Inbusiness, as in life, you don’t get what you deserve or want, you get what you negotiate.

Rule number one is that you will not get the most prosperous condition you want, but the poorest condition you will accept. We get what we tolerate. We get not what we want, but what we’re ready to tolerate.

Start thinking about negotiation as a learnable skill that you can develop and hone to resolve conflicts, build agreements, and get deals done.

Negotiations have gone on for as long as humans have existed. It could be argued that beating a fellow cave dweller with a club was simply negotiating by other means. Negotiations have become more nuanced, if not always more civil, over time and have produced treaties and trade agreements and have resolved disputes.

New World, New Rules

In today’s business world, we can effectively assemble a team of world-class talent around any set of tasks we are confronting and get things done quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively. We can use online platforms like Freelancer and Upwork to provide our skillsets for hire or locate and contract skills and expertise we need. We don’t need to live near each other or be in the same office to work together productively.

We can email, Skype, Zoom, and other technologies to bring people together to work effectively without concerns for geography. Open up a Skype channel, and the person can be next to you all day, collaborating in real-time.

We don’t need to be co-located in the same office any longer. And the positions no longer need to be permanent. We can assemble the mosaic of talent specific to a particular project or phase of a project. Teams ebb and flow and breathe as the enterprise expands, contracts, and evolves.

We can contract with people best suited to a job and create and organize teams to fulfill our vision and goals. This turbo-charged approach to human resources is a boon to productivity. But without the clear lines of authority inherent in a static organization, challenges arise.

In this new paradigm, accomplish our work, and meet our deliverables, we rely on individuals and organizations over whom we exercise no direct control. Purposeful management in these situations takes negotiation skills.

Negotiation, Management, and Leadership

In this new world, where direct lines of authority have transformed into collaboration networks, negotiation has become the primary form of decision-making and a key to management and leadership.

To get what we want, we need to negotiate.

Pyramids of power are shifting into networks of negotiation. The communications revolution has created the ability to form global “virtual” organizations with cross-cultural transactions. And these organizations morph and mutate as the tasks at hand change.

We are in a negotiation revolution as we move towards collaboration and cooperation and away from adversarial competitive models and behavior modes.

We have come to understand that wise agreement is better for both sides than the alternative. This approach is called Principled Negotiation.

Principled Negotiation

The idea behind Principled Negotiation is to use a methodology that removes emotions and egos from the process by agreeing to work together to address concerns rather than trick, win or beat up each other to achieve domination. It incorporates agreed-upon objective standards to evaluate options and uses collaborative brainstorming sessions to develop those options.

This process can work in two-sided deal-making or complex multi-sided negotiations.

Principled negotiation is based on engaging all interested parties in a joint search for mutual gains and applying legitimate standards for assessing various options. It is a brainstorming process of finding opportunities and searching for solutions that are better for all sides.

To make a negotiation process predictably functional, we must separate the people from the problem, brainstorm possible solutions and alternatives, and use objective criteria to judge those alternatives. We must also know your bottom line and develop our best option if we can’t arrive at a satisfactory negotiated solution.

This process is all about engaging the other side in exploring mutually beneficial solutions and agreements. This methodology not only makes the process work, but it also creates deals that are less likely to fall apart.

“You must take care to eliminate from the tone you use all consternation and reproachfulness. My friend, this is important: fight harmlessly.”

- Rainer Maria Rilke

General Negotiating Criteria

The first question to ask in any negotiation is what it should accomplish. A negotiating method should provide a high probability of achieving specific goals while meeting these three general criteria:

· It should not harm and feasibly improve the relationships

· It should be orderly and productive

· It should produce an enlightened and sustainable agreement

The Process: PIANO

A straightforward method of negotiating on the merits of legitimate interests can be defined in five strategic steps. These five elements can be employed in any situation to strike a deal or resolve conflict. Each stage in the method addresses an aspect of the negotiation process. To help make the steps memorable, I have created an acronym PIANO where each letter stands for an element in the process:

· People: Detach the individuals from the problem.

· Interests: Emphasize interests, not postures.

· Alternatives: Invent multiple options looking for mutual gains.

· Norms: Insist that the result be based on objective standards.

· Option: Have a clear idea of your course if you cannot strike an acceptable deal.

Four Stages

The process takes place in four stages: analysis, planning, discussion, and closing. In each step, all five elements come into play in different ways.

Negotiations Summary

This post on Negotiation outlines a powerful method for negotiating an agreement, problem-solving, and conflict resolution. Try it out sometime today and see if it helps you get closer to what you want and deserve.

This method should be the basis for a collaborative decision-making process that promotes cooperation and collaboration.

Principled negotiation emphasizes defining fundamental interests, creating mutually satisfying options, and using fair standards that can end in a wise agreement more often than not.

This method is not just applicable to business deals. It is productive in social settings where maintaining the relationship is paramount but promoting your interests and needs is also essential, like dealing with family and friends.

It will help you manage those who report to you and lateral relationships with colleagues and bosses in organizational settings.

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