Project Negotiations - Deal Yourself a Winning Hand
Do you have clients who constantly ask for minor extras at no additional cost? Do you have problems getting the right resources for your projects? Do your team members consistently miss schedule dates or exceed budgets? Maybe the problem is that you are not an effective negotiator! Most experienced Project Managers typically have good “hard skills,” such as the ability to define scope, budget or schedule, but come up short in the “soft skills” areas such as negotiating.
In his song “The Gambler,” Kenny Rogers says “if you’re gonna play the game…ya gotta learn to play it right. You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away and know when to run.” His song could be re-titled “The Project Negotiator” because the lyrics exactly describe project negotiation situations that Project Managers constantly encounter.
In addition to describing a recommended procedure to follow for preparing and conducting a negotiation, this paper presents a list of the top 10 mistakes made in negotiations, as well as techniques that can be used to avoid them. Experienced Project Managers looking for pointers on how to be more effective in negotiation situations should find this of interest. The goal is to help you understand when to hold your position in a negotiation, when to "fold" (compromise), when to walk away, and when to run!
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Subject Matter Experts: Janice F. Lukas, MSEd & Joseph A. Lukas, PMP®, PE, CCE
Joe Lukas is Vice-President of PMCentersUSA, and leads a team of instructors and consultants in delivering project management and business analysis training and consulting to clients across the country. Joe has been involved in project management for over 30 years and has worked in engineering, manufacturing, construction, project controls, estimating and contracting, and has been a Program and Project Manager supporting world-wide programs. His project management experience spans information systems, product development, capital construction and manufacturing projects. He is a registered Professional Engineer, Project Management Professional and Certified Cost Engineer.