10 Essential Negotiating Skills for HR Professionals

Human resource managers spend enormous amounts of time helping both employees and upper management cope with everyday issues involving two or more stakeholder groups often with conflicting interests. What you are doing day in and day out, whether you realize it or not, is negotiating. Any time you are involved in helping two or more parties come to an agreement, you are, in effect, handling a negotiation.HR professionals who hone their negotiating skills are in a tremendous position to influence company morale, improve productivity, boost the bottom line, and foster a company culture that is harmonious and competitive. n other words, being a better negotiator makes you better at managing your workforce, with all of its comple!ities. n human resources, you can master the same type of negotiating techni"ues that are used by high#powered companies to secure multimillion# dollar contracts. At the core of every negotiation are two sets of interests that need to get resolved so that the parties can move forward in a constructive way. HR professionals spend many hours of every day knocking out agreements, large and small, so that the company organism can continue to function smoothly. $ompetent negotiating is essential to HR.What type of everyday issues confronting HR managers could be improved with more effective negotiation skills% Here&s a short list' ( Working out labor disputes with unions and other labor groups ( Hammering out benefits packages ( )egotiating salaries and raises ( *ealing with employee conflicts ( Hiring top#notch people ( +otivating sales staff ( +anaging change initiatives ( *ealing with disgruntled, litigious employees ( +aking downsizing and outsourcing decisions ( *eveloping leadership skills among your talent pool ( ,elling new strategic initiatives to department heads ( +anaging post#merger cultural acclimation ( -ringing in new management ( Working out budgetary allocations And there are many more. ,o ask yourself' *id you ever receive formal negotiating training% Are there areas of your work that consistently disappoint% t may be that you simply need to learn more effective ways to come to decisions with people and to problem solve. +any HR professionals are hired for their .people skills,/ and you may feel that yours are ade"uate. -ut what does this really mean% 0ven if you have an e!cellent rapport with others, are you using your listening, communicating, and reasoning gifts to best advantage in your 1ob% *o you always feel as though you&ve come to an agreement that resonates with all parties involved% 2or twenty#plus years, have been training people in a contrarian, highly effective negotiating approach called ,ystematic *ecision#based )egotiating, a methodology designed to result in good decisions every time. At the heart of this approach is the following truth' 0motions can overwhelm you in any negotiation. n my system, you dispense with feel#good emotions and follow instead a highly structured, systematic method based on sound decisions, each decision building on the one before it. 3his way of negotiating may seem counterintuitive to HR professionals at first, and demands discipline and self#awareness every

step of the way to learn and master. -ut once you learn it, you will en1oy dramatic new results in every type of workplace negotiation. 4ike most HR professionals, you are probably more adept at and used to compromise#based negotiation 5also known as collective bargaining or win#win negotiation6. Here&s the bald truth' win#win is emotion#based, rather than decision#based. 0motion#based negotiation leads to bad decisions. 3he win#win books would never admit this, of course, but they can&t get around the fact that the invitation to compromise that lurks 1ust beneath the surface of the win#win paradigm is really 1ust an invitation to let emotionsall kinds of emotionstake over' the hope that you&re going to be the hero7 the fear that you&re going to ruin your company7 the desire to make everyone happy7 the temptation to make a deal, any deal, and worry about the conse"uences later. s that .3aps/ hear playing in the background for our beloved apple#pie, feel#good, win#win way that embraces the all#American concept of compromise% At this point, everyone in business should know that 2ortune 899 negotiators use strategies e!pressly designed to take advantage of win#win negotiators. n the upper echelons of the negotiating world, win#win is a 1oke. :et a surprising number of business people don&t know thisuntil it&s too late. 3his is why win#win leads to bad decisions and bad deals, time after time after time. 3his is why win#win is, all too often, win#lose. What is the significance, then, for HR managers% t means that going into negotiations with the idea that you will try to arrive at a compromise is going to make you an ineffective decision maker and problem solver. f you can master good decision#making skills that are not based on emotions of any kind, you have the best chance of maintaining control of the situation and achieving the most beneficial possible outcomefor everyone. 3hat&s because agreements based on sound decisions will always be superior to those based on emotions. We often have no control over our emotions, but we can always control our actionsour decisions. ;ood, disciplined negotiation is all about making good, disciplined decisions. n a simplified form, here are ten basic rules of thumb from ,ystematic *ecision#based )egotiation that can help in any type of HR negotiations. 1. 3ake a dispassionate, emotionally neutral look at the issue. )ever start with an assumption. When you start with any kind of assumption, such as .that employee is asking for more than we&ll give her, and she knows it,/ then every decision that follows in the dialogue will be based on your initial assumption. :ou cannot know what is on the other person&s mind until she tells you. Assumptions, biases, and fears are all emotion#based states, and decisions based on emotions are not sound decisions. -egin, instead, by clearing your mind of any preconceptionsand asking team members on your side of the table to do the same. 3hroughout the negotiation, try to stay focused on what is being said, not what you think. 2. 2ind out the real, not the assumed, needs of every stakeholder group. -efore you begin labor union talks, financial meetings, negotiations with 3 firms, or discussions with key department heads, you should have a deep understanding of each stakeholder&s interests and current situation. Again, never base decisions on assumptions. *o your homework and come prepared. $onduct intensive fact#finding sessions with each group to find out where they currently stand on a variety of issues. $oming to a negotiation well informed trumps your .people skills/ any day.

