Did you know that Negotiation is a competency that you can develop? We define the Negotiation competency as, "Listening to many points of view and facilitating agreements between two or more parties." Who do you know who is highly skilled at Negotiation?

With practice, you can grow and develop this skill just like other "hard skills" you might be good at like cooking, public speaking, employee coaching, or playing golf.

How do I grow as a leader: Negotiation?

Those with a highly developed skill of Negotiation exhibit the following:

• Understands both parties must get something they want before agreement is feasible.
• Listens to identify and understand what each party wants.
• Determines what each party is willing to accept in an agreement.
• Establishes a non-threatening environment conducive to open communication for discussing possible terms of agreement.
• Develops the terms for an agreement.
• Ensures each party understands the terms of agreement.
• Binds agreements between parties with verbal and/or written contracts.
• Listens to all sides involved and ensures all parties understands the issues.
• Allows all parties to express their viewpoints.
• Facilitates mutually beneficial outcomes to satisfy various interests.

Behaviorally, it comes more naturally and requires less focus for some of us to negotiate effectively. For the rest of us, it is a skill we may need to invest energy into developing in order to be more effective. Our Driving Forces will reward for some skills and not others. If your job or your environment demands something from you that isn't naturally present in your Behaviors or Driving Forces, you can develop it in your Competencies. 

What about you? How developed are you at the competency of Negotiation? What about the people on your team? Is this something you want your team to be strong in?