The Latin word negotiatio came to our language as negotiation . This is what the act and result of negotiating is called: talking about something with the aim of reaching an agreement that is beneficial or appropriate for all parties.
A negotiation, therefore, is an interaction that aims to produce some type of benefit . Its purpose may be the resolution of a conflict, the satisfaction of interests or the obtaining of advantages.
When two people enter into a negotiation, each one tries to achieve a certain goal . Various factors come into play in this conversation, such as personality traits, mood, emotions , etc. The way each individual thinks and acts affects how the negotiation is carried out, regardless of the specific points that are negotiated.
Negotiations appear in multiple areas of life. Suppose a man wants to spend his holidays on the beach and his wife in the mountains. Spontaneously, the couple will have to negotiate to reach an agreement: a successful negotiation could lead to the acceptance of dividing the time between both destinations, in such a way that each one sees their desire partially satisfied.
In the corporate sphere, it is common for negotiations to be established between companies to establish commercial ties or strategic agreements . In the field of politics, negotiations allow for alliances to define candidates or form government teams , to mention a few possibilities.
For a negotiation to take place, it is essential that the parties are willing to negotiate. If one imposes itself by force on the other, or one has no interest in the interaction, there is no negotiation.
People who do this as part of their profession cannot afford to lose a negotiation, or at least fail too often. For them it is not a game or a temporary situation, like selling a second-hand product over the Internet , but rather the activity on which they base their monthly income. For this reason, they must combine a series of factors to ensure they proceed correctly.
This brings us to the secrets of good negotiation , a list of relative and contextual validity, but which can serve as a starting point to develop persuasion, that part of us capable of convincing others to do our will . This tool is key, and is generally associated with a born skill, although with a lot of effort it can be acquired.
In order to persuade someone to accept our conditions in a given agreement, it is not enough to have this ability but certain mechanisms must be put into operation, whether we do so on a conscious level or not. One of the pillars of any negotiation is knowledge of the other party , its tastes, needs, historical and cultural background, any trait that can help us reach and persuade it.
When we try to convince our friends or family we do not need to investigate their profiles, because we know them in depth. However, whether we know it or not, we are making use of this advantage to break through its barriers. Here we enter dangerous territory, because moral issues are mixed: no negotiation should be so important as to cause emotional harm to the other party by touching their most delicate weak points.
Another secret to being successful in any negotiation is to prevent the other from noticing our interest or, depending on the case, our desperation for it to happen. On the contrary, we must express ourselves in such a way that he seems more interested than we are.