On December 7, 2017, the Women’s Bar partnered with the Exclusive Professional Women’s Networking Group to present The Discipline of Negotiating. Over fifty professional women intently listened to top Chicago employment attorney Laurel Bellows, of the Bellows Law Group, share her 10 best pointers for successful negotiations. Her pointers are as follows:
- Prepare, prepare, prepare.
- Determine your counterpart’s authority.
- Set precise goals. Be ready to quantify and justify your demands.
- Put your dream agreement in writing.
- Keep your best alternative in mind.
- Identify other party’s principal goal and best alternative.
- Role Play: Anticipate answers to questions you will be asked.
- Strategize: Timing and Technique.
- Your name and your reputation are inseparable.
- Remember: Not ever negotiation ends in agreement.
Ms. Bellows shared the vital importance of preparing for each negotiation, far beyond what one might otherwise find adequate. Ms. Bellows shared how to present and defend a position, and how to control the agenda using tone and body language. She also discussed negotiation strategies and techniques and the secrets of great persuaders.
The event was beautifully catered by After School Matters, an organization giving inner-city teens apprenticeships in the culinary arts.
Lauren Tuckey Murray is an employment attorney at the Bellows Law Group. She enjoys counseling plaintiffs on employment contracts, severance agreements and employment claims involving sexual harassment, discrimination and disability.