Tips for negotiation

ET source 14 JAN, 2013, 08.00AM IST, 

Ten tips to negotiate well with your boss and colleagues

Your colleague is slacking off and increasing your burden at work. Are you angry with yourself for avoiding a showdown with her? Or, say, it is appraisal time and your boss will call you soon to negotiate your bonus and increment. Do you have butterflies in your stomach at the prospect of having to explain your performance and sell yourself? You are not alone.

We all abhor confrontations and dislike having to defend ourselves. For most of us, negotiation seems to be a battle where we lack the skills and attitude necessary to win. It appears so much easier to give up and walk away, but it's time to change this view if you want to enhance your career. Firstly, recognise that negotiation is simply the process of reaching an agreement. Treat the potentially unpleasant chat as another way of seeking a resolution. Then follow the steps listed below to hone your skills.

Before negotiation 

1. Kill the deadline 

If you have a deadline and the other person doesn't, you will have little or no negotiation power and will end up giving away too much to reach an agreement. Most accords are reached on or after someone's deadline expires. If you have one, don't make it public, but start discussions early. Then work to dilute or push back your deadline beyond the other person's.

2. Know your BATNA 

The acronym stands for the Best Alternative to Negotiated Agreement (a term coined by Roger Fisher and William L Ury in their seminal book on negotiation, Getting to Yes). It refers to your best fallback option if you fail to reach an agreement. If your lazy co-worker refuses to pull her weight, what would you choose: speaking to the team leader or carrying on quietly?

The best option determines your negotiation power. However, you also need to consider the BATNA of the other person. If you're buying a used car, where your planned budget is Rs 3 lakh and the seller's reserve price is Rs 2.5 lakh, the car will sell between these two BATNAs.

3. Care less to negotiate better

The person who cares less about the result tends to reach a better agreement. This is why you may be the worst person to negotiate on your behalf. If you desperately need something, bring a friend along. Where this is not possible, say, while negotiating your salary in a new job, make sure you are holding on to your previous job so that you are not too bothered about the outcome.

4. Homework cracks exams 

When you are meeting your boss for your appraisal and bonus, it pays to have a detailed written record of your achievements through the year, the challenges you faced, the steps that you took and the positive outcomes that you reached. Your homework in any discussion will help you reach a fair deal.

During negotiation

5. Keep emotions at bay 

Leave your emotions at the door before entering a conversation. Focus on the ball, that is, the problem, not the player. If the other person makes a personal attack, deflect that energy into solving the problem. If your slacking colleague criticises you needlessly, suggest that at the current juncture it would be worthwhile to solve the immediate challenge first.

6. Ignore all demands

Yes, you heard it right. Ignore every hard stand taken by the other person. Then try to understand the reasons for that stance. Does the demand reflect some unsaid need? Focus on addressing the needs of the other person and your own real needs, and an understanding will soon be within reach.

7. Agree on standards 

Before you tackle the issues that you need to work on, agree on external standards or references for conducting the discussion. So, while talking about your salary increment, if both you and your superviser agree on industry standards, obtaining data from the industry will help you reach a good deal. If the other person is reluctant to consider external standards, you first need to come to an understanding on these.

8. Work towards a win-win situation 

An agreement that meets the needs of only one person is bound to fail. To reach a sustainable compromise, both the parties must win. This means that the unsaid needs have to be reasonably met, but not necessarily the demands. Focus on finding options that lead to such outcomes. So, your employer might offer a better designation or valuable training in lieu of a heavy bonus this year.

9. Take a break

Do not treat a negotiation like a T20 match, which needs to have an outcome by the end of the day. Envisage it as the second day of a test match. Try and make progress towards an accord in every conversation you have, but if the discussion is not advancing satisfactorily for the day, make a polite excuse and set a fresh time to continue with it.

10. Change the game

There are likely to be some discussions that you find difficult to tackle. Change the game to one that is easier for you. So, if you are dreading the appraisal that is due next month, a good idea would be to have a conversation with your superviser today. In a casual manner, discuss your performance in the previous year and your goals for the future. You would have done your homework, noticed the holes and made your point. Your appraisal next month will not seem like an abhorrent event any longer.

