Q & A Table of Contents
Negotiation Style Choices
From: John, Shenzhen, China
Question: What do you think of a WIN-LOSE negotiation and how do you achieve a Win/Win negotiation? Describe the basic negotiation strategies.
Response: The test of a successful negotiation is whether the parties reach an agreement which each is willingly prepared to fulfill. In a win/lose situation, the 'loser' is likely to be grumpy about the result and thus is likely to try to find ways to avoid fulfilling his or her obligations under the agreement. Thus the negotiation is a failure.
It is critical to remember that negotiation is not a competitive sport. When you compete, your objective is to beat another party, to gain a better result, to succeed where they fail. When you negotiate you do so in order to add value to the result you would reach if you were to attempt to reach an objective without the cooperation of the party or parties with whom you negotiate. If you can achieve your ends without the cooperation of other parties, there's effectively no reason to negotiate.
Achieving a win/win result is most likely if the parties focus on doing the best they can to serve their own interests. This does not mean denying other parties the likelihood of getting their interests served, but rather finding ways to have the fulfillment of 'my' objectives and 'your' objectives complement each other like the classic yin and yang.
Basic negotiation strategies are discussed in dozens of books (including Negotiating Skills for Managers -- which is being translated into Chinese) and articles -- and on our website. Negotiation is not flying an airplane. A pilot must go through a defined checklist and can only have the plane take off if all the answers come up right. Negotiation requires a tremendous amount of creativity, flexibility, analysis, and planning. Each situation is different and so each negotiation may be resolved in its own unique way.
Negotiation styles and etiquette vary with culture, market, age, and many other factors. Approaching negotiation with a defined set of tactics is impractical; you have to learn all the time and be prepared to change when new information is revealed.
Enjoy the process,
Steve
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