LFCE Faculty Profile: Steve Moroni
Negotiating with Moroni
Steve Moroni has a passion for negotiating. As a partner in the accounting firm Gallagher, Lieb, Moroni & Associates, Moroni hones his negotiating skills daily. As an adjunct faculty member at Lake Forest Corporate Education, he teaches those skills to other business professionals. For the past five years, his popular course in negotiation at LFCE has raised the negotiating skill level within such client organizations as Ace Hardware, Allstate, Kajima Construction, Motorola, Quaker Oats, Quebecor World, and Sears.
For Moroni, the ubiquity of negotiating is clear. "Whether or not you're aware of it," he points out, "you negotiate every day - at home, at work, everywhere."
In a business environment, the development of good negotiation skills is critical for managers and executives. "When I see a boss who is not a skilled negotiator," he explains, "he or she will win small battles, but two things will happen. First, that boss may lose money for the company. Game-playing and egotism can cause him or her to leave value on the table. Second, a boss who dictates responsibilities may rob opportunities from employees, resulting in the employees not gaining a sense of ownership in their jobs - they're just being told what to do. When the boss solves all the issues, it limits the creativity and output of co-workers."
The basic problem, according to Moroni, is that people typically view negotiating as adversarial. "People defend what they want to get out of a transaction," he observes, "use it for short-term gain, and call it negotiation." Moroni's enlightened, more effective approach involves clear steps to achieve a positive rapport and establish a dialogue based upon the spirit of partnership. This process typically yields more positive outcomes for each party than the traditional win/lose approach.
The LFCE course in negotiation is best described as an interactive workshop. "I don't just tell people what to do," emphasizes Moroni. "Anybody can stand up in front of a class and do that. What I do is show people how. I give them the steps, and then we take actual negotiations that they're working on right now in their business and apply the steps."
Allstate's Lori Bensen, Assistant Marketing Manager, Emerging Markets, echoed the sentiments of many Allstate participants. "Steve helped us appreciate the necessity of negotiation skills in our changing business world. He dynamically engaged us to step out of our comfort zones to learn this new skill."
Regarding the nature of the classes he teaches, Moroni expresses a great deal of satisfaction with LFCE. "What I appreciate," he says, "is that I’m allowed to use my creativity and problem-solving skills as a teacher in every class." Moroni also likes the process of tailoring his LFCE classes to fit each individual client. "At LFCE," he explains, "I don't have to teach off-the-shelf courses."
Offering further insights into negotiating, Moroni stresses, "Success is in the preparation. The absolute key is that people do what's in their own best interests. If I can figure out what a person wants and then provide it, I'm more likely to get what I want."
In conclusion Moroni offers, "In my courses with LFCE, I try to show participants how to get to win/win more often. You can't always get there, but it's available more often than you'd think."
