Cybersam's Blog - Negotiation workshop

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Negotiation workshop

I have always considered communication and negotiation important skills to have in the business and policy world - there's no escape form interactions and transactions. So to focus my learning on negotiation, I attended a negotiation workshop taught by Prof. Lawrence Susskind today. During our class introduction, I had the misfortune of saying: "I have heard that negotiation a important 'soft' skill to have." This remark was immediately objected by the professor who insisted that negotiation is not a soft skill. He prefer to associate negotiation as a "hard" skill with lots of maneuvering. ;-)

We started the class by identifying the determinants of successful negotiation and how they can be applied to give the negotiator the advantage. Interests, efficiency, and relationships are how we measure success in negotiation. It is important to identify the interests of every party involved in the process, especially your interests - some negotiators don't even know what their interests are before going into negotiation. Next, there's efficiency of outcome. Ideally, all negotiators should strive for the goal of being "Pareto efficient," which is defined as "an outcome to a negotiation if there exists no other outcome that is better for at least one party to the negotiation and not worse for any party to the negotiation." In other words, you should always seek for the optimal package for all parties to the negotiation. Last but not least, there are relationships to maintain. Sure, you can go for the hard bargain approach but in this day and age, you still have to deal with the other party after the negotiation process. Therefore good relationships should always be maintained. For this reason, Prof. Susskind advocated the mutual gains approach to negotiation where all parties focus not on what a party will gain but rather what mutual agreement means.

I think if there's one take-away from today's class, this is it: "Dont' be nice. Niceness gets you nowhere. Instead be trustworthy, not trusting. You want the process and outcome to be efficient and that the interests of all parties are met, whether I'm liked or not." I look forward tomorrow's mock negotiations to put today's theories to practice.

1/31/2006 12:28:37 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00) Comments [10] School

1/31/2006 8:19:38 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Good stuff, very useful.

Pareto should be with a capital P, it's the last name of the guy credited with the formulation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_efficiency

Yoav Shapira |yoavsAT NOSPAMcomputer dot org

1/31/2006 9:33:41 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Hmmm... I thought I proofread my article and change "pareto efficiency" to "Pareto Efficient." I guess I didn't. Thanks for pointing that out.

Cybersam

1/31/2006 11:06:20 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

What I don't see here is a discussion of personalities and egos and how they relate to the process of negotiation. I guess it could fit under the heading "relationships," but that is a broad concept containing many other aspects of negotiation which does not adequately describe what I am driving at.

Consideration of the personality/ego of the person across the table from you is very important. If that person has a strong ego or personality, or if your own personality or ego clashes with that persons', barriers will be erected against the scientific negotiation process you describe in your blog. In other words, you might never reach the aforementioned negotiation process until you've broken down those barriers. In order to accomplish that, you must first understand the personality and ego of the negotiator across the table.

I guess in that regard, I disagree with your professor that negotiation is a hard skill. It's a combination of hard and soft skills. You need the soft skills to deal with issues arising from personality and ego conflicts, which are inextricably intertwined with the negotiation process.

Steve G

1/31/2006 9:58:56 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Well, my remark was taken with a sense of humor by the professor, really. It was all for good fun.

Also, I don't expect much advanced topics being covered in a 2-day workshop.

I am by no means an expert on negotiation but common sense tells me that interest trumps ego and personality. Sure, ego and personality matter, but until we have firm grasp of other people's and my interests, we can't create value (a package with an optimal set of options) for everyone in the negotiation.

So Steve, do you have to take a course in negotiation in law school?

Cybersam

2/1/2006 9:43:14 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

No! It's one of the many travesties of my legal "education." Considering the fact that lawyers, in particular litigators (which I'll be), should be experts in negotiation, you'd think they would have some sort of formal training in negotiation tactics. However, as is the case with the rest of my coursework, what I learn will have virtually no application to my career upon graduation.

My comments come straight from my personal experience.

Steve g

2/2/2006 2:14:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Chow, I think you ought to come to NY and sort out the subway unions and management. It's not going at all well there ;)

I took a class on "Conflict, Collaborations and Negotiations" last semester, and it was awesome. Recommend reading "Getting to Yes" by Fisher. If you get the opportunity to take an extended nego class, go for it. Mine was a half-semester class and i learned a lot from the role plays . I even used some of the techniques to sooth my crazy landlady...

siobhan |siobhan dot oconnorAT NOSPAMireland dot com

2/2/2006 4:01:03 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

I would just like to point out that the landlady is still crazy.

Steve g

2/4/2006 6:08:04 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

yes, she's crazy, but we've managed to avoid eviction thus far...

siobhan |siobhan dot oconnorAT NOSPAMireland dot com

2/6/2006 12:49:12 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

All thanks to negotiation. ;-)

Cybersam

3/17/2006 9:13:59 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Negotiation is definitely not a soft skill. Glad you learned your lesson ;)