Testimonials
Becoming a better negotiator
Most people assume that negotiation is reserved for diplomats, hostage negotiators, international peacekeepers, business people and professional negotiators. Yet in reality, we all negotiate everyday in every aspect of our lives, whether over simple issues with family and friends, work colleagues, partners, buyers and sellers, or over large and complex issues such as company mergers, […]
DISTRIBUTIONAL BARGAINING
Distributional bargaining is the most common concept that most of us traditionally associate with Negotiation. Also referred to as positional, competitive or ‘sum/lose’ bargaining, negotiators often regard resources as being limited to a fixed pie and that their goals must be in opposition if one is to maximise their share at the other party’s expense. […]
PREPARING TO NEGOTIATE – Establishing your BATNA
Establishing your BATNA – Best Alternative to Negotiated Agreement What would happen if you desperately need to sealing a deal in an upcoming negotiation, you have no alternative and the other party if well aware of your need? In all likelihood you will be offered a sub-optimal deal that you must either accept or walk […]
MUTUAL GAINS NEGOTIATION
Over recent decades an alternative approach to traditional distributive bargaining has been developed. Labelled as ‘principled negotiation’ (Patton: 1985) or ‘interest-based bargaining’ (Fisher, Ury and Patton: 1991), this form of negotiation is well suited to collaboration with its focus upon integrative ‘Win/Win’ rather than Zero/Sum outcomes (Timothy Rauenbusch: 2000). Also referred to as integrative bargaining, […]
SEPARATE PEOPLE FROM THE PROBLEM
Mutual Gains Negotiation or integrative bargaining places importance on separating people or emotional issues from substantive problems. Often the people or relationship issues become entangled with the substantive issues or problem to be resolved. Conflict over substantive issues or the ‘real problem’ then tends to spill over into conflict between people. People then identify one […]
KEY ELEMENTS OF NEGOTIATION – RELATIONSHIPS
Too often, people believe that negotiation is all about doing the deal and nothing else – that a negotiation is successfully completed once we have made an agreement, and/or signed a contract to formalise that agreement – however, the deal is never done unless we establish and preserve the working relationships needed to perform the […]
KEY ELEMENTS OF NEGOTIATION – COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATION ‘Without Communication there is no negotiation’ (Fisher, Ury and Patton:1981). Our ability to negotiate effectively depends upon the level of our communication (interpersonal) skills. Speak to be understood – unfortunately, people often speak to be heard and/or impress rather than to be understood. At times the emphasis on getting the message across or playing to the […]
KEY ELEMENTS OF NEGOTIATION – ALTERNATIVES
DEVELOPING ALTERNATIVES The development of alternatives provides key strengths in negotiation to deliver more valuable outcomes. It is important to note that when we discuss alternatives, the topic of alternatives usually falls within the following two domains: • Developing a range of alternatives that will allow us to generate many options to meet our interests or […]
KEY ELEMENTS OF NEGOTIATION: FOCUS UPON INTERESTS – NOT POSITIONS
The position/s we take and argue for during negotiations is motivated by and purportedly represents our interests. As Fisher, Ury and Patton (1991) advise, ‘Positions are something that you decide upon. Your interests are what caused you to so decide.’ Unfortunately, too many negotiators become so focussed upon and locked into their surface positions that […]