Speak Up in Negotiations

Fear of speaking up in negotiations may hold you back from a successful experience. Here are some tips that will give you more confidence in speaking.
Negotiating is the process of attempting to agree on a solution. Compromising, or settling on a mutually agreeable solution, is the result of successful negotiations. Compromise is all about being flexible. It means being able to generate alternate solutions when you’ve “hit the wall.” Whether it involves a person you can’t get along with, an idea you know will work but that others are reluctant to agree to, a change in office systems, or a turf war that needs ending, learning to negotiate and compromise is essential to your success.

1. Have a positive attitude.
Your attitude is essential to the outcome. You have a much better chance of coming to an outcome involving mutual gains if you approach the negotiation as an opportunity to learn and achieve a win-win outcome.

2. Meet on mutual ground.
Find a mutually agreeable and convenient physical space to meet that is comfortable for all involved. Agree on when you will meet and how much time is available to devote to the process. Whenever possible, deal with negotiations face-to-face. Be careful about using the phone and e-mail. A lack of facial expressions, vocal intonation, and other cues can result in a negotiation breakdown.

3. Clearly define and agree on the issue.
Agree on the statement of the issue using simple and factual terms. If the situation is multifaceted, search for ways to slice the large issue into smaller pieces and deal with one issue at a time.

4. Do your homework.
Take time to plan. You must not only know what is at stake for yourself, but you need to know the other side’s concerns and motivation. Take into consideration any history or past situations that might affect the negotiations. Know the must-haves (nonnegotiable items) and nice-to-haves (negotiable items). Determine the best resolution, a fair and reasonable deal, and a minimally acceptable deal.

5. Take an honest inventory of yourself.
Determine the level of trust you have in the other person and the process. Be conscious of aspects of your personality that can help or hinder the process.

6. Look for shared interests.
Get on the same side by finding and establishing similarities. Since conflict tends to magnify perceived differences and minimize similarities, look for common goals, objectives, or even gripes that can illustrate that you are in this together. Focus on the future, talk about what is to be done, and tackle the problem jointly.

7. Deal with facts, not emotions.
Address problems, not personalities. Avoid any tendency to attack the other person or to pass judgment on his or her ideas and opinions. Avoid focusing on the past or blaming the other person. Maintain a rational, goal-oriented frame of mind. This will depersonalize the conflict, separate the issues from the people involved, and avoid defensiveness.

8. Be honest.
Don’t play games. Be honest and clear about what is important to you. It is equally important to be clear and to communicate why your goals, issues, and objectives are important to you.

9. Present alternatives and provide evidence.
Create options and alternatives that demonstrate your willingness to compromise. Consider conceding in areas that might have high value to the other person but are not that important to you. Frame options in terms of the other person’s interests and provide evidence for your point of view.

10. Be an expert communicator.
Nothing shows determination to find a mutually satisfactory resolution to conflict more than applying excellent communication skills. Ask questions, listen, rephrase what you heard to check for understanding, and take a genuine interest in the other side’s concerns. Reduce tension through humor, let the other “vent,” and acknowledge the other’s views. Focus less on your position and more on ways in which you can move toward a resolution or compromise.

11. End on a good note.
Develop a win-win proposal and check to make sure that everyone involved leaves the situation feeling they have “won.” Shake on it and agree on the action steps, who is responsible for each step, how success will be measured, and how and when the decision will be evaluated. Be open to reaching an impasse for non-critical issues; you can agree to disagree on minor issues.

12. Enjoy the process.
Look at the benefits of learning other points of view. People report that after overcoming conflict and reaching an agreement, the relationship grew even stronger. Reflect and learn from each negotiation. Determine the criteria to evaluate the process and the solution.

