Keep Negotiating Tactics Flexible

There is no right negotiating tactic if you have the wrong strategy or policy. Strategic objectives and priorities are more important than tactics. Yet history is full of great strategies that were defeated by poor negotiating tactics. The two go together but are not the same.

Flexibility in the choice of your negotiating tactics is imperative. Tactics that are right for one person are wrong for another. Tactics that are appropriate at the start of a negotiation may prove counter productive later. Tactics that worked yesterday may not work as well with the same person tomorrow. Negotiating tactics that worked well in a buyers’ market may prove to be stupid in a period of short supply.

Continual reassessment is the key to good tactical planning. I ask myself these questions over and over again in every negotiation:

1. Can I combine tactics for better effect?
2. Is this a good time to change tactics?
3. How will the other party react or interpret my tactic?
4. Will this backfire on me?
5. If my tactic is rebuffed, will I lose face or bargaining power? How can I minimize the loss?

The choice of tactics involves ethical questions. Ends do not justify the means. Unethical tactics for achieving worthwhile goals ultimately destroy the positive value of those goals. Whether they like it or not, negotiators must also be philosophers when it comes to choosing tactics.

In deciding which negotiating tactics to use, one rule should not be forgotten:

Never use a tactic unless you have considered what countermeasures the other party is likely to take.

The key to selecting good negotiating tactics is flexibility and good business judgment.

Organize Your Presentations

Don’t wing it. The more important your presentation, the more your must organize. Rambling thoughts send audiences’ minds rambling rather than paying attention to what you are trying to get across. We’ve all walked out of presentations wondering “What was the point of that?”

Whatever the content of your presentation, there are a few basic elements that give logic, interest and clarity.

Introduction:

o Attention-getting statement. You capture the audience’s interest, or not, within the first few seconds of your presentation. What story, bit of humor, quotation, etc. will engage them immediately? The attention-getting statement should be relevant in some way to your topic and audience.
o Purpose statement. Set your audience’s expectations right away.
o Overview. State your main points very briefly.

Body:

o There should be no more than a few main points in an average presentation. Choose your main points for maximum impact, using your Purpose statement as your frame of reference.
o There should be no more than two to three sub-points per main point. Keep it simple to keep the audience’s focus.

Conclusion:

o Summary statement. Review the main points.
o Closing statement. What memorable statement will keep the audience thinking about your presentation?

Using questions:

o Think about how you want to engage the audience. Do you want to ask them questions? Do you want them to ask you questions? At what points in your presentation do you want to interact? Questions are excellent tools to understand and connect with your audience. Plan how you will use audience interaction to enhance your presentation and still stay on track.

What Is the New USCIS Provisional Waiver (601A) for Unlawfully Present Immigrants?

New Rule on Provisional Unlawful Presence Waivers of Inadmissibility for Certain Immediate Relatives finally announced

Recently, the Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced the final posting of a rule that has for long been under speculation and long awaited. The new rule is a much welcome relief for those US citizens who are separated from their relatives during the time taken for approval of their citizenship status. The new law, on Unlawful Presence Waivers of Inadmissibility reduces much of the time that U.S. citizens spent separated from their immediate families, whether it is their parents, spouse or children who are still in the process of obtaining immigrant visas and becoming lawful citizens of America.

This is a follow up on, the proposed rule that was initiated on April 2, 2012, as declared by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). This rule tries to amend its previous regulations and allow certain immediate relatives of U.S. citizens who are physically present in the United States to request provisional unlawful presence waivers before they have to depart from the United States for the processing of their immigrant visa applications.

Under the previous law, even the most immediate relatives of U.S. citizens were not eligible to adjust status in the United States and become lawful permanent residents. They had to leave the U.S. and obtain an immigrant visa abroad, which was rather stressful on them since the period for waiting for processing could be as long as 2 years too! It also stated that those individuals who had accrued more than six months of unlawful presence during their stay in the United States must obtain a waiver to overcome the unlawful presence inadmissibility bar before they could come back to the United States after leaving to obtain an immigrant visa. A totally unjustified waiver process had specified that immediate relatives could not file a waiver application until they had appeared for an immigrant visa interview abroad.

This final rule of Unlawful Presence Waivers of Inadmissibility clarifies amendments on the previous rule as well as other provisions within the regulations. The new rule implies, the following-

The new Unlawful Presence Waivers of Inadmissibility waiver process specifies that immediate relatives must still depart the United States for the consular immigrant visa process.
The new rule however grants these individuals, the license to apply for a provisional unlawful presence waiver before they depart the United States for attending immigrant visa interviews in their countries of origin.
In order to be able to obtain a provisional unlawful presence waiver, the applicant must have the following-

Be inadmissible only on account of an unlawful presence.
Must be an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen,
Must show that the denial of the waiver would result in extreme hardship to the U.S. citizen, in some way.
By forming this new law, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) hopes that these changes will help in reducing the length of time in which U.S. citizens are separated from their immediate relatives who are engaged in consular processing outside the US. It is also believed that this new process will reduce the degree of interchange between the USCIS and the U.S. Department of State (DOS) helping establish better efficiency for both the waiver applicants as well as the U.S. government.

As a part of the unlawful presence waiver, the USCIS will publish a new form, termed as Form I-601A. This application for a Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver will be specifically for individuals to use when they are applying for a provisional unlawful presence waiver under the new procedure. Those who have filed the Form I-601A must notify the Department of State’s National Visa Center about their willingness to seek a provisional waiver from USCIS body. The entire process will come into effect from March 4, 2013 onwards.

There are of course clauses that those who apply for the unlawful presence waiver must follow.The new rule makes it clear that the filing or approval of a provisional unlawful presence waiver application cannot do the following-

Confer any legal status on the individual.
Protect any alien from being placed in removal proceedings or being removed from the US in accordance with current DHS policies governing the initiation of removal proceedings and the subsequent use of prosecutorial discretion, as and when deemed necessary.
The law does not protect against the accrual of additional periods of unlawful presence.
It does not authorize an alien to enter the US without securing appropriate entry documents or a visa.
The unlawful presence waiver will not convey any interim benefits like that of parole, or employment authorization.
For those of you who are looking for a good immigration lawyer,it is recommended that you consult a lawyer who will guide you through the entire process well and advice you how best to go about it. For this you might want to contact, the well experienced lawyers from the Shah Peerally Group.