Look for Win-Win Solutions to Be Happy in the Workplace
Negotiation.
Definitely one of my weaknesses.
Even though I’m an extrovert, I honestly feel that negotiation is too troublesome for me. Even when I’m in my home country I always avoid any shop that doesn’t show the price on the display product because I’m too lazy to ask, let alone to negotiate or bargaining.
While my 3 younger brothers are the opposite of me. Bargaining is easy for them. They can even get the same product for half price than mine.
It’s like,
“Obaasan, how much is the bag over there?”
“Oh, it’s 10,000 yen”
“Oh come on, that’s too expensive for that bag. Don’t be so stingy. 5000 yen definitely the right price for that bag”
Then he got the bag.
Crazy right?
In Indonesia if you can negotiate, then your life will be much much easier. My life was hard because I don’t even like to talk to the store staff. That’s why I felt so happy when I moved to Japan. Everything is clear. All products have a price tag and you don’t have to negotiate or bargain to get a cheaper price. No hidden fees.
When I graduated from university in 2013, it was so hard for me to find a job. It took me 6 months to finally get my first job. Being unemployed for 6 months is definitely really hard for me. So when I finally got my first job, I was so happy even though I got a relatively small salary. I didn’t even try to negotiate about my salary back then. It was hard to live in a big city like Jakarta without money. My company sometimes forces us to work until 2 AM in the morning.
Also working as a civil engineer, I need to check the construction site regularly to make sure everything is going as the technical specification. The risks working on the construction site are high too.
Can you imagine that?
Then in 2018, the same thing happened to me. I struggled to get a job here in Japan. My diploma from the best engineering school in Indonesia means nothing here. I have JLPT N2 but that’s not enough for me to get a proper job. After one year of trying to find a good job, I finally got one. As a receptionist of an IT company in the Umeda area.
But the position is not the one I desired for. I want to work in the start-up related field as a product manager. I know that this is the time to push myself to negotiate. I don’t have enough experience in the business or start-up field so maybe my bargaining will be weak. Even so, I have to try or I will regret it forever!
When I attend the interview. I speak with the president of the company and I have confidence that I can help him grow his business overseas, especially in Indonesia. Because of that time, I know that their company has plans to expand to SEA Countries including Indonesia.
That’s why I want to be positioned in the overseas business division, not as a receptionist. I tried so hard to convince him. Then finally he said, okay I will give you a 2 months trial period and during that 2 months you should show your performance in growing our business overseas. He finally gave me a title as a Manager of the Overseas Business Division.
Then I took that challenge. During that 2 months, I arranged his business trip to Indonesia. Using my network with top universities and connection to the Ministry that I got when I work with JICA, our company gets valuable connections. I successfully built a remote developer team to work on our web apps product.
After 2 months, he appreciated my hard work, increased my salary and let me work as I like. In 2020, he appointed me as a COO of his other company.
If only I did not negotiate that day, maybe I would end up in the position I don’t like.
We should think about a win-win solution every time we negotiate. I want to cooperate and help my boss in growing his business. But in doing so, I should be in the right position for that. That’s my base of negotiation.
So the next time you find yourself in conflict with someone at work, or when you find a difficult situation. Let’s start out with the mindset that you’d like to cooperate with the other person. It increases the likelihood that you’ll reach a win-win solution and keep everybody happy.
