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In the Health Care Summit negotiations that recently concluded in the U.S., the winner was… nobody, or was it? In a negotiation, positioning plays a key role in the manner by which negotiators negotiate. Positioning partly entails establishing the image, style of negotiations, and attitudes you’ll display and project throughout the negotiations.

In observing some of the negotiations that occurred at the Health Care Summit, it appeared that the whole event was a melodrama, cloaked as a staged optical illusion, disguised as ‘getting something done’ for the American people.

This article highlights negotiation strategies that you can employ, based on the manner in which the participants engaged one another at the Summit.

Seating:

· The Democrats and Republicans could have arranged the seating so that its members were interspersed with one another. Had they done so, both parties would have agreed to the arrangement before hand, and the stage would have been set for less hostility. Subliminally, it could have promoted more camaraderie.

When you negotiate, consider the seating arrangement. Adjust it to suit your purpose for the negotiation.

Talking Points:

· Neither party strayed far from their talking points. The Democrats said things like, “the bill had a lot of agreements that the Republicans put forth, we’re not that far apart, we’re close, the bill is not that radical, let’s find common ground”. The Republicans said things like, “start over, start with a clean sheet of paper, scrap this bill, go step by step, the bill was ‘painted’ as having been created in the back room without the Republicans participation”.

When you infuse a negotiation with such rhetoric, you preset mindsets not to seek common ground. In addition, such resounding rhetoric creates a hypnotic mental state for one to maintain his perspective, making him less open to alternatives.

Optics:

· Politicians have to be very mindful of the image they project. The cliché, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ is probably truer in politics than any other profession. That being the case, the politicians in attendance at the Summit were very concerned with their ‘appearance’ and how it would ‘play’ back home.

During a negotiation, consider how you might be advantaged or disadvantaged from ‘the way things look’. In some situations, you may acquire value, or be devalued, based on who’s in attendance. Case in point from a political perspective, one of the attendees from the Republican Party is facing a tough primary fight in his home state. If he was in a picture with the president, appearing to be very ‘chummy’, an opponent could use the picture against that politician. His opponent could use the picuture to depict ‘how close’ the politician’s views are to the president. Mind you, his views could be the opposite of the president, but the picture could ‘pose’, or create, a different perception.

Body Language:

· From a body language standpoint, depending upon which party was speaking, the participants from the other party conveyed signs of stiffness, constant evaluation, skepticism, and total disagreement in some cases.

If you maintain a rigid body position, your mental state of mind will convey your thoughts. You’ll also be less likely to possess an open mind, when it comes to the possibility of alternate solutions. If you want to maintain a free lane for alternate thoughts to flow in your negotiations, loosen up.

Name Calling:

· At the Summit, the president referred to most attendees by their first name. In so doing, psychologically he marginalized them. In return, they had to call him Mr. President, out of respect for the office he holds.

As you negotiate, observe situations in which you can enhance your esteem. By doing so, you’ll increase your persona and have more sway over the other negotiator. You’ll also reduce the possible insolence he might display.

Use these strategies in your next negotiation. In so doing, you’ll be rewarded by achieving more of what you seek from a negotiation… and everything will be right with the world.

The Negotiation Tips Are…

· Consider the ‘optics’ of how your offer and your point of view will be perceived.

· In the positioning planning process, consider how you might ‘reframe’ (present differently) your position, to make it more appealing.

· Before negotiating, consider incentives you might use to entice the other negotiator to move in a specific direction.

For additional insight, click on the link below and watch my comments on the Neil Cavuto show.

A lot of the time, buying presents for people year in and year out can be really stressful. It’s hard to come up with unique gifts sometimes – especially if you’ve been buying them gifts for years and years. However, there are a few solutions to this. One of the most popular things to do these days is buy personalised presents. They are a unique way to show that you care and they are easy to find on the web.

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Finding what you need on the web is easy but if you’re on a budget it may be a little trickier. You will need to remember that you want to save some money so make sure that you don’t buy the first thing that you see. Take your time to browse the web and find a range of options to compare.

When it comes to birthdays and special occasions, sometimes nothing says “I care” more than buying your friend or family member personalised presents. It can also be a great way to have a bit of fun with a gimicky present for your loved ones – just take your time and spend your money wisely.

The first importance you need to do is to create a good atmosphere. Chinese negotiators respect Americans’ culture can create an equal and harmonious negotiating atmosphere.

For example, western people like to talk about specific articles directly while Chinese negotiators can adjust their own thinking to begin the negotiation with specific articles to adapt the other side’s custom. This will make the guests think that their Chinese partners respect them and they will respect Chinese negotiators’ negotiating behaviors which are different with theirs. Thus, the negotiating atmosphere will become friendly and harmonious.

Secondly, remember it is important to be a good listener. In view of this situation that western negotiators have the characteristic of making full preparation and being professional. Chinese negotiators can remain silence during the negotiation, listen more and gain more information through listening.

Thirdly, do give definite words. Chinese negotiators should adopt direct and determined words and avoid equivocal words such as “maybe”, “perhaps” etc.

International business negotiation involves with the management of the contract and the follow-up communicating. Different culture has different understanding with the content and effect of the contract. For example: American culture emphasize objective and attach importance on equality which determines that they rely on thorough contract to ensure rights and set obligations. So, the contracts between American companies are always as long as hundreds of pages, including very careful wording articles about all the aspects related to the contracts with the purpose of protect their own company from any dispute and unexpected accident. Other culture may not have such complicated contracts, so, they must endure Americans’ this custom.

In international business activities, the differences of culture and national psychology always influence the decision of the management. Different cultural background makes different business style, for example, Americans are mainly interested in profit while Chinese are interested in the market shares. Besides, those who speak different language may have different thoughts. The stringent German, flexible Americans, calm French, the warm-hearted Spanish and the enigmatic Japanese and so on are all closely related to their language. So, in international business activities, people should not only know the rules of the business activities, but also the prevailing customs and culture characteristics of the other people.