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Successful Negotiations
Bob Ryan, About Purpose, Inc. ©2005
In my consulting work with CEOs, I see a wide range of negotiation skills. Almost all these CEOs have one thing in common, though – their negotiations are poorly thought out and executed. Oh, some seem to have a knack for saying and doing the right things at the right time. They most often come out of their negotiations having done okay. Others seem to always leave the negotiation with a sense of “dis-ease” – a feeling that they could have done better. What about you? Are you satisfied with your negotiation skills? Are most of your negotiations successful?
The best source on negotiation skills is the Harvard Negotiation Project. And the best resource out of that project is a book entitled, Getting to Yes; Negotiating Agreement without Giving In, by Roger Fisher and William Ury. Whether you find yourself in professional negotiations or just want to do a better job at negotiating in your every day life, this book is a must. Here is a brief summary of Fisher and Ury’s work in Getting to Yes.
They begin by describing the problem most of us have. We tend to bargain over positions – an approach that is unwise because it is inefficient and usually damages our long-term relationships. Positional bargaining leads to entrenchment and blinds us to the creative, productive solutions that can be reached through a method called “principled negotiation.” The four points to principled negotiation will make you a better negotiator immediately. You will see both short and long term improvements in negotiation outcomes.
The Four Points of Principled Negotiation
1. Separate the people from the problem. “Figuratively, if not literally, the participants should come to see themselves as working side by side, attacking the problem, not each other.” Creating a productive and solution-oriented atmosphere is vital to the outcome of the negotiations.
Successful negotiation requires solid people skills and a win-win attitude. Anyone who has kept up with the changes in the business environment will recognize this as an inescapable fact. The days of winning through intimidation are over. The best salespeople of today cast themselves in the role of partner. The best leaders of today take on the task of servant leadership.
2. Focus on interests, not positions. Fisher and Ury spend a good deal of the book explaining this point and why it is so effective. Unlike compromise between opposite positions, focusing on interests allows the parties to explore and proactively address the underlying issues behind the positions.
One of the most powerful skills in negotiation is the skill of delving into and articulating our own and the other party’s interests. It immediately opens up a universe of options and frees both sides from the limitation imposed by positional bargaining.
3. Generate a variety of possibilities before deciding what to do. Too often negotiations take place across the traditional “table,” in a litigious atmosphere. Providing a time to “invent options for mutual gain” changes the negotiating equation. Setting up the negotiation as a partnership between people, focused on meeting each other’s interests, makes the search for options a natural step.
I am amazed in actual negotiations how easy it is to operate in this mode when the previous two points have been well practiced. In many cases, when at the beginning of the negotiations it seems there were simply no choices but to force the other party to do what you want, or to compromise away what you want, we find that both parties actually strengthen their long term relationship during the creation of options
4. Insist that the result be based on some objective standard. This, too, just makes good sense. However, it is always a mystery to me how many people have not entered into the negotiation without thinking about how to measure success. Objective standards level the playing field so that even in negotiations where there is an obvious power differential, both parties can emerge with a clear win-win solution.
Fisher and Ury carefully build on each of these points throughout and make it very clear how to use them. They use multiple examples – many of famous, international negotiations most of us are aware of. In addition, their approach is practical and easy to understand. They recognize that both sides don’t need to have “read the book” in order for this to work. Rather, they illustrate how to bring the other party to agreement on principled negotiations.
Finally, I’ll share one simple, but elegant skill from the book that removes a great deal of dread from those who are afraid of “losing” in negotiations. That is, the BATNA – the Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement. In situations in which the power differential belongs to the other party, having a BATNA both protects your interests and makes the most of the assets you do have.
A BATNA is not your bottom line. That’s simply a position beyond which you will not move. Nor is it your list of options in developing an agreement. A BATNA is your list of alternatives should the negotiations go south. “The better your BATNA, the greater your power,” say Fisher and Ury. Spending time understanding your alternatives (and the other party’s alternatives) to a negotiated agreement creates a standard against which to measure any proposed agreement. My own worst negotiated outcome was the sale of a house about seven years ago. Because I had not even considered a BATNA (much less planned and nurtured my alternatives) I was held hostage by a greedy buyer and some extremely tight closing times, and I left a great deal on the table and left with some very bitter feelings.
Whether you already consider yourself a skilled negotiator, or whether you see yourself in need of some strong skill-building, Getting to Yes is a great book to add to your library. You will gain even more benefit it you teach your entire staff the principles involved. The results both internally and externally will be measurable. As the guy from The Men’s Wearhouse, says, “I guarantee it.”