The Negotiator's Primer, Part 1: Who , ME?

So you're not a negotiator. Really? How many times have you been in one or more of the following situations?

-You want to convince your son to finish cleaning up his room.
- Your co-worker is a big fan of Viking death metal thrash music - she says it helps her to concentrate - while you like Bach.
- The Board you serve on needs to negotiate a contract with the new manager.
- An employee you supervise asks for a salary increase.

So. You STILL think you're not a negotiator?

The truth is, we're all negotiators, every day. Sometimes it's informal - an exchange in a short meeting, on the phone, in a conversation at the front door as you leave. The negotiation may last only a minute or two. At the other end of the scale are formal negotiations between organizations like Nunavut Tunngavik and the Federal Government, which can go on for years. But no matter who you are, or what role you play - director, manager, client, purchaser or parent - it is important to develop your understanding and skills in negotiating.

In this series of posts, we're going to dig into our experience and approaches, and provide some models and techniques that will help you to carry out the negotiations you will be involved with. We can't guarantee success in getting your teenage daughter to clean up her bedroom, so we'll deal only with formal negotiations that are recognized by the parties as organized negotiations, although the principles we discuss should apply anywhere. The main difference between formal negotiations and other types is the need for planning.

We're going to cover this in three chunks.

1. We'll define the purpose of negotiation and identify basic models for negotiating with another party.

2. We'll describe the stages of the negotiating process.

3. We'll set out the key steps in planning for successful negotiation.

So what exactly do we mean by "formal negotiation"?  Well, it's a continuum, not an absolute term - but general, "formal" negotiations are characterized by: 

• a longer-term process that involves more that a single meeting; 
• two or more parties 
• a difference of opinion or a difference of goals that needs to be resolved 
• agreement between parties to work towards a solution
• agreement that whatever solution is reached will be acceptable to all the parties.

In a nutshell - negotiation is a formal process by which two or more parties with different needs and goals agree to work together to find a solution that is acceptable to both.

As we suggested above, the range of negotiations you can get into is a pretty big field - from figuring out who's going to cook supper this weekend to completing a Land Claims Agreement (not that one is necessarily easier than the other.) But any negotiation has certain things in common: they all tend to share three goals. 

1. In any negotiation, you're trying to secure your own interests through an agreement that will work.

2. In any negotiation, you're seeking to establish the most efficient process you can, so that months - or years! -  don't get spent in non-productive discussions.

3. And most important, as any good salesman will tell you - in any negotiation, you're trying to protect or build relationships, as a basis for implementing the agreement, or for future negotiations.

Tomorrow - Approaches to Negotiation.