Every person communicates differently, whether they are at home or work. Their communication style is influenced by their experiences, beliefs, skills and tools, which could easily let people know what kind of negotiators they can be when facing different situations.

According to experts, there are at least five major negotiating styles: Competing, Collaborating, Compromising, Avoiding and Accommodating. A person may use one or two techniques in a given situation, depending on the person involved in the situation.

Down below is a short rundown about the five negotiating styles, including their pros and cons.

Compete

This negotiating style focuses on the goal that you will do whatever it takes to get the result you want, even if someone will get into trouble because of your actions. You also focus more on short-term goals and outcomes rather than giving time to see the impacts of their actions.

Ideally, competitive negotiators work well for short-term agreements and critical agreements where everyone must comply.

Collaborate

Collaborative negotiators are the ideal type of negotiators because they are very open to speaking to all parties. They will do their best to create solutions that all agree upon and provide suggestions should parties need more ideas to reach an agreement. They also tend to take their time because they want to make agreements that will be good for the long run.

Collaborative negotiators are perfect for most situations; however, they should not be paired with competitive negotiators because of the focus of competitive negotiators for immediate success.

Compromise

Compromising negotiators follow the dogma that they will be ok to relinquish some benefits from an agreement so long as they can get something else. This negotiator works well if the other party is trusted and an agreement must be reached within a specific timeframe.

However, it is recommended that you do not use this negotiation style if you wish to create collaborative relationships and innovation.

Avoid

Negotiators who are focused on the avoiding style tend to be apprehensive when it comes to making decisions. They often do their best to stay neutral and let the other party decide what is best for them.

Since these negotiators don’t like conflict, it is ideal for minor issues that won’t affect their relationship with the other party. They also work well in situations where the time to solve the problem outweighs the result.

Accommodate

The final negotiating style is accommodating. For this negotiating style, the negotiator does his best to maintain their relationships with various parties and reduce possibilities of conflict by giving focus to the needs of others. Because of this focus, negotiators in this style do not assert themselves in the situation and cooperate more.

Since they are open to cooperating with parties, they are the negotiators many parties love to work with. They also perform well when your party has caused problems to the other party, and there is a need to repair your relationship with them.

In Other Words..

Suppose one wishes to be a good negotiator. In that case, one must recognise what type of negotiating style they use and what aspects they need to improve on and learn how to adjust to make negotiations smoother. If your current negotiating style doesn’t work, don’t hesitate to try combining other negotiating styles to your strategy.

Remember, each situation will require a different negotiating skill, so you need to research before heading to the fray.

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