Communication & Negotiation Skills

In this article we shall be looking at how improving your communication skills can improve your negotiation skills and turn you into a better negotiator.

Communication skills are fundamental to conducting good negotiations, and although they can take time to perfect, once you have mastered the art of effective communication your ability to successfully negotiate with others will significantly improve.

Forms Of Communication During Negotiations

During a negotiation everything about you will either help or hinder you when you are negotiating with someone. This is why it is extremely important for all negotiators to be very clear in expressing exactly what they mean.

Whilst this may sound easy, many people do not realise that when they try to negotiate with someone there is more to communication than just what they say.

For example, during negotiations your body language, tone of voice and the words you use all communicate certain things about you.

If each of these are not congruent with each other (are not giving off the same message), then effectively negotiating with someone will be difficult because you will not appear genuine or believable.

A negotiator who is able to communicate clearly with their body, voice and words will be far more successful, because the recipient of their message will know exactly what they are trying to say, and more importantly, believes it.

How Clear Is Your Communication?

In order to accurately access how clearly you communicate, it would be worth your time to ask other people how well they understand what you say. Do you get to the point? Do you waffle? Are they able to grasp the meaning of your message?

All of this could prove to be valuable feedback, which if acted upon, could vastly improve your overall negotiation skills and how effective you are as a negotiator.

Tips On Communicating Clearly

When you negotiate with someone know exactly what you are negotiating about. What do you hope to achieve as a result of this negotiation? Once you know your purpose, you will then be able to speak with purpose.

If you make a commitment to someone, make sure you fulfil that commitment. People who constantly break promises they make to others send off negative non verbal signals.

These signals tell a person you cannot be trusted or that you are unreliable, both of these will work against you when you try to negotiate with someone.

If during your negotiations you are unclear as to what a person has said, or you are unsure they have understood what you have said, always ask and answer questions to clarify key points.

This will help to avoid confusion, and make the whole negotiating process run a lot smoother.

The Importance Of Clarity During Negotiations

To have successful negotiations with someone you must be able to communicate your message clearly, and once you become more mindful of this, you will not only help yourself but will also help other people.

For example, if you are negotiating and someone steers the conversation off course onto an irrelevant topic, you will be able to tactfully bring the conversation back onto the main issues you are in negotiations about.

If you are negotiating in a team and some members are unclear as to your objectives, then by communicating clearly you can rapidly bring them up to speed as to what is expected of them.

So the key point to remember about negotiating is that it is essentially a test of your communication skills. The better you can communicate, the better your negotiation skills will be and the more effective you will be as a negotiator.