The first thing i need to understand is, what are my alternatives? What happens to me in the case of an impass? There have been a ton of research in this area, and it's really very clear those folks better alternatives, on average, walk away with more in the negotiation. If you're not clear what your bottom line is, and you don't have the discipline to maintain that bottom line, whatever surplus exists in the negotiation can easily flow to your counterpart. So i must leverage up my expectations. I must think about an aspiration. An aspiration is an assessment. And when i present a proposal to you, i'm going to present that proposal as a solution to a problem
Whether we realize it or not, we negotiate everyday. But when we approach these situations as a win-or-lose battle, we’re already showing resistance, and setting ourselves up for difficulty. But what if you reframed the whole idea, to think of a negotiation not as a fight, but as a problem-solving exercise involving emotions?
In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart Matt Abrahams speaks with Stanford GSB Professor emeritus Maggie Neale (and author of Getting More of What You Want: How the Secrets of Economics and Psychology Can Help You Negotiate Anything, in Business and in Life) about what she has learned in her decades of researching negotiation and the steps that lead to more collaborative problem solving. Listen as Maggie shares tips on how to approach negotiations with intention, and what strategies can help us more easily communicate our wants and needs.
Connect: