Now that we know there is a more effective and friendlier alternative to the old fashioned win lose
negotiation technique we can learn more about how to be great at interest based negotiations before
we jump into strategies to expand the pie.
We should talk briefly about the common misconceptions and errors related to interest based negotiations.
OK.
First people tend to enter negotiations believing the interests of their own party are entirely incompatible
with the desires of the other party.
This is overwhelmingly often not the case and only hinders the negotiation when both parties miss out
on the shared value they can gain.
They end up reaching what is known as a lose lose agreement.
As you can tell this is the exact opposite of what we want.
Second the notion that negotiations are inherently a redistribution of fixed resources or for me to
win you must make a sacrifice type of relationship is dangerously engraved in people's minds and reduces
flexibility a lot.
You must try and remember the pie is not fixed and a tartlet and a cupcake can also be added to the
table.
If you managed to sidestep this cognitive obstacle you will be more effective in developing an accurate
understanding of what is actually on offer and what the other party's interests are and finally reaching
a win win is not a must.
If you enter the negotiations determined to reach a win win you will put unnecessary pressure on the
conversation.
In addition you should leave any urge to compromise at the door.
Concessions are an element of win lose negotiations here we're trying to create a new pie not divide
a few pieces and be careful not to reveal your Bodner revealing it might work during distributive negotiations
but has no value here.
Cooperation isn't equal to laying all your cards on the table right great.
We know the no nos for interest based effectiveness.
Now let's talk about strategies for expanding the pie and adding those extra desserts.
Probably the most crucial technique for successful interest based negotiations is perspective taking.
This is the most straightforward way to understand your partner's interests and where they're coming
from.
If you are successful you will be much more informed and better at solving problems mid negotiation
or answering their attempts to set an anchor.
So how do you go about facilitating perspective.
Taking simple ask diagnostic questions.
You can try with the W questions that invite an open response like what why when where and their non
w cousin how these provide a non-threatening way to get information unlike closed ended questions which
often inspire defensive behavior and encourage the other party to misrepresent facts or even lie.
But remember negotiations are a back and forth process and this means you must provide your partner
with knowledge about what youre after and what your priorities are.
It's only fair right and not just that if you disclose information about your party it will signal that
you are approaching these negotiations openly which will invite the principle of reciprocation to enter
play.
If your counterpart still hasn't shared information chances are they will now in addition to probing
with diagnostic questions it is also very important to engage in active listening.
This allows you to make deductions about your counter-parties interests even if they're not being completely
open with you.
And more importantly you will get a sense of what their preferences are and how they rank.
Another valuable thing you can do is try to make package deals.
Package deals are useful for two reasons.
They allow the negotiating parties to come up with tradeoffs between individual issues and they make
reaching an impasse much less likely apart from package deals.
You can also aim to think about different offers you can make that hold the same value for you and make
them simultaneously this both creates the impression of flexibility and makes it easier and more likely
to uncover mutually beneficial issues useful and not super difficult.
The only ingredient you need is and we know you've never heard this one before.
Preparation a major difference between interest based and distributive negotiating is that in interest
based situations the fact that both sides don't want the same things can be exploited.
In fact it is encouraged.
This drives finding issues to trade to find mutual value.
For example there is a package deal on the table consisting of X Y and Z issues you are interested in
Z whereas your party wants to get x and y.
You can choose to trade off x and y to gain Z effectively reaching an integrated winwin decision.
Neat huh.
And if tradeoffs are not happening immediately we can give you a hint it should facilitate the process
when assessing and expanding the issues on the table try to focus on the ones that are highly valuable
to you and not so much for your bargaining partner pointed out.
Voila a possible trade off should emerge.