Welcome back to the final City Hall training session. The general subject of this class is Business English. Click the link to read the syllabus.
Negotiation
We will conduct a number of role play games that require some negotiation skills. I’m certain that all of you have developed very good negotiation skills already in your professional career. Lets see of you can use those skills – in English – and learn one or two more strategies.
When negotiating, it might be useful to consider these four strategies:
Yield
A yield strategy means do not negotiate. A person who yields accepts the first offer or assumes the price is fixed. Why yield? Don’t like conflict. Fear of breaking social rules. People who yield often assume other people are more powerful and give up.
Compromise
Seek a fair balance. Both parties appear to get a fair deal. A common tactic is to ‘split the difference‘, which is not necessarily the best way when the other person is using tactics such as high balling.
Compete
A classic and aggressive approach. Sees negotiation as a zero-sum game. The goal is to get as much as possible at whatever cost.
People who take this approach see the world as a dog-eat-dog place where you deserve what you can get and also deserve to lose what you lose.
Problem-solve
The problem-solving approach respects the other party. A person using this approach does not see the other person as competitor, but as a person who has legitimate needs. The goal is to work together to find a reasonable solution.