3. *eal with the real power holders. 4et&s say your tech people are having trouble communicating and cooperating with your financial people. 3hink carefully about who the true decision makers in this scenario are. Whom you negotiate with will depend on the problem, but make certain that you are negotiating with the real power brokers and not with blockerspeople who try to keep you from the real decision makers. 3hese people may even consider .blocking/ part of their 1ob description. *o show blockers respect, however, as you find a way to get around them. t is a waste of everyone&s time to negotiate with blockers. 4. dentify all problems you see holding back a successful arrangement. -efore you go into a negotiation, you should have a clear idea of what might stop or keep you from a successful solution. ,tate those problems clearly at the outset of your talks and ask the stakeholder how these problems might be solved. ;et stakeholders talking, while you listen. 3heir answers to these "uestions will provide critical information that will be of strategic importance to you as you proceed. 5. <eep your mouth shut. 0very step of the way, it&s critical to be fully present in the moment, almost a zenlike state. Remain open to innuendos, the other party&s emotions, and listen carefully to everything that is said. 0ach time you ask a "uestion, it should be built on facts that have been disclosed, never on opinions, needs, or hunches. <eep "uiet as much as possible and take thorough notes. :ou will be amazed at how much better you listen when you record rather than speak. 6. $larify all "uestions with interrogative#led "uestions. When an upper#level e!ecutive asks you which departments you believe might prove resistant to his new initiative, respond with your own "uestion, and be sure to compliment him in the process. Ask interrogative#led "uestionswho, what, when, where, why, and howto get him talking and revealing more facts to you. 2or e!ample, you might say, .3hat&s a great "uestion, -ill. What types of obstacles do you feel are most problematic to our people as they decide whether to come on# board with your proposal%/ n one fell swoop, you&ve put the e!ecutive at ease, you&re directed the dialogue, and you&ve gotten him to fill in much needed details that will help you e!plore the issues more thoroughly. 7. Have a valid +=>. )ever enter into a negotiation with any of your stakeholder groups without a valid mission and purpose, an +=> that is set in the stakeholder&s world, one that&s based on the stakeholder&s needs, re"uirements, hopes, fears, and plans. -ecause every decision you make along the way has to fulfill this +=>, it will handle any contingency that comes up during the negotiation, and will not fail to give you a good outcome. 2or e!ample, your +=> might be' to create a prosperous and secure future for the stakeholder by keeping the company competitive. 8. )ever begin negotiations by offering a compromise. Also, never ask your respected colleague to say yes. f you start with a .yes/ agreement, there&s nowhere to go from there. nstead, start by inviting them to say no. 3ell them you are comfortable with a no answer and you want them to be comfortable to say no. 3ell them that you will take no as an honest decision that can be discussed and perhaps reversed during the course of your talks. f your opponent asks you to tell him or her what you want, resist the urge to answer. :ou need to get the other party talking and revealing and spilling the beans. 9. *o not try to be friends. 3he stakeholders involved in daily HR negotiations are not your friends7 they are respected colleagues. 3rying to be friends is one of the ways we let

neediness slip into the process. )eediness is an emotion7 keep emotions out of the e"uation. 3he purpose of this negotiation is to reach a respectful and fair solution that accomplishes your mission and purpose, which will be in your respected opponents& interest as well. 10. )ever think about closing. Whether it&s budget reallocations for the ne!t fiscal year or a new labor contract, do not think about, hope for, or plan for the outcome of the deal. 2ocus instead on what you can control' your behavior and activity during the negotiation. 3he second you focus on closing, the deal is dead because you&ve let your emotions into the negotiation.