職場與戰場上談判的相同點

You think negotiating a raise is tough? Try convincing an Afghan elder to identify Taliban fighters in his own community.

Negotiating is not confined to the office and the car dealership. In fact, some of the best deal-brokers have worn fatigues.

Jeff Weiss is familiar with negotiating both on and off the battlefield. As a partner at Boston consulting firm Vantage Partners, Weiss helps corporations and executives handle disputes and hammer out better agreements. He also spends a good chunk of every year doing the same thing for cadets at West Point. Weiss has spent the better part of a decade studying battlefield negotiations and figuring out what works and what doesn't in a hostile foreign country.

The goal is for a soldier to forge alliances in unknown territory where every move is being carefully watched, time is of the essence and a faction is very much interested in the soldier's failure. Hopefully, starting a new job is not as dangerous, but many of the same dynamics are in play in the workplace.

The key to thriving in a new environment, according to Weiss, is controlling the nagging sense that you are making a major mistep. Danger, and the fear that it incites, triggers a cavalcade of reactions that could start someone off on the wrong foot, most notably a tendency to rush, make threats and too easily concede vital points to mitigate tension. In other words, it helps to stay calm, yet confident.

'Many of us walk around with a default setting and a belief that to be a good negotiator you should use threats, anchoring, bluffing, banging the table and a general show of power,' Weiss said. 'Frankly, what I have seen in good negotiators — whether they are a 30-year-old captain in the Army or a 40-year old salesman — are folks that say 'There's a time and a place to do that, and it's not often.''

Here are some of the other pieces of advice that Weiss has gleaned from men and women in uniform:

1. Get the Big Picture

Get a lay of the land at the outset, particularly the opinions and viewpoints of other parties. In other words, don't dive in and try striking deals right away. Be humble and curious.

2. Uncover and Elaborate

Learn the motivations and concerns behind your counterparts' opinions. Propose multiple solutions and invite the other parties to improve on them.

3. Elicit Genuine Buy-in

Avoid threats. Win others to your side with reasoned arguments, not power plays or brute force.

4. Build Trust First

Directly linked to No. 4, this tactic is all about building a foundation of success. Don't try to 'buy' support. Rather, make incremental commitments of good faith.

5. Focus on process

Forget about results, or lack thereof. Put your energy into having a healthy and robust discussion free from knee-jerk reactions.

Do any of you have something else to add to that list? If so, weigh in. Ten-hut!

How often do you find yourself negotiating in the workplace? Do you think you're a strong negotiator? What are your bargaining weaknesses?你以爲跟老闆談加薪很難？那去試試說服一個阿富汗老人指認社區裏的塔利班(Taliban)分子呢。

談判並不僅限於辦公室和汽車專賣店。事實上，一些最善於談判的人來自軍隊。

傑夫•維斯(Jeff Weiss)對職場和戰場的談判技巧都很熟悉。作爲波士頓Vantage Partners諮詢公司的合夥人，維斯協助企業和高管處理爭端，達成更好的協議。他每年還花不少時間在西點軍校(West Point)給新兵培訓談判技巧。他近十年的相當一部分時間花在戰場談判的課題研究上，分析在敵對國的環境下哪些原則是管用的，哪些則不管用。

培訓的目的是讓軍人在一個不熟悉的國家尋求到盟友，在那種環境下，每一步都必須小心應對，時間至關重要，而內訌往往導致任務失敗。在職場上，開始一份新工作不像打仗那麼危機四伏，但也有很多相同的因素在發揮著作用。

維斯說，在新環境中獲得成功的關鍵在於，控制頻繁干擾自己的負面情緒，不要認爲自己正在犯下大錯誤。危險以及由此激發出來的恐懼感會引發一系列容易讓人出師不利的自然反應，最常見的就是急於求成、威脅別人，以及過於輕易地放棄重要籌碼以化解緊張態勢。也就是說，保持鎮定和自信是有好處的。

維斯說，我們中的很多人抱着一個固有觀念，認爲一個談判高手必須會威脅別人、能言善辯、虛張聲勢、大拍桌子，表現得非常強勢。說實話，我看過的談判高手——無論是30歲的陸軍上尉還是40歲的推銷員——都認同一個觀點：要實現目標必須有天時地利，這種恰當的時點並不是經常都有的。

下面是維斯根據軍中談判專家的經驗提煉出來的一些建議。

1.瞭解資訊，掌握大局

出發前瞭解一些具體情況，尤其是其他各方的觀點和看法。也就是說，不要一下子扎進去敲定一個交易，要謙虛，多問問題。

2.發現細節，善於發揮

瞭解談判對手觀點背後的動機和顧慮，提出多個解決方案，邀請其他各方共同加以完善。

3.尋求真正的認同

避免做出威脅，通過有理有據的辯論把對方爭取過來，而不是擺出一副氣勢洶洶的架勢，或者藉助暴力手段。

4.首先建立信任

信任是成功的基石，不要試圖去“購買”支持，而要逐步建立起互信的關係。

5.關注過程

不要過多關注結果，集中精力進行一個健康而積極的討論，避免盲目做出反應。

除此之外，你們還有什麼想補充的？如果有的話，歡迎加入討論。

你經常在工作中與人談判嗎？你覺得自己是個談判能手嗎？你的弱點在哪裏？