When many people think about negotiation, they picture enthusiastic smiles and happy handshakes across a conference table after a multi-million-dollar deal is signed. But not all negotiations take place at such a grand scale. Solid negotiation skills can play an important role in all functions and at all levels of an organization — not just sales and legal, but also information technology, marketing, customer service, finance, accounting, human resources, purchasing and others.
Executive education can help professionals learn how to forge strong, mutually beneficial agreements, which is the objective of successful negotiation. The skills can be applied in many different scenarios.
“Negotiation is most often thought of in terms of big, one-time events like contracts, compensation or benefits, but in reality, we negotiate every single day,” writes Ashira Prossack for Forbes. “Negotiations of all sizes use the same skills and tactics. The difference between them is that everyday negotiations happen without fanfare, while we tend to put more pressure on ourselves for the big ones.”
One element of negotiation that requires particular attention in an increasingly global marketplace is cultural understanding. International trade has become more critical to organizations. In the most recent World Trade Statistical Review, the World Trade Organization reported that merchandise trade increased by 11% in 2017, and world exports of commercial services increased by 8% over the same period.
International investment is also on the rise. The Bureau of Economic Analysis said that direct U.S. investment abroad was $6,013 billion in 2017, an increase of $427.3 billion from the previous year. At the same time, foreign direct investment in the United States rose $260.4 billion to $4,026 billion over the same period.
Companies not involved in international trade or investment may also benefit from a greater understanding of other cultures in negotiations, as the U.S. workforce is growing increasingly diverse. “It’s a difference we can already see,” according to a recent issue of Deloitte Report. The cultural profile of individual customers, vendors, partners and clients is also changing, with the U.S. Census reporting an increase in national diversity between 2010 and 2017.