This article is written by Sarah Hoy, program analyst at the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, province of Ontario

For many people, negotiating can be a dreaded process. Even with a lot of preparation, it’s normal to feel a mixture of nerves and stress—the point of a negotiation is to make gains, and that can come with some pressure. But one thing is for sure: preparation helps.

If you don’t prepare adequately for a negotiation, it can fall apart and you may not achieve what you set out to. Some examples of negotiations that really do benefit from good preparation include: negotiating a salary increase, negotiating the terms for a contracted service and negotiating a flexible work arrangement.

With enough ‘grunt work’, adequate planning, and a little bit of effort, negotiating can be a rewarding—and even pleasant—experience!

Having worked in the Ontario Public Service for the last 7 years, I’ve had countless opportunities to put my negotiation skills into practice. One important way that I’ve honed this skill is by negotiating my own salary during my yearly performance review with my reporting manager.

I’ve always had success, and it’s because of this: preparation. In every salary negotiation, I’ve been able to demonstrate my achievements in detail because of the preparation that I’ve done throughout the year, from documenting my accomplishments to communicating consistently with my manager about my work.

Document everything

One of the first and easiest steps you can take when preparing for a negotiation is to pay attention to, and make notes based on, relevant conversations leading up to it.

Drawing meaningful comparisons and interesting analytics helps to draw in and impress other negotiators as it shows your dedication and willingness to ensure the success of the negotiation

Document any helpful notes from these conversations, whether they be through e-mails or phone calls, that provide additional information that could help finalise the terms and details of the negotiation. For example, if your manager mentions that a year-end bonus is available to the person who finishes their audits the best and fastest, make sure to document this in your notes.

If you’d like to achieve this goal concretely, put it on your Personal Development and Learning Plan (PDLP) so that you can discuss how to meet this goal with your manager.

Do your research

Another important aspect of preparing for a negotiation is nailing down important facts and information prior to entering the discussion. Ask the other party questions that will deepen your understanding of what you would like to achieve and what is possible. For example, if there is an expression of interest available for a specific job you want, try reaching out to the hiring manager to ask questions that would help you figure out what the qualities and skills the manager wants for the ideal candidate for the job.

This process will help you to form some key questions, and you can use these to gather further information and do more research. Ideally, you would look to go to reputable sources according to the subjects at hand or refer to popular articles (think of the first search appearances that come up on the first page of a Google search) to ensure that you’ve got a good grounding in the topic that you’re negotiating.

Practising what you’ll say and engaging in a collaborative process will help you figure out the gaps in your delivery for the negotiation

The more information you gather the better, but always ensure that it’s useful data that makes sense in terms of the context of the negotiation. If I were to investigate negotiating my salary for a job I’m about to start, I would look into gathering information on salaries for similar job titles, their roles and responsibilities and looking at the salary bracket that is offered for the job.

Tell a story

After you’ve done sufficient research, the next step in the preparation process is to analyse your argument and your data in a meaningful way. Think about what story you’re trying to tell with the data at hand and how it might influence the negotiation.

Does the information you’ve collected tell a compelling story? Drawing meaningful comparisons and interesting analytics helps to draw in and impress other negotiators as it shows your dedication and willingness to ensure the success of the negotiation.

Practise

Finally, as the old saying goes, "practice makes perfect". Practise what you’re going to say at the meeting a few times by yourself and then test it out on a colleague, family member or friend. Practising what you’ll say and engaging in a collaborative process will help you figure out the gaps in your delivery for the negotiation.

Ask your practice partner for honest feedback and advice and don’t forget to ask questions to help make the negotiation better or more effective. If you are able to convey your understanding of the negotiation topic at hand and manage to convince your practice partner to agree to or even meet you in the middle for your terms, this would count as a win and might give you the boost you need going into a negotiation meeting if you’re feeling particularly anxious.

Negotiations can be a tricky or sensitive process so it is natural to have a certain level of anxiety or nerves even after you’ve prepared tonnes for it. It’s important to harness this emotion and gather strength to overcome it because at the end of the day, you’ve got to encourage yourself to achieve something you know you’re now an expert at after all of the preparation you’ve done. Staying positive, seeking encouragement from your teammates or talking yourself up can definitely help to ease your nerves before a negotiation and can help you gain that confidence boost to help you achieve the outcomes that you want.

Once you finally get to the negotiation, you’ll feel ready to hit it out of the park!

Happy preparations. – Sarah Hoy

(Picture credit: Unsplash)

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