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Negotiation Skills Training: Getting Ready For And Getting Involved In Complicated Negotiations Utilising Best Practice Preparation
The key negotiation skill required to unlock optimal value from complex negotiation environments is to identify and understand the interests of all the parties affected by or participating in the negotiation. In some cases, it is easy to understand both the positions & interests of players in the negotiation. In most cases, however, it is not only hard to identify the interests of stakeholders; it is also difficult to identify all the stakeholders.
How to negotiate in complex, multi-party negotiations?
1. Identify all the participants in the complex negotiation
This may be stating the obvious but in reality, it is often difficult to spot and track all the stakeholders in a negotiation. In a business environment, we should at least try to identify the following stakeholders:
a. Financial stakeholders
These are the individuals or groups that will finance, support or give permission to reach an agreement based on the financial terms proposed. It is key to identify all potential parties that may have an interest in the purely financial aspects of the negotiation.
b. User/consumer stakeholders
These are the individuals or groups that will implement and support the outcome of the agreement that is reached. These are the people that will live and work with the output of the negotiations on a day to day basis.
c. Technical & legal stakeholders
These are the parties or groups that will agree to and agree to the technical and contractual dimensions of the negotiations.
d. Guides/Gurus & other Influencers
These are the parties or groups that hold significant influence over the pivotal decision makers involved in the negotiation.
2. Identify the interests of each participant in the negotiation
There are essentially two methods to identify an individual or group's interest in a commercial negotiation. The first way is to put yourself in that individual or group's position and to attempt to see things from his/her/their point of view. What supporting information would you need? What precedents would apply? What assumptions can you make, and test? The second way is to ask the individual or group a series of questions to assist you (and them) to accurately identify their key interests. The best question to ask is "Why?" "Why is this negotiation important to you? Why are you assuming this position? Why is this option being explored?"
3. Create a frame that is appropriate for each stakeholder
Having identified the interests of each participant, you should now create the appropriate frame. Different people reach decisions for different reasons. It is not useful to highlight the same points to support decision making to all stakeholders. You should focus on communicating the most appropriate frame to each participant or potential stakeholder.
4. Create an effective management structure for the negotiation
If our counter parties experience us to be rational, the odds are greatly increased that they will also react to us in a rational fashion. We can only present a unified and rational 'front' if we have thought about the roles & responsibilities within our negotiation team. Split the responsibility in the team between those that will manage the Relationship dimensions, and those that will manage or be involved in the Task dimensions.
Negotiation skills training teaches us to create an agenda that addresses the interests of all potential participants. A successful way to simplify complex commercial negotiations is to add structure. We need to focus on the process aspects to ensure that we move forward at every level of the negotiation. You will find that complexity can be managed with the use of an appropriate supporting structure.
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