Salary negotiation is all about getting the best possible deal with the least possible cost and at the same time leaving the other side intact and positive.
Most of the negotiations end up being a win-lose arrangements where one side wins a lot of concessions and the other side leaves with nothing or petite gain.
This outcome is suitable for one-time events, like buying a house.
Here are some quick tips to avoid getting into a bad negotiation.
*Understand the terrain before entering into salary negotiation.
You should pay attention to positioning. There is no point in jumping directly in the salary negotiation arena; you start slow until you know where the other party is coming from. It is best to mix the team on the both the sides to build a sense of creating win–win situation for both the parties.
Before you jump in negotiations, ask whether it will be useful for each side to lay out its goal, starting positions and boundaries if any, such as we will not negotiate on XYZ points.
You should volunteer to go first, give reasons first and state your positions at the end only.
* Don’t take a hard stand early on during salary negotiation
Every reaction has an equal, and opposite reaction, strongly worded positions create blame game and negativity. Posturing and taking hard stands comes later in the game to do tradeoffs and exchanging concessions for both the sides. Giving threats and ultimatums does not lead to significant results in the game of negotiations.
* Keep it small
The best way to start is by asking if there are any points that both sides could tentatively agree on. Even if both the sides are poles apart, there needs to be a common thread. List those points on a flip board, then move on to ask if there are tentative trades that can be done, you give me this, and I will give you that.
Take each deal stopper one at a time and have the owner get as specific as possible to the concessions they are asking for. Make an effort to see if any of the items on the far apart list can be struck off or moved to other buckets.
* Ask questions during salary negotiations
The more questions that you ask for, the more information you have to work with. You should ask more questions and make fewer statements. Make it a point to ask clarifying questions so as to get deeper insights. You can also ask the why, and what principles are there behind the offer they have made.
Courtesy: www.humanresourcesblog.in
