1. WHAT DO THE PEOPLE AFFECTED BY NEGOTIATION REALLY WANT?
If you always had the answer to this question, it’d be a lot easier to navigate negotiations. Unfortunately, getting to this answer isn’t always straightforward, so it’s important to identify potential stakeholders–not just those sitting at the table, but also parties who are unseen but clearly present, like clients–and their needs, wants, and motivators. These basic interests are the drivers in any negotiation, and identifying and prioritizing them can help you identify common interests.
By understanding the other parties interests, you can identify key differences ahead of the negotiation and prepare for any surprises that may arise. At the same time, don’t forget to identify your own underlying interests–both monetary and non-monetary, short-term and long-term–and how you would prioritize these interests.
The more you understand the interests of every party involved, the better the chance you have to help them get what they want, which in turn, can often help you get what you want.
2. WHAT CRITERIA SEEM MOST RELEVANT AND PERSUASIVE?
As humans, we all have a cognitive need for fairness. We want to be treated fairly, so when we feel like the other party is taking advantage of us, we’ll likely reject the offer, even the alternative is economically a worse deal.
In order to put forth proposals that are seen as fair, negotiators should use criteria that all parties are familiar with. For instance, if you are selling your home, think of all the ways that you can propose the value of your home, such as assessed value and proximity to good schools. Or consider using tactics of influence. For instance, letting the other party know that homes typically sell within a week of being listed in the neighborhood can drive the conversation with scarcity in mind, which is a legitimate argument.
When establishing legitimacy, it’s important to know the standards of practice or objective criteria that seem the most relevant and persuasive, and possibly the standards the other parties will likely use.
3. WHAT’S THE BEST WAY FOR EACH SIDE TO COMMUNICATE WHAT THEY WANT?
Good communication is at the core of every successful negotiation. Consider this common problem in negotiations: you might think you’re creating value for someone by giving them something you think they want, but in reality, it might not be the most valuable thing to them; yet subsequently, is extremely costly to you.
"This scenario suggests that people make assumptions in negotiations that are not always true," explains Curhan. "And those assumptions may be an assumption that when you want something, when you have an objective in a negotiation that your counterpart may not want what you want. And that’s an assumption that’s often amiss, often not true and yet it persists."
Curhan says having these assumptions can change how people approach negotiations, and it can change their attitudes toward negotiations. Through clear and trustworthy communication, we can learn what the other party’s preferences really are.
"Once you find that out, there may be a lot of ways to address their preferences that don’t cost you as much," says Curhan.
4. WHAT COMMITMENTS SHOULD YOU PLAN TO MAKE?
The best outcomes in any negotiation comes when we prepare ahead of time, and in doing so, you are able to predict a realistic outcome of the meeting. Through this kind of preparation, we eliminate surprise and the likelihood of a low subjective value, which research tells us can lead to low economic outcomes, or objective value, in future negotiations, because we feel we haven’t been treated fairly in the initial negotiation.
Before any negotiation, given time and resource constraints, consider determining what commitments, which can be a formal contract or a verbal agreement, are you willing to make.
The next time you’re about to sit down at the bargaining table, remember that none of us are born great negotiators, which is exactly the reason why most of us dread it. However, like everything else in life, through practice and preparation, our understanding and skills can improve and maximize to garner better, more favorable, win-win results.
А source
As humans, we all have a cognitive need for fairness. We want to be treated fairly, so when we feel like the other party is taking advantage of us, we’ll likely reject the offer, even the alternative is economically a worse deal.
In order to put forth proposals that are seen as fair, negotiators should use criteria that all parties are familiar with. For instance, if you are selling your home, think of all the ways that you can propose the value of your home, such as assessed value and proximity to good schools. Or consider using tactics of influence. For instance, letting the other party know that homes typically sell within a week of being listed in the neighborhood can drive the conversation with scarcity in mind, which is a legitimate argument.
When establishing legitimacy, it’s important to know the standards of practice or objective criteria that seem the most relevant and persuasive, and possibly the standards the other parties will likely use.
3. WHAT’S THE BEST WAY FOR EACH SIDE TO COMMUNICATE WHAT THEY WANT?
Good communication is at the core of every successful negotiation. Consider this common problem in negotiations: you might think you’re creating value for someone by giving them something you think they want, but in reality, it might not be the most valuable thing to them; yet subsequently, is extremely costly to you.
"This scenario suggests that people make assumptions in negotiations that are not always true," explains Curhan. "And those assumptions may be an assumption that when you want something, when you have an objective in a negotiation that your counterpart may not want what you want. And that’s an assumption that’s often amiss, often not true and yet it persists."
Curhan says having these assumptions can change how people approach negotiations, and it can change their attitudes toward negotiations. Through clear and trustworthy communication, we can learn what the other party’s preferences really are.
"Once you find that out, there may be a lot of ways to address their preferences that don’t cost you as much," says Curhan.
4. WHAT COMMITMENTS SHOULD YOU PLAN TO MAKE?
The best outcomes in any negotiation comes when we prepare ahead of time, and in doing so, you are able to predict a realistic outcome of the meeting. Through this kind of preparation, we eliminate surprise and the likelihood of a low subjective value, which research tells us can lead to low economic outcomes, or objective value, in future negotiations, because we feel we haven’t been treated fairly in the initial negotiation.
Before any negotiation, given time and resource constraints, consider determining what commitments, which can be a formal contract or a verbal agreement, are you willing to make.
The next time you’re about to sit down at the bargaining table, remember that none of us are born great negotiators, which is exactly the reason why most of us dread it. However, like everything else in life, through practice and preparation, our understanding and skills can improve and maximize to garner better, more favorable, win-win results.
А source
