“MANAGERS MUST BE ABLE TO NEGOTIATE”

Fruitful negotiations demand careful preparation. And the completion of negotiations does not mean
there is a clear winner but that both parties are satisfied with the outcomes and buy into them. That’s the view of Erik Wetter, Assistant Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics and instructor in negotiating technique.

“When you force a deal on paper, you build in other forms of opposition. If you put too much pressure on the price, for example, quality may suffer, and you risk damaging the relationship if your counterpart feels coerced or swindled,” Wetter tells Computer Sweden.

We negotiate all the time, every day. It may be on the job or in our private lives.
“That’s why everyone can benefit from being able to negotiate, and it’s especially important for managers. Negotiating skills are a prerequisite for successful leadership,” he says.

Erik Wetter believes that we negotiate whether or not we want to and that many people feel uncomfortable in negotiations.
“That’s because they see negotiation as a contest to be won against an opponent to be defeated.

Obviously that kind of attitude increases the pressure and degrades the negotiations.
“Negotiating techniques are skills that can be trained. It’s like preparing a meal. The more you do it, the better you get at it and the more fun it becomes. And if you learn how to see negotiating situations in everyday life, they become less threatening and less tiresome for you,” says Wetter.

This article was published in Computer Sweden.