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Good Negotiators are Born In reality effective negotiations requires practice and feedback. Experience is a Great Teacher To understand why, remember that in the absence of feedback, it is nearly impossible to improve performance. So without feedback, one fails to learn from experience.
Also people have selective memories of their experiences. People tend to remember their success and not their mistakes or shortcomings. Selective memory may help boost self-confidence but it does little to improve performance.
Lastly, experience does not improve the accuracy of negotiations. People with more experience grow more and more confident but the accuracy of their judgment and effectiveness of their behavior does not increase in a commensurate fashion. Good Negotiators Taks Risks These tough negotiations are rarely effective. More often than not, such hard ball tactics will leave the other party enraged and might toughen their stand making it impossible to negotiate. Good Negotiators Rely on Intuition Effective negotiation involves deliberate thought and systematic preparation.
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Welcome to the Tero International Monthly eZine
Negotiating is a gong-fu kind of art. The term gong-fu means skill with practice. Individuals who have become Gong-fu tea masters are preceeded by years of apprenticeship and continue to seek further perfection to their art through teaching it to apprentices. While they realize they will never be perfect at the skill, they can always seek to improve.
The sidebar this month offers Myths we sometimes believe when it comes to negotiations. Some may seem counterintuitive. If you're lacking confidence in your negotiating skills, this will offer some support that you can improve and are not as far off of effective negotiating skills as you might think.
The Q & A addresses how to feel confident in negotiations. You'll also learn about some basic and fool-proof steps to negotiations that will carry you well.
The Professional Development activity invites you to take a negotiation skills assessment. Test yourself to find out your natural negotiation behavioral patterns.
Want to learn the steps to successful win/win negotiations and develop the critical negotiation skill of assertiveness? Register for Tero's popular 2-day Beyond Compromise: A Better Way To Negotiate workshop offered on June 18 - 19 at the Tero Learning Center in Des Moines, Iowa.
Whether it's debating what movie to see or an international business deal, we hope that this eZine provides some resources to add confidence and success to your interactions.
Ask Tero
This section contains questions asked of the training professionals at Tero. Do you have a question for Tero? Let us know! If there is a topic or question you would like to see addressed in a future eZine, please make suggestions so we can give you the resources you need. Thank you for the continued responses we receive each month.
Question: I have heard that in negotiating, you had better come across as serious and tough from the minute you walk in the door. Is this true?
Tero says: Your question illustrates well the miseducation people receive on negotiating. Not only is this an untruth, it goes against everything research has told us we need to do to be effective negotiators. In their seminal book, Getting to Yes, authors Fisher and Ury reveal four vital steps to any effective negotiation. The first step (which Tero finds most people skip) is to separate the person from the problem. This means we need to work initially on building the relationship and developing rapport. The better the relationship, the greater the chance we will negotiate in a way that accomplishes a win/win for both parties, and leads to further successful negotiations. It is a fact, most people we negotiate with, we engage in negotiations repeatedly. In other words, generally it is not a one time event. Shaking hands, making eye contact, expressing interest in the other party are the behaviors we want to exhibit upon arriving.
Question: I do not negotiate often, and when I do I feel uncomfortable. I either feel I act too accommodating, or as if I am too aggressive, depending on the situation. How can I get to a point where I feel confident?
Tero says: First, rethink your first statement. Most of us think we do not negotiate often, for we think of negotiations as behind closed door, high pressured meetings! However, in reality we negotiate everyday. Did you ever negotiate with your child what they were going to wear to school? With a friend with regard to which restaurant to eat at, or with your boss as to when a project could be completed? Negotiation is a skill we use often, and most times in situations where the emotional investment in the outcome is not too high or stressful! Yet what you describe is very accurate when we find ourselves in situations where we have a big emotional investment. Accommodation is one behavior people often exhibit in high stakes negotiations, aggressiveness to win is another. Neither are as effective as the win/win behavior of assertiveness. Taking the time to learn strategies and skills that will allow you to demonstrate consistent assertive behavior will enable you to go into a negotiation feeling confident, and that you can achieve a win/win for both parties - every time.
