Showing posts with label roger fisher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label roger fisher. Show all posts

Saturday, June 01, 2024

Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as You Negotiate

Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as You Negotiate by Roger Fisher and Daniel Shapiro

People have emotions. Even when we think we can be strictly objective, we still have emotions. Understanding this can help with negotiations and communications with others.  It is important to try to understand the other person's perspective. Big conflicts can result when we spend time responding to what we think is the other person's objections without fully understanding what their objections are. Giving words of appreciation to anyone - including our superiors - can be helpful. We can still respect status, but also acknowledge that different people can have higher status in different areas. Even when we are competing, understanding and validating the other's view can be helpful - even if we don't fully agree. Finding mutual affiliation can be beneficial. There are a number of examples, including fictional case studies with company negotiations, as well as real cases like the Peru/Ecuador negotiation over a disputed territory. There are good references in strategies to improve negotiations, as well as references to many other well-known bits of pop-psychology from Flow to the Love Lab.

Saturday, June 30, 2018

Getting to Yes: Negotiating without Giving In

Getting to Yes presents "principled negotiation" as a negotiating strategy. Key to the strategy is a focus on interests and objective criteria rather than specific positions. Often "positional bargaining" can bring other sides to dig in and attempt to save face with their position. Instead, a principled negotiator will attempt to separate the person from the problem and acknowledge the common interests and let the solution suggest itself. Key to carrying out the negotiation is knowledge of "Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement". This differs from a "bottom line" in that it allows things to be adapted based on the result of negotiation. New ideas may be discovered during the process of negotiating that lead to solutions that were not intended earlier. Getting to Yes is filled with anecdotes of successful negotiating in action. Keeping your cool and resisting the urge to go into attack mode is an important part of the process. As the opposite party feels respected, they are less likely to come out with guns blazing. They can become more of a willing partner rather than an adversary. However, to succeed, they must also feel that the end result is valuable to them. If you come up with a result that is too beneficial towards you, then you may find yourself operating from a weaker standing in the future.