Q&A: Career Options from Negotiation Training

A Negotiation Expert's Answer:

Most of us negotiate far more often than we know. Whether we like it or not, we are negotiating daily with our colleagues, suppliers, customers, and even with friends and family.

Did you know that research conducted by Harvard University concluded that negotiation outcomes can be improved by a factor of at least 5 following training? (Thats 5 times better than you are performing presently!) So when individuals or organisations participate in formal negotiation skills training they can expect a significant improvement in the outcomes of all their negotiations.

So what are your career options as a skilled negotiator?

The short answer to your question is "significantly broader and better". Lets take a moment to explore further how developing your negotiation skills will reward you in your career many times over.

Consider for a moment the old executive saying, "My people give me 1 of 2 things: Results, or Reasons" (yes, Reasons means Excuses). The more effective you are able to persuade and construct mutually gainful outcomes with your peers, suppliers, clients and other stakeholders, the more senior management will notice and remember you as a "Results" man. "Results" people are ear-marked for promotion, rewarded with higher bonuses and raises through achieving and exceeding their targets, they get consulted on difficult situations, get more responsibility, and are trusted to get on with the job and manage key relationships effectively.

MBA courses have recognised the indespensible need for effective negotiation skills in todays successful senior manager and executive. As a result, recent years have witnessed the trend of an ever increasing amount of MBA programs adding negotiation modules to their syllabuses.

The more senior you become, the more your career achievements will be determined by your negotiation skills. Perhaps this is the reason why executives regularly send their fastest climbing senior management staff on our courses - a reward and preening for bigger and greater things to come.

Negotiation skills are critically important to those who aspire to be engaged in deals that involve great sums of money, where the risks are high, where multiple periods are involved, multiple parties interests need to be satisfied, and multiple issues have to be settled.

Developing your negotiation skills is one of the key components that will lead to you developing the kind of career that you aspire to and deserve. To discuss how best to boost your career progression, call us for a confidential chat.