Would you like to take simple steps to vastly improve your negotiation outcomes? In his best-selling book, Getting Past No: Negotiating in Difficult Situations, distinguished negotiation expert William Ury identifies “Five Steps to Breakthrough Negotiation.”
Of course, as Ury points out, before you can effectively use these five simple steps in a negotiation, you must engage in extensive planning. But I’m impatient, I love to read the ending of a book first, and, true to form, I am “putting the cart before the horse” in this article. Truth be told, however, I would lose interest faster than Pavlov’s dogs salivated at the sight of a biscuit if I were to read an article on negotiation planning without first having a concrete understanding of what one is planning for and why. I would like to reduce the chances that any of my columns end up draped over your nose while you sleep!
In my next article, I will talk about negotiation planning. I hope that you will gain a framework to comprehend and apply such planning after reading this article. So, without further ado, here are the five steps to “breakthrough negotiation”:
1. Go the Balcony (Your reaction): The first step to a successful negotiation outcome is to control your own emotions – Ury calls it “going to the balcony” and viewing the negotiation from above. In other words, don’t react to the other party by getting angry, seeking retribution, or by counter-attacking. Instead, focus on your own goals and interests, and reflect upon your best alternative to a negotiated agreement (or “BATNA”) as a framework within which to determine whether and perhaps how to continue the negotiation.
2. Step to Their Side (Their emotion): Create a positive atmosphere by defusing strong emotion from the other party such as anger and hostility. Don’t attack or resist, but listen to them and agree wherever you can — acknowledge their competence.
3. Reframe (Their Position): Change the game. In response to hard ball tactics, turn what the say into problem solving questions — “why is it that you want that”? Let the underlying problems rise to the surface and guide them. Don’t try to meet their attack head on — use verbal jujitsu to deflect their momentum into interest-based problem solving.
4. Build a Golden Bridge (Their Dissatisfaction): Do not push the other party to negotiate, draw them in. Make it easy for them to say yes by identifying and incorporating their needs and interests into your proposals wherever possible, and help them to save face such that the outcome appears to be a victory for them.
5. Use Power to Educate (Their Power): Don’t escalate conflict if a party continues to resist negotiating in a cooperative manner. Educate them about the cost of no agreement: exercise restraint and ask reality testing questions, warn without threatening, demonstrate your BATNA, and reassure them that your goal is a mutual “win-win” agreement, and not victory.
I would encourage anyone that wants further information, analysis, and/or examples regarding any or all of these negotiation steps to pick up a paperback copy of Getting Past No. It is a $17.00 dollar investment that will prove invaluable to you time and again.
I’m Dave Doto, and this is my Opening Statement. -November 23, 2011
Law Offices of David M. Doto
