"Conflict is a growth industry"

People are less likely today to accept decisions made for them - they want to be involved in decisions that impact on them. As a result negotiation skills have become more and more important. All of us are involved in negotiating, whether we know it or not.  It has become a part of life in the complex societies we live in and the ever changing organizations we work in.

Read about our free email course in Negotiation Skills for Better Decision Making 

We integrate our considerable expertise in decision making with the service we offer in Negotiation Skills.

An outline of the important aspects of negotiation best practice is given below:

Assess the negotiation power of all parties involved

If you cannot afford to walk away from a  negotiation, you might not have the "negotiatiing power" to arrive at an acceptable agreement

Don't negotiate over positions, focus on principles

Do not take a position that will involve your ego.  Rather focus on the principles involved and agree on what they are

1. Arguing over positions produces unwise agreements
2. Arguing over positions is inefficient
3. Arguing over positions endangers an ongoing relationship
4. When there are many parties involved, positional bargaining is even worse

 Being nice is not the answer, and taking a strong and hard stand is also not the answer.

Negotiate over principles, on two levels:

1. Level 1:  Negotiate about the substance of the issue involved
2. Level 2:  Negotiate about the procedure for dealing with the substance

1. People:  Separate the people from the problem
2. Interests:  Focus on interests, not positions
3. Options:  Generate a variety of options before deciding what to do
4. Criteria:  Insist that the results be based on some objective criteria

The "what-if's"

1. What if they are more powerful?
2. What if they insist on taking a position?
3. What if they are not fair?'

Using the complex nature of the situation to your advantage

If the situation is very complex, you can have an advantage if you understand how to think about a complex situation.  Van Thinking also provides ou with some practical techniques on how to engage complex situations in our online course on complexity thinking.  Combining those insights with the insights about negotiation in general can assist you to increase your negotiation strength. (Read more about the services we offer to assist you in engaging complex situations).

What types of goals should I give priority to in organisational negotiation?

Understanding the various organizational decision making goals helps a lot fo focus you on appropriate goals.  Our Organizational Decision Making Landscape gives an overview of these.  Integrating that with the general principles of negotiation can assist you in making concessions that are wise, while you insist on principles that are important.

What does Van Thinking offer? 

Free email course in negotiation skills

We offer a short introductory email course free of charge.  If you are interested to learn morre about negotiation this is the place to start.

Read more about our free email course in negotiation skills.

Practical assistance during the negotiation process

We can provide you with an objective ear to listen and respond to you before you enter an important negotion, and/or while you are in the process of negotiating. It can be an unnerving experience, and having someone objective to talk to can help you focus.  We'll help you stay on course by reminding you of the principles of good negotiation and helping you use them in appropriate ways during the process.

Are you interested in knowling how to use the insights and directions given above in practical negotiation?  Van Thinking provides an online consulting service to assist you as you put these into practice in your situation. 

There is nothing like learning through putting something into practice.

If you are interested to discuss the possibility with us complete the format our online consulation page to express your interest.  Enter "Negotiation" as the subject in the form, and descibe your situation briefly the decsription field.

We offer a range of services on management and organisational decision making.

References

We make use of content from books and other resources.  They are listed below.  We also add our own content, focussing on negotiating complex situations in organizations.

Fisher, Roger, Ury, William, Getting to Yes: Negotiating an agreemnet without giving in, 1991

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