A NEW WAY TO LOOK AT NEGOTIATION
Contrary to common assumptions, negotiation is so much more than conflict resolution; and to get the most from your negotiations you have to both understand human nature and then harness it to deliver the results you are seeking from your negotiations.
Most people understand negotiation to be something international diplomats, executives, sales managers or professional buyers do; a chess match between rivals that one will win, and one will lose. They might think of it as an isolated step in the process of sales or buying, and when it does happen, it’s seen as an event – infrequent at best – rather than an ongoing process.
The truth is very different. The Latin root of the word negotiation, negotiatus, literally means “to carry on business.” From that origin, you can see that negotiation encompasses every part of your business interactions, including management, sales, legal, marketing, purchasing, and even human resources.
Missing Out On The Bigger Picture
As the conventional understanding of negotiation is becoming narrower and more marginalised, we see organisations of all sizes relegating negotiation to an activity confined to the sales team. The notion that any act of doing business, or indeed anything that is not leisure, is a form of negotiation has been clouded over by our need to
