Taking cover from the exploding offer
One thing I've learned about myself this quarter: I am a terrible negotiator.
Not that I ever thought I was good, but I'm not just bad, I'm awful. Each week in class, we do a practice negotiation. Almost every single time, I come out on the bottom. Witness:
Negotiation #1 - the "Prisoner's Dilemma" game. Decided to play the game in good faith, lost about $200,000.
Negotiation #2 - selling a used car. I actually got the amount of money I needed on the first counter-offer--but didn't have the guts to go for even more (I could have gotten it).
Negotiation #3 - hotel developers trying to get a permit by working with an environmental issues group. My partner and I lost on every issue we wanted--except one. The tree huggers simply rolled us.
Negotiation #4 - massaging a post-grad job offer to get more money and a better title. I didn't do horribly on this one (I did get more money) but what was really important to my role was the title and I could not make any ground on it.
I know that since this is a classroom situation, there isn't really anything to lose here, but now that I'm entering the negotiation phase for real as I look for a job, I'm finding my skills wanting.
Confidence seems to be the key, knowing what it is you definitely want and what you can trade off on. That and not allowing the other team to shake you from that point of confidence by tapping into your emotions (anger, fear, guilt, whatever). Again, this is another danger point for me. It's too easy to get caught up in those feelings and lose sight of what it is you originally set out to get.
They say practice makes perfect... I'm not shooting for perfect, but I hope the practice is at least sufficient to help me get through my current real-life scenarios!
Not that I ever thought I was good, but I'm not just bad, I'm awful. Each week in class, we do a practice negotiation. Almost every single time, I come out on the bottom. Witness:
Negotiation #1 - the "Prisoner's Dilemma" game. Decided to play the game in good faith, lost about $200,000.
Negotiation #2 - selling a used car. I actually got the amount of money I needed on the first counter-offer--but didn't have the guts to go for even more (I could have gotten it).
Negotiation #3 - hotel developers trying to get a permit by working with an environmental issues group. My partner and I lost on every issue we wanted--except one. The tree huggers simply rolled us.
Negotiation #4 - massaging a post-grad job offer to get more money and a better title. I didn't do horribly on this one (I did get more money) but what was really important to my role was the title and I could not make any ground on it.
I know that since this is a classroom situation, there isn't really anything to lose here, but now that I'm entering the negotiation phase for real as I look for a job, I'm finding my skills wanting.
Confidence seems to be the key, knowing what it is you definitely want and what you can trade off on. That and not allowing the other team to shake you from that point of confidence by tapping into your emotions (anger, fear, guilt, whatever). Again, this is another danger point for me. It's too easy to get caught up in those feelings and lose sight of what it is you originally set out to get.
They say practice makes perfect... I'm not shooting for perfect, but I hope the practice is at least sufficient to help me get through my current real-life scenarios!
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home