Effective Negotiation – Invent Options for Mutual Gain
As I continue to learn more about effective negotiation from “Getting to Yes” I am fascinated to see very familiar methods and practices that I’ve experienced working at many startups. We used a lot of these methods as a way to figure out common direction and purpose. Little did I think this was a negotiation but in reality it was.
It is usually counter to our nature to be creative when negotiating as we think we know “the right solution”. Even though it requires conscious effort, being creative and inventing options often results in better mutually beneficial solutions.
Premature Judgement
People often feel that they know the right answer. The most they will do is split the difference between their solution and the other party.
Inventing options is not something that we are naturally inclined to do. We are not sure if the ideas we come up with have merit. We might suggest an option that is not typical such as being compensated for a job via salary and the company financing our house. The company may respond that its ridiculous and if they do it for you, they would have to do it for everyone.
You may also be afraid that if you come up with options, the other party may take that as a commitment or revealing something about what you are planning to do. For example, if you wanted a bonus but the company was not willing to give it and you said, how about we spread out over time. Your boss may take that as a commitment and start negotiating from there. They may also take that as a sign you are planning to stay and they can take what you ask for with less importance.
We sometimes fear that we are having trouble agreeing to begin with and so we think that inventing more options may just make things worse and take longer. This thinking actually short circuits a process where you can find a better mutually beneficial solution.
Assumption of a Fixed Pie
When there are few options on the table, people see solutions as either or. People often feel that their win will be the other person’s loss. Paying $100 more for a car takes $100 away from the buyer and gives it to the seller.
Solving Their Problem is Their Problem
Being concerned only with your interests and being emotionally attached to a problem can prevent you from seeing and attending to the needs of the other party. It may also seem to be disloyal to be concerned with or give legitimacy to the needs of the other party. This thinking leads to one sides solutions which the other party is likely to decline.
I think the above is another Principle (aka natural law) we should heed. The Principle would be “If you only think of your side for a negotiation, the other side will likely decline” As obvious as the above actions and resulting consequences are, people still do this and suffer the consequences each time. Just look at the United States Congress where one party will create a bill with out involvement from the other party. This is often doomed to failure and if for some reason it succeeds due to pressure or power games, the relationship suffers.
Separate Act of Creating Options from Judging Them
Invent first and decide later. Arrange a brainstorming or inventing session with a few colleagues. Postpone all criticism or evaluation of ideas. Ignore if the ideas are realistic, good or bad. Wild ideas are encouraged and since everyone knows this is a brainstorming session, no ideas are taken as a commitment.
Define your purpose for the session. Choose a few participants 5-8 people. Choose a different environment from regular meetings. Make an informal atmosphere, like over drinks/appetizers. Choose a facilitator to keep the meeting on track, everyone gets a chance to talk, and enforce the ground rules. Seat the participants side by side to re-enforce the vision that you are working together (semi circle facing a flip chart works well). Clarify the ground rules, outlaw criticism of any kind. You can also make the entire session off the record and avoid attributing ideas to any participants. Brainstorm and record the ideas in full view of all participants (this gives group a tangible sense of progress)
After the initial brainstorm evaluate the ideas and pick a smaller set to continue with. This is the time where constructive criticism is ok and encouraged. Invent improvements to these filtered ideas. “What I like best of this idea is X, might be better if Y”
Select a group of ideas to cary forward and decide on a followup session to review the ideas and decide how to work them into your negotiation.
Brainstorm With The Other Side
While valuable it is more difficult than brainstorming with your own team. You may disclose confidential information or lead the other side to mistake options for things you might accept as a solution.
However, regardless of the potential drawbacks, joint sessions can have the benefit of inventing solutions that work well for both parties.
To protect from the draw backs make it clear that this is a brainstorming session and not trying to reach agreement. To make this obvious, you can state ideas you have no intention of accepting. “I can give you one million dollars for the house or you can give me the house for nothing or..”
Broaden Options on The Table Rather Than Limiting Them
People usually think they are tying to find one solution. The opposite is much more effective. Having many options to choose from makes it more likely to find mutual beneficial solutions that you can jointly choose.
Descriptive Analysis
Look at a situation, diagnose into problems, and suggestion solutions based on the diagnoses. The river near the house smells. The cause could be chemicals in the water, algae growth, and other reasons. If those are the diagnoses, then options can be to reduce chemicals or retard algae. Then think of what actual actions could be done tomorrow. To reduce chemicals in the water, the state can enact a new environmental law.
Look Through The Eyes of Different Experts
Looking at business options, think of options that might be invented by a banker, inventor, labor leader, economist, stock broker, etc. Consider how each expert would diagnose the problems, what solutions they would recommend, and what possible actions can be taken.
A Beginning
The above techniques are extremely useful to invent options that are likely better than “solutions” each party may have had in mind at the start of a negotiation. Not only do we generate better ideas, but we also participate in the process of solving the problem which improves the chances of finding and agreeing to mutually beneficial solutions.
As stated above, I’ve often seen these techniques used effectively inside companies to figure out strategy and come up with solutions to problems. It seems we are negotiations in many different scenarios which we often don’t even recognize and these concepts are very applicable.
More to Come
There are more methods to inventing options which we will cover in the next blog post. Subscribe below to be notified when the next post is published.
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