Why Negotiation Skills for Managers is Important?

Why Negotiation Skills for Managers is Important?

The techniques surrounding management functions can never be considered as complete with the managers across various levels of a corporate are able to negotiate effectively. It is important to note here that for any organization to function properly and effectively, the skills of the employees play an important role.

Whether it is negotiation skills or communication skills, companies and organizations need to be able to hone the skills of managers to ensure the business is running smoothly and in a profitable way. This is why negotiation skills for managers are considered important.

The good news for aspiring managers is that negotiation skills are easy to grasp, provided they work towards it in a diligent way. In fact, these skills only require a few careful moves and spending some time with the other party to be able to close an important deal. And in return for all this, employee productivity is guaranteed.

Different Stages of Negotiation

To have effective negotiation skills, managers working across different verticals of a company need to find their expertise in the following four stages.

Stage 1 – Preparation

As a part of the preparation, you need to be clear with points about what you want to convey to the opposite party. To negotiate effectively, managers need to be able to express their thoughts and needs clearly. This is why carrying out some research work before you start negotiating helps a lot. This way you will be able to find out the reputation of the opposite party and the tactics or ways employed by them to convince other people in the past.

Stage 2 – Information exchange

The information you are willing to pass to the opposite party needs to be researched well and have to be effectively communicated. If there are questions to be asked, then go ahead with the same.

Stage 3 – Bargaining

This stage can be termed as the most important of them all as most of the work gets done here. The actual terms and conditions come into effect during this stage of negotiation. The importance of negotiation skills for all managers is felt when they learn to compromise and use it to negotiate better with the party. Though this step is never easy, it isn’t impossible either.

Stage 4 – Closing and Commitment

The last few adjustments that need to be made to the negotiation are usually carried out during this stage, before closing the deal and placing trust on one another for fulfilling their roles.

These four stages have known to yield wonderful results when studied carefully and executed to perfection. A number of organizations use these strategies to help their managers negotiate in an effective manner.

Looking from the long-term point of view, you will find that you have learned the art of negotiation and that you are able to close any deal for your organization without making much effort at all or seeking anybody’s help.

Negotiation Skills Examples for Managers

Here are two examples of negotiation different vertical managers can use to improve their skills.

1. A quality manager negotiating with a vendor to provide raw materials of sufficient quality within a timeframe.
2. A product manager negotiating with a designer for a better design of the product.