Negotiation - A lifeskill

It always surprises me when I realise that 'negotiation' is not taught as a skill at any stage in our formal educational life.

What is amazing is that negotiation is a skill that is useful in every sphere of our lives. However, most of us blunder our way through negotiations, due to our inherent self. People who are assertive can negotiate better but their focus remain themselves. People who are non-assertive (like me!) can get swept away when negotiating with an assertive individual and neglecting their own wants and needs.

Negotiation is a skill that is closely tied to one's personality and that is why a formalised education in the processes of negotiation is useful for everyone. It gives people like me an opportunity to claw back into the race. :-) Most of all negotiation is used in every aspect of corporate life...with external customers or vendors, with internal staff and line managers, to get budgets that one wants, to get one's salary or raise or to change one's role. It seems criminal not to develop this skill.