Feature Article - Negotiation Challenges
A number of things can occur in a negotiation that can be especially challenging. Anticipating challenges and developing strategies to deal with them can be helpful when they happen.
Below are some common negotiation challenges and strategies for handling them. By being able to recognize them, you will be in a better position to handle them effectively. By being conscious of them, you will be less likely to inadvertently use one yourself.
Time Pressure
The other party, early in the negotiation, says "let's skip the haggling, just give me your best price". Whether you are negotiating a price for a product, the start date for a project, or how many resources you can temporarily loan to another department, beware if the other party puts you under unexpected time pressure and attempts to push you straight to your fallback position.
Professional Development Activity - Negotiation Assessment
To measure the negotiation behaviors you most frequently rely on, download and complete the following inventory
Resources
Trends Report
Wonder what the five top employee development trends affecting your business in 2008 are? Tero's research reveals five critical trends, the business or economic factors driving the trend and implications to business.
What's New at Tero
Tero invited to Blog for the Des Moines Register
Rowena Crosbie, President, Tero International, Inc. was invited to join a diverse and impressive group of professionals in providing timely articles of interest for publication on the Des Moines Register's Blog site. Click below for Ro's recent article.
The Value of People
Welcome to Tero
Tero is pleased to welcome two new members to the Tero Team.
 April Reed is a new intern at Tero International. She is currently a junior at Graceland University, majoring in Business Administration with an emphasis in management and a minor in Human Resources. After putting in a lot of hard work and studying she will be graduating after only three and a half years. Some of her interests include camping, boating, and most importantly, spending time with family and friends. As an intern at Tero she hopes to gain a great amount of knowledge and experience about the work world in general, but also hands-on experience in the field of Human Resources. She feels that Tero is a great place to apply her knowledge and skills and receive even more.  Julie Van Cleave is a non-traditional student attending Des Moines Area Community College, majoring in management and marketing. She was employed at Maytag Corporation for 17 years, the majority of which was in the Human Resources Department. She's very interested in project management and training and development. Her passion is research and learning. When seeking out an organization to intern with, Tero International came first to her mind. She is an IMPACT: How To Speak Your Way To Success graduate from her years at Maytag and has always admired Rowena for her accomplishments. She's very excited to be a part of Tero this summer and have the opportunity to learn from the experts! A 5-hour Business Etiquette and Dining Tutorial workshop. September 18, 2008 (Des Moines), December 4, 2008 (Des Moines) Image and Influence: Polishing Your Professional Look
IMPACT - How To Speak Your Way To Success
Time Management Through Goal Setting
Beyond Compromise: A Better Way To Negotiate
Selecting Top Performers: Recruiting and Interviewing
Online Resources
Are you a graduate of a Tero workshop? Your feedback is important to us.
Click here to fill out an evaluation of how your Tero acquired knowledge has impacted your everyday work and life. This opportunity is available in each eZine or you can visit the Tero website at www.tero.com to give us your feedback.
Inspiration - Things to Think About
"The genius of investing is recognizing the direction of a trend - not catching highs and lows"
Following the path of a trend is like flying a kite. Depending on the winds direction and our own footsteps and speed, we hold on when the kite soars and when it dips down we do everything humanly possible to keep it from touching the ground.
In life, recognizing the direction of a trend serves us better than simply following one. We can liken this recognition to knowing the wind speed and direction before stringing our kite. Alert enough to recognize what direction a trend might take, we can choose to follow and respect the ones that will help, inform and generally add value to ourselves and our organization, The ones that will truly "fly" over time.
We then become investors, wise enough not to be bothered by expected highs and lows, but surely and steadily fostering growth and change. That IS genius!
The Tero International Monthly eZine is written for the graduates and friends of Tero training programs. It is published by Tero International, Inc., 1840 NW 118th Street, Suite 107, Des Moines, Iowa 50325. Copyright 2008, Tero International, Inc. All rights reserved.
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