5 Tips For Leading Change Without Authority | Dale Carnegie Blog - Corporate Training, Leadership Training, and Sales Training from Dale Carnegie Training®

5 Tips For Leading Change Without Authority | Dale Carnegie Blog - Corporate Training, Leadership Training, and Sales Training from Dale Carnegie Training®

Warren Buffett Conquered Fear

From Expert Nurse to Fearless Manager

Penny had every degree a professional nurse could have. When the pressure was on in the emergency room, she was the most poised player in the game. As good as she was the hospital administration passed over her year after year when management positions came open. She told me that in order to break into management a nurse must be able to make training presentations to other nurses. The fear of public speaking held her back.
Penny came to us to sign up for a 12 week Dale Carnegie Course because she saw the increased self-confidence gained by a friend of hers after experiencing the course. She wanted the same thing. Her hand trembled as she signed her registration form in anticipation of being on her feet in front of a group of strangers.
I watched Penny during the first session of the course, her body language communicated paralyzing fear as she watch classmates come to the front of the room in groups of five to be interviewed by the instructor. Her fear was so intense that I resolved to refund her tuition because it was clearly too much for her to endure. I was wrong. Penny did go to the front of the room when her turn came and she got through it. What happened next blew me away. Penny came up to me after class with tears in her eyes thanking me for not telling her that she would have to be in front of the room. “If you had told me that I would have to do what I’ve just done I would have not come to class!” The tears were tears of joy at having broken through a fear that had held her captive for many years!
By the end of the course Penny had even more breakthroughs. She worked hard, as all participants do, to apply leadership and human relations principles on the job and then reporting in class about the business and professional results of Winning Friends and Influencing People. Penny came alive. So much so that her classmates awarded her the highly regarded Highest Award for Achievement at the end of the course. Penny conquered the fear that held her back and gained the management position that eluded her for so many years. Penny proved what Ralph Waldo Emerson said is true, “Do the thing we fear, and death of fear is certain.”
Who do you know that needs a breakthrough? www.dalecarnegi.com

By Doug Harbaugh

Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view | Dale Carnegie Blog - Corporate Training, Leadership Training, and Sales Training from Dale Carnegie Training®

Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view Dale Carnegie Blog - Corporate Training, Leadership Training, and Sales Training from Dale Carnegie Training®

5 Minute Presentation

How best to approach making a five minute presentation, is first you must prepare. Every audience is different and needs a varied approach. To anticipate what your audience needs, write down what your audience might already know, what you want them to know, and what you would like them to get out of your presentation. For example, say your presentation is about your business; you’ll want to highlight what it is your business is offering and what sets it apart from other businesses, like competitive pricing, flexibility or the quality of your work. In five minutes, you won’t have time to use a PowerPoint presentation, but you will be able to bring in examples of your work or materials such as brochures and business cards. Finally, jot down your main points on color coded index cards. These will help you keep on track and stay concise. Write big enough so you can easily see what you wrote.

Next, rehearse. Don’t be afraid to rehearse in front of a mirror or a trusted friend. Time yourself and become familiar with how much information you’ll be able to communicate within the five minutes. While rehearsing, make sure to use any props or examples that demonstrate your presentation.

Your appearance is just as important as your presentation, remember, you’re also presenting yourself not just your subject. Shoes need to be comfortable, and will play a part in how you walk and stand. Pick shoes that will give you confidence and stability. Same goes for clothes. You can never go wrong with a suit — unless you’re presenting on a beach.

When it’s time to make your presentation, after you have rehearsed and make sure your presentation is within the five minutes, take a deep breath to steady your nerves, stand tall and balanced, keep your head up, say your name and then announce your presentation title clearly and with confidence. Hold your cards in one hand, do not place the cards on the dais or table, you’ll only end up talking to the dais or table instead of your audience. Embrace, with your eyes, the audience; turn your head and body to all sides of the group. Spot the ‘nodders’ in the group but don’t exclusively talk to them, talk to every single person in the audience. Speak clearly, slowly, and pause slightly in between your two to three main points. Only refer to your printed promotional material, but do not hand them out during your presentation. Decide if you’ll distribute the material before your presentation or afterwards. Finally, finish with a positive note, you might even consider using a tag-line to end the presentation.

Before making your presentation, you might consider signing up for presentation training, there are many organizations located in most communities that are geared to help with public speaking. Visit www.blog.dalecarnegie.com

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Warren Buffett on Dale Carnegie | Dale Carnegie Blog - Corporate Training, Leadership Training, and Sales Training from Dale Carnegie Training®

Warren Buffett on Dale Carnegie Dale Carnegie Blog - Corporate Training, Leadership Training, and Sales Training from Dale Carnegie Training®

