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In ‘The Art of War’, Sun Tzu says, “Not knowing the other and not knowing oneself, in every battle, certain defeat”. (Chapter 3) As you can see, “knowing yourself” is an important key to success in any competitive situation. In a recent article, Keld Jensen shows you how to do this in five simple steps. In so doing, he shows us why knowing the answer to this will give you an edge during negotiations.
Step 1: “Dare to stare your own faults and skills right in the eyes.”
Carefully appraise your strengths and weakness. No, don’t look at the list that you use for job interviews – be completely and fully honest with yourself. For example, I am excellent at problem solving and motivating others. But I’m terrible at accepting criticism from others. Because I know this weakness, I carefully monitor my reactions whenever I am receiving feedback. According to Jensen, if after careful analysis, you are able to “adjust your behaviour to the situation and the opponent, you will experience progress.”
Step 2: “Dare to question what you do.”
Essentially, you need to be willing to challenge your own beliefs and actions. Be open to others and be willing to actively listen to what they say. Per Jensen, “[d]iscussions are there so that we can get to know one another better, gain respect for one another and get new information on the table.” This new information is also key to helping us figure out how to potentially create 'added value' during negotiations. And, in so doing, induce the other party to reach an agreement with us.
Step 3: “Identify a negotiation strategy i.e. how you want to negotiate?”
According to Jensen, most of us never take the time to do this. Instead, we are simply reactive – i.e. we change our actions according to the moment without giving it any forethought. As such, we “leave the initiative to the other party and will be forced to negotiate on his terms and conditions.”
To correct this approach, you need to decide on your strategy and tactics before you enter any negotiation. Jensen defines strategy as the, “philosophy according to which you work, and it impacts on your behaviour during negotiation.” Tactics, on the other hand are, “those moves, ploys, and stratagems you make use of in the negotiation.”
Step 4: Figure out your negotiation method:
- Do you want to build trust and develop a relationship with your counterparty? Then maybe you want to use the “cooperation” style which helps you create added value for the other party.
- Do you want to get as much as you can get from the negotiation – even at the expense of the other party? Then a “zero-sum” negotiation style might be what you need.
Of course, nothing is ever this black or white. You can use a combination of negotiation techniques from both the “cooperation” and “zero sum” approaches depending on your overall negotiation strategy.
Step 5: Factors to consider when choosing your negotiation strategy and method.
Per Jensen, you should consider the following before deciding on any particular negotiation approach:
• Who is on my team?
• Who is my opponent?
• Are we using visual aids?
• Do we need to reach an agreement?
• What is our preferred negotiation style?
• How many variables do we negotiate on?
• Should we open or wait for the counterpart to open?
• Are we willing to share cost and gains?
• Have we prepared a negotiation planner?
• Who makes decisions on our team?
• Are we going to be honest?
• When are we using breaks?
• Are we negotiating in our office, at the opponents office or somewhere else
After completing these five steps, you would have gained an advantage over the vast majority of your counter-parties in any negotiation.
