01st of December : New month, last lecture, last article

After one semester learning how to negotiate ! 

Today was our last lecture, with of course, a negotiation simulation, that was quite fun (when we finally understood the rules). The fact that was very interesting was the lobbying part of the simulation, but we all had different priorities and it wasn't very easy to compromise.
I worked with Vanessa (our dear leader) & Missi (that had the role to venerate our leader) & I (I was supposed to ask questions every time, but I think that you all know that I am very confortable in speaking English..). We had the role to "help" the lower class so to
Because we were 4 teams, we decided (at the end) to create 2 teams of 2 that will support each others. Ok.. Ok.. at the first time we collaborated with the 2 others teams but (shame on us), we felt that it wasn't too clear and that they just 'play' with our team to get our votes.
We decided to promote the "Big Sister" things, with putting cameras everywhere as a Short-Term tools to promote security and to prevent people from crimes and every bad things.
Lots of questions came after this choice and I think that Vanessa replied well, even if the 2 others teams were surprised about our strategy to change our previous plan and were just disrupting her (it was so funny)
But, the vote part wasn't too challenging, because we were 12, in 3 of our votes it was :  6 "Yes" & 6 "No" vote.
I think our team, got a good result at the end , and almost same for both of us.
Counter to others negotiations during this course, this one was about "real life", governance of a state, with some values as equality, peace, access to health and well-being... This game was very interesting because, even if we weren't agree with what we had to claim and defend during this negotiation, we had to find the best strategy.

Because it's the last article of this blog I want to sum up aspects that I think important for international negotiation, and that I learnt during this semester :

- Non verbal communication is very important in negotiation, and it can have bad impact if we are not aware of that. Non verbal communication are very different according to each culture, and you can understand something that mean the opposite. That's why it's very important in international negotiation (and also in negotiation in general, because we are in a globalised World) to get informations about the other part member's culture.
- It doesn't exist a perfect way of negotiating, and even in general if you have a negotiation style you might change it in some situations, that's why I think that the adaptability can be very useful during negotiation.
- In a group negotiation, it's very important to prepare the strategy because all of the member are sources of knowledge, creativity, imagination, and the power of the group is the mixture of every member's ideas.
- Even if you English is not as good as English native, you can find alternatives : prepare some slides, or a short presentation on paper, use the board, add some picture if needed. If you are negotiating in an international environment, don't feel that everybody will speak English very-well. Think more about your strategy !
-The negotiation atmosphere is very important, and small things can be helpful : a silence room, not too cold and not to hot, you can use your smile even if your aren't very happy to be there, some foods and drinks (non-alcoolic of course) can be appreciated...

I also want to give some recommandations to others students that are hesitating to choose this course (if you know someone that is interesting, I am sure that you will recommend it)
Recommandations :
Everyone can imagine, taking this course, that s/he will learn about negotiation skills, it's not a surprised fact (it's the tittle of the course !)
Beyond that you will work with international people that have all their own way of thinking and working, and you will discover different culture.
You will learn about verbal and non verbal communication.
You will also develop some group work skills. You will develop your imagination and creativity.
You will laugh a lot even if the lecture is on Friday morning, I promise !
You will also improve your English, and spoken English communication.
You will work with different support, that make the lecture less boring.
You won't have to learn things by heart, and things like that (boring boring boring !!!)
& one more thing, if you haven't did that in the past : you will negotiate your assessment criteria !!

I wish you all the best for your exams, assignments, and for your graduation also !
 It was a pleasure to work with all of us, and I really want to thank all of you : You all learn me about negotiation, about culture, and also about me and my person.

Happy Independence Day everyone (Eläköön Suomi) 

&

Happy Christmas !