Job Stress and Its Costs

A wise employer will reduce workplace stress and see the business benefit. In his book How to Stop Worry and Start Living Dale Carnegie wrote, “Remind yourself of the exorbitant price you can pay for worry in terms of your health.” (Carnegie, 1944). This advice from 66 years ago remains valuable in present day America as we seek to reduce the high cost of health care. Medical and psychological experts caution us to avoid the negative impacts of worry and stress. A happy and healthy workforce has fewer turnovers, less absenteeism, and is a productive workforce, and while we cannot be totally free of stress on the job there are ways to reduce its negative impact on people. Since 1947 the number of mental health care professionals has more than quintupled in America. In the current workforce, people are three times more likely to suffer from depression than were their grandparents who suffered through the Great Depression. Worker’s compensation claims are three times what they were in 1980 with estimated losses to the U.S. economy of $150,000,000,000 (Theorell, 1909). Theorell contends that it is not enough to address the symptoms of stress related illness with therapies alone. Business and industry must address workplace climate to remove stressors that rob employees of good health and employers of their most precious asset, people. For without people what business can survive? Innovations in the workplace that reduce the risks of illness related to stress also contribute to the profitability of the business when skills development, creativity, and quality are viewed in a holistic manner.

One approach to addressing stress at its source is to promote healthy employee engagement on the job through changing the psychosocial climate. When an employee experiences emotional burnout on the job it becomes viral. In a 2000 study it was observed that teachers who spent time comparing stories about students with difficult behavior problems found themselves using each other’s complaints to justify their own uncaring attitudes (Bakker and Schaufeli, 2000). Coworkers have a tendency to identify socially with each other and take on each other’s complaints. In a 1992 study it was discovered that nurses with high need to identify with others, and perceiving emotional burnout in coworkers were found to be more susceptible to burnout than their less socially inclined colleagues. To improve this situation an employer can improve the psychosocial climate of the workplace through practices that socially engage employees in a constructive manner.

To buffer the effects of a viral case of burnout, create a positive climate in the workplace through teams or workgroups within which there are employees capable of offering support to group members during times of high stress. And allow them to innovate, and engage in discovering creative ways of removing stressors from the work environment (Beehr, 1995). The result of another study recommends that employees be engaged in a team effort so as to improve attitudes, communicate optimism, and promote pro-active behaviors that improve mental health and productivity (Bakker, 2006). When colleagues are engaged in solving problems as a team, the causes of stress may be addressed, not just the symptoms.

Consider also the cost to self-medicating employees, their families, and employers when workplace stress is left uncontrolled. For example, 73.6% of U.S. workforce use alcohol and 30.6% drink enough to get intoxicated. Studies have shown that on high stress days light to moderate alcohol users, (not abusers) will self medicate themselves and are twice as likely to miss work the next day. Add to this the increased risk of alcohol related problems ranging from violence to multiple health issues and one sees the value of improving the psychosocial climate of the office or factory. From a managerial perspective removing the causes of workplace stress becomes a critical issue (Liu, 2009).

Employers have a choice; bear the costs of employee turnover, absenteeism, lost production, and higher health insurance premiums due to increased claims. Or improve the climate of the workplace by engaging employees in the process of making the company stronger and healthier. Give them the tools and opportunity to support each other in teams and workgroups that remove business stressors, innovate, and prevent viral outbreaks of negative attitudes. Expect the bottom line to improve, and more importantly gain the satisfaction of knowing that your workforce is healthier.

References:

Bakker, A.B. and Schaufeli, W.B. (2000), "Burnout contagion processes among teachers", Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Vol. 30 No. 11, pp. 2289-308. Retrieved April 23, 2010, from ProQuest Grand Canyon University Library

Bakker, A.B., Van Emmerik, I.J.H. and Euwema, M.C. (2006), "Crossover of burnout and engagement in work teams", Work and Occupations, Vol. 33 No. 4, pp. 464-89. Retrieved April 25, 2010, from ProQuest Psychology Journals.

Liu, S., Wang, M., Zhan, Y., & Shi, J.. (2009). Daily Work Stress and Alcohol Use:. Personnel Psychology, 62(3), 575-597. Retrieved April 25, 2010, from ProQuest Psychology Journals. (Document ID: 1859360291).
TÖres Theorell - author, Robert Karasek (1990), Healthy Work: Stress, Productivity, and the Reconstruction of Working Life., Basic Books. New York. Retrieved April 23, 2010, from: Questia Media America, Inc. www.questia.com