as many of the important concepts as possible, using the "One More Thing" technique can come in handy. On the other hand, if a designer doesn't include something in a design because he or she thinks it could never work or it would be too expensive, then there's no way to know if it could have been incorporated. You don't know if you don't ask.
This is one of the more useful "life skills" articles that I've seen posted on here. Negotiating is a huge part of life, even if it isn't always recognized as a formal one. Anytime we try to get another person to give us what we want, we are negotiating. Especially in theater, we are always negotiating with each other in order to make compromises about various decisions. I'm most likely going to have a business minor, so I would love to take more classes that touched on the topic of negotiation.
I think negotiation is something that theatre professionals specifically really need to learn in order to really succeed in this business. It's a useful life skill to have in any situation, like the used car sale or rent talks, but because theatre jobs are sometimes not very highly paid to begin with, having these skills can directly help your job experience. Even for things like unpaid internships or low-paying apprenticeships, there is always the possibility that there may be some other perk they can offer you if you have the courage and knowledge to ask about it. It is sometimes possible to negotiate summer contracts so they work more to your advantage and once we are all out of school, being able to negotiate for free-lancing jobs is a huge advantage.
I haven't taken the class yet, but I hope that the professional prep classes that PTM students and designers take touches on the subject of negotiation, since in my opinion, it's one of the the most important things you can learn.
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