The prospect of attaining success within the sphere of your career as a woman is quite big. Driving that dream car to work, attending conferences within your industry as a top delegate, getting awards and recommendations are all career advancement indicators.
While many things denote advancement in your career, you must understand that your negotiation skills are crucial to helping you attain career advancement. To this end, you are about to learn of a structure that will help you through all the negotiations you would have to make as you rise through career ranks regardless of your industry.
For you to negotiate effectively, you must have the right mindset towards a negotiating process. One challenge negotiators face while trying to strike a deal is that they usually feel the other party (employers, boss, or clients), as the case may be, will see them as too demanding, greedy, or socially awkward. This type of mindset is partly why 60% of women say that they’ve never negotiated their salary. To phase this out, there is a need for a collaborative mindset that has a problem-solving undertone.
Striking a good deal
What is the goal of negotiation? Many people feel the goal of negotiation is to get a deal. This is not true. While being able to strike a deal is not exactly wrong, the negotiation process would be counterproductive unless you guys can strike a good deal.
You want to make your boss know that you are highly interested in making sure both of you come out of the negotiation room happy, not that one party should be feeling cheated or marginalized. To this end, there is a need to understand what a good deal is and what a bad deal is.
The first thing to know is when trying to strike a good deal is the availability of alternatives. So, what alternatives are available for you to fall back on if the deal doesn’t happen? Does your employer have a replacement for your service if you cannot strike a deal with him?
As we advance, at what point do you back out of the negotiation (This is the breaking point)? Lastly, what are your aspirations? This is a part people often ignore when negotiating. Your aspiration is simply the positive easements of what you hope to achieve if you can strike a good deal.
Making plans for the negotiation
Examine: How exactly do you make plans for a negotiation process? You would agree that the main thing to do is to have some pre-assessment of the whole situation. Therefore, you do well to see if there is something you can change about things to be in your favor even before the negotiation starts. It would also be best to weigh the potential benefits of negotiating the contract with the negotiating process’s potential costs. Then, see if the benefits outweigh the cost.
Prepare: Also, you need to prepare. This involves understanding what your interests are and the interests and preferences of your employer. While it is way much easier to understand what your interests are. There is a much deeper level of difficulty in understanding the interests of your employers or bosses.
Ask: most of the time; there is only a little more you can know in addition to what they want you to know. This is why it is crucial to engage them in discussions, both casual and officially. Remember, the value chain that connects you both is that you both have unique information and perspective to solving problems. They don’t know all you know, and they don’t know all you know, either. With this knowledge, it is clear to see that you need to be organized.
Package: One more thing in this regard is not to negotiate one issue at a time. Remember, we are trying to get a good deal done such that both parties will be happy. Therefore, you don’t pick one issue at a time and try to win them all as this would make it look like a football match whereby each side is trying to score a goal. Rather, you package the negotiation holistically.
In clearer terms, you can volunteer to make certain sacrifices, ask for some privileges in return, and then ask if they don’t mind. Note that you are not dictating the terms here. Rather, you are only proposing a format and asking if it is fine by them. If they do this, you will likely get a deal that would make you happy, and your boss will be happy too.
Opportunities and challenges of women in the negotiation room
It has been noted that women are quite uncomfortable with asking. For example, the use of VAR systems which allows actions to be reviewed for the right decisions to be made by the referee (in the English premier league had seen a sharp contrast in the number of appeals when the men’s league was compared to that of the ladies (with the males going steeply higher).
This shows that women tend to accept deals (bad deals) rather than making that extra push for a good deal. This is why women need to be aware of the fact that expectations drive behavior. If they raise their expectations, they would be able to get better outcomes.
That being said, women need to pay attention to the three ‘W’s of negotiation. That is
- Why am I asking?
- Who am I asking?
- And for whom am I asking?
Why
Women are much more effective in their negotiation process when they clearly state the reason for coming up with a negotiation conversation and going about it communally. It shouldn’t be all about them alone. Rather, they should maintain an open field such that their bosses can chip in suggestions even when they have a right to repress them.
Who
This is important as the gender of your boss might go a long way to decide the type of treatment you would receive for asking for more than you are offered. It is noticed that male bosses penalize females who try to negotiate so they won’t do their male counterparts.
On the other hand, females’ bosses tend to be more critical of their subordinates, regardless of gender. It is up to you to make use of this information to your advantage during the negotiation process. In any case, make sure you do not single out issues during the negotiation process. Rather. Play the packaging game, as mentioned earlier.
Whom
This is a dicey one. However, note that you do well to negotiate for your fellow women than you would a man. So, if you must negotiate for anyone, let it be your fellow gender-mate, and don’t forget to give it an all-encompassing approach, stating how the terms you propose would help everyone on and off the table.
- Negotiation goes beyond preparing to beat the price or going for a higher number. It includes understanding where the other party (your boss or client) is coming from.
- One of the most important things to do in the event of a negotiation is to do your research and know your market value
- If you have agreed to a deal and you find reasons to re-negotiate, don’t be afraid to do it. Rather, you do well to convince them you are ready to bring more values to the table, and you feel you would appreciate an adjustment in the terms and conditions of service.
Conclusion
You shouldn’t avoid negotiations if you are looking to be successful in your career as a lady in any field or industry. You now have a better picture of what is obtainable among the female folks concerning this topic, your weaknesses, and your strengths. You’ve also seen how to maximize your negotiation skills and get the best deals in almost any situation. Please don’t fail to apply these drills whenever you find a need for them in the line of duty.
