How ‘Influential’ Are You Really?

Monday 6 September, 2004

by Michael Hudson and Leo Hawkins

Nowadays individuals and their organisations depend much less on positional power and authority, and much more on the influencing skills of their people. Being recognised and rewarded as an effective manager increasingly demands the competencies of a skilful negotiator.

Research suggests that those meriting the description of ‘manager’ or ‘professional’ spend at least half their time negotiating. In fact, the more senior you are, the higher the proportion of your time is spent negotiating with and influencing others.

If you're responsible for influencing others then you need to continually be honing your negotiating skills

In an increasingly ethical corporate world, it is also vital that board members and executives are equipped with the negotiating skills necessary to protect and advance their companies and the interests of shareholders. Good corporate governance requires this.

ENS International, with over 25 years experience as a specialist consulting and training firm in negotiation and influencing, suggests five key steps in the negotiation process. Directors and managers should be skilled in each of these: understanding needs, identifying and managing behaviours, controlling the environment, assessing and utilising power, and managing the sequence of the whole negotiation and influencing process.

1. Understanding needs
   
   So how do effective negotiators acquire and maintain their competitive edge in influencing better outcomes?
   
   When preparing for or conducting a negotiation you need to identify what’s happening in the mind of the other side. It helps if you first look at their operational or group needs, which are generally stated by the parties. Then more importantly look at the personal needs of the negotiators, which are mostly unstated and even hidden.
   
   Diagnosing the personal needs or 'hidden agendas' of the counter-party is critical for deciding strategically how you will manage the negotiation process. After all, the other party makes decisions for their reasons, not yours!
   
   The same analysis needs to be undertaken for all third parties involved or interested in a negotiation. For example, in labour relations while the main negotiation may be between a particular union and a particular company, there are many other ‘negotiations’ going on between unions, as well as with employer associations and other companies who may be affected.
   
   Central to the concept of establishing needs is to recognise that they are rarely a fixed quantum. For each need you can identify three points on a negotiation range: their 'aspiration' point, which is what they would dearly like to achieve; their point of 'resistance', which is the worst deal they would accept; and their ‘realistic’ or satisfactory point lying somewhere in between.
   
   Discovery of the ranges for both parties is the key to uncovering the potential common ground, and where possible trade offs and concessions lie.
   
   

   ENS Process Framework

   
   
   
2. Identifying and managing behaviours
   
   Our underlying attitudes, which express our personal negotiating philosophy, commonly translate into our negotiation style (manner or behaviour). While negotiation behaviours may take many forms, for ease of managing we prefer to categorise them along a spectrum.
   
   For example, at one end a particular negotiator’s style may be characterised as being very hostile, aggressive, dominating or overbearing. At the opposite end are negotiators who sometimes seem so overly friendly, compliant and accommodating that they appear to be willing to act against their own best interests. Towards the middle there are negotiators who may be regarded as assertive but not aggressive, or supportive but who do not give in.
   
   No negotiation style is necessarily the correct one. Rather, as part of overall strategy, you need to consciously and purposefully select the most appropriate negotiating style to meet the specific negotiation circumstances.
   
   Five broad approach options can be identified, and any one may be appropriate depending on the circumstances and the outcome you want. It may be right to:
   
   
   • Compete
     
     Take a win/lose approach when you want to stand up for something even if it leads to confrontation
     
   • Accommodate
     
     A lose/win approach when you decide to yield to the other side, perhaps because you are planning to ‘lose the battle to win the war’
     
   • Avoid
     
     A lose/lose approach when you judge the matter is trivial, or you feel that discussions are better postponed to another time
     
   • Compromise
     
     A restricted win/win approach commonly (and sadly) chosen when you believe it is expedient to accept a partially acceptable solution
     
   • Cooperate
     
     A win/win approach when you want to take time to search through participative problem solving for an answer that fully meets both sets of needs.
   
   Within any of these options there will be an appropriate style preference for the circumstances. Then the challenge is how best can you be intentionally flexible in switching styles during the negotiation. A test of effectiveness in this is to check with team members in the post-negotiation audit.
   
3. Controlling the environment
   
   The overall psychological climate within which a negotiation is conducted can create a positive or negative ‘atmosphere’ that will have a marked influence on its ultimate outcome.
   
   In developing the appropriate negotiation ‘atmospherics’ we recommend the following are usefully considered: the degree of formality or informality of proceedings; the amount of relaxation or tension required; the development of an atmosphere of trust or suspicion; and the generation of feelings of collaboration or confrontation.
   
   As negotiation consultants, we help clients plan and manage the three major elements which interact to produce the overall environment. These are the physical climate (location and setting); the temporal climate (timing – there is a 'right' time to commence negotiation, to introduce issues, to use tactics, to make concessions and for settlement), and the emotional climate (mood) which is impacted on by the attitude and behaviour each negotiator brings to the negotiation.
   
   Consider how well you rate yourself and those around you on controlling the elements of time, place and mood to create the most appropriate overall negotiation climate.
   
4. Assessing and utilising power
   
   The outcome of any negotiation depends not only on the relative strengths or weaknesses of either party, but also on their perceived power. This perception of power is significantly affected by the choice of negotiation tactics.
   
   Negotiation tactics should not be confused with strategy. Rather, tactics are the process manoeuvres of your strategy – the fine tuning mechanisms that assist in the implementation of strategy. They help provide the leverage necessary to accomplish your negotiation objectives.
   
   We have identified 56 general tactics that are commonly used in a negotiation. Many managers only use less than ten over and over again. Broaden your competence by adding a tactic a day in your day-to-day activities.
   
   Negotiation tactics can be identified as preparatory tactics, opening tactics and general ongoing tactics (including tactical concession-making and deadlock breaking) and final offers and closing tactics.
   
5. Managing the sequence
   
   Negotiation sessions can generally be seen to follow an established sequence. Certain clear patterns emerge, and four distinct phases can often be discerned. In order to achieve the most satisfactory resolution, it is important that each phase is allowed to develop and be fully played out.
   
   Skilled negotiators are aware of these phases and prepare for them as part of overall strategy. Identifying phases is particularly important when making decisions regarding the pacing of the negotiation, timing the introduction of tactics, making concessions and introducing final settlement offers.
   
   In order to achieve the most satisfactory resolution, it is critical that negotiators manage the process allowing each phase to develop and be fully played out
   The four phases are an introductory phase, where the parties seek to set the scene and develop their relationship; a differentiation or going apart phase, where the limits of the areas of conflict are discovered and explored; an integration or coming together phase, where the parties review options and search for solutions that might be useful in determining agreement; and a settlement phase, where parties make final offers and lock-in commitment to the agreement.
   
   We strongly recommend that you consciously plan your next negotiation meeting to ensure that all the phases are used to advantage. Remember that all management meetings are forums for negotiation and influencing outcomes.

Conclusion

Most organisations in the world share the characteristic that their directions are agreed and implemented through negotiation. Thus negotiation, large and small, has become the most common means of getting things achieved.

Directors and managers must recognise negotiation as an action- oriented 'doing' process. These skills have to be and can be learned. You need to be at the cutting edge. Skilfully managing the negotiation process is vital to achieving better business outcomes.

Source:ceoonline.com