The writer is an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad and CEO of Quetzal Verify, an HR solutions company

Career prospects in 2013

How to improve your career prospects in 2013

There was nothing much to cheer about for the workforce in 2012. It was a relatively dismal year in terms of hiring compared with 2011. The industry chamber, Assocham, estimates that though 5.2 lakh jobs were created during the year, the country's job creation actually dipped by 21%.

The second half of the year saw a drop of 40,000 jobs compared with 2.8 lakh created in the first half. Layoffs and downsizing became the norm in sectors like BFSI and telecom, which trimmed staff strength to cut costs. However, employees are crossing their fingers that the tide may turn and the new year may bring better news.

Outlook for 2013

The hiring outlook for the new year will vary, depending on the performance of key sectors. While sectors like FMCG, retail, pharma and healthcare remain upbeat and will continue to hire in significant numbers, HR consultants and placement firms are not as optimistic about real estate, infrastructure and telecom.

Though hiring has dipped in the current quarter, HR experts expect it to pick up towards the end.

"Most companies spend time planning for the next year during this period and one hardly notices any out-of-the-ordinary hiring during this phase.

As we come closer to the end of the quarter, hiring picks up, and given the signs so far, it definitely will," says Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder and senior VP, TeamLease Services.

While industries like ITeS and IT will continue to be sluggish, given their over-dependence on global economies, other sectors will display a positive outlook towards hiring, she adds.


However, the employees are likely to feel the pinch when it comes to salaries. A recent report published by the management consultancy firm Hay Group estimates that professionals can expect an average pay increase of 11.2% across job roles in 2013. This is a slight reduction compared with the average hike of 12% in 2012. Even bonus payouts could be lower.

Companies and consultants believe these will be in the range of 12-17% of the CTC this year. On an average, it is usually 10% for junior management and 20% for the senior management.

"A company's performance is an integral part of variable payouts. Most of the firms have not performed as well as they were expected to this year, so they will not be able to share their gains.

Bonus payouts will remain the same as last year for others," says Rahul Taneja, senior vice-president and head, corporate HR at Essar. He believes the going is especially tough for companies in the core sectors. Those like FMCG and consumer durables might be the exceptions.

Career strategies

The job market is tight and it seems the going will continue to be tough for some more time. So, you need to make sure that you don't do anything to jeopardise either your current position or scuttle your chances for a new job. In fact, you will need to juggle your time to invest more in your career. To improve your professional prospects in 2013, here are some new year resolutions that HR experts advise.

1) Reinvent yourself
Try different things, whether it is a project or venturing into new territories. "Get out of your comfort zone, and your old job will look interesting and exciting. It might lead to newer opportunities outside the organisation too," says K Sudarshan, managing partner, India & regional VP, Asia, EMA Partners International.

2) Be flexible
In a scenario of political flip-flops and economic uncertainty, professionals need to be extremely flexible. "For leaders, it is about building a structure, which responds to the market scenario quickly when new policies are announced. As individuals, you need to be ready to lap up the next big break," says Anita Belani, former country manager, Russell Reynolds Associates India.

3) Network
This is something that doesn't come easily to a lot of people. Make a beginning with a group that shares your interests. It will help you expand your knowledge and improve your prospects. "Opportunities can come from anyone and anywhere," says Belani.

4) Stand by your decision
If you have decided to leave, have the conviction to go ahead with it. If you don't, whatever the reason, it will come back to haunt you. "Typically, within a few months of such resignations being taken back, the employer comes up with an alternative, making the individual's stay difficult. The candidate, having missed the opportunity, has the option of knocking at closed doors or waiting for another one, which does not come easily in a tight job market like this," says Sudarshan.

5) Always be prepared
If you have decided to change jobs, do your homework well. It may seem like a cliche, but employees often arrive at the interview table without the slightest idea about the company they intend to join. "This is self-destructive. Why would you want to lose a chance that is hard to come by in the first place?" asks Sudarshan.

(ET Source 31 DEC, 2012, IST, ANUMEHA CHATURVEDI & SHREYA BISWAS,ET BUREAU)