How to Play Win-Win at Work, learning the Negotiation skills

Communication and Negotiation skills are very important in your daily interactions at the workplace. Ultimately, your work depends on your relationships with your work colleagues and supervisors, and learning how to successfully negotiate this can help you navigate the office space better.

But what are the core tenets of negotiating? How can one play win-win at work?

As a basis for discussion, let’s take the example of you discussing a promotion with your boss.

The first thing you have established with the agenda is the goal: a promotion is what you want. Additionally, it is important to think about the expectations your boss may have – will he be considering otherwise? Will he be on board? Setting a goal is important to anchor the discussion around.

Secondly, think about what you are willing to compromise on and what you are not. You want a promotion, but are you willing to take on the added responsibility and invest the extra time? Any negotiation comes down to managing your expectations versus the other person’s, and the success depends on the final balance.

Any negotiation for a promotion will come down to managing your expectations versus the other person’s Click To Tweet

Thirdly, you should think about the alternatives very seriously. What happens if your boss disagrees with your reasons to ask for a raise or a better job title? How important is this to you? The answers help you better prepare your case and also look into the opportunities you can explore if this does not work out. This is not to discourage you from pursuing it, but so that you can maintain a realistic approach.

A major influencing factor in any negotiation is understanding the relationship you share with the other person, and using that as a lens to guide your discussion. If you share a healthy, good professional relationship with your boss, it will be easier for you to discuss things openly. If you do not, you will have to choose your words more carefully. Think about what kinds of precedents are in place and how previous similar situations may have gone down.

Being assertive or forceful is not appreciated regardless of how right you believe you are. Click To Tweet

With all of these things in mind, you can have a more open, professional and healthy discussion with not just your boss, but anyone else in any other situation. Remember that being assertive or forceful is not appreciated regardless of how right you believe you are. At the end of the day, you need to understand people on their terms and use the information you know to strike a better balance.