How do you know whether you’ve won a negotiation? When we ask our clients what a successful negotiation looks like, they frequently refer to the goal of achieving a ‘win-win’ outcome. But, in reality, we still see a significant number of people approaching negotiation with a ‘win-lose’ mentality. Where does this pressure to win come from? […]
Do you find yourself regularly dealing with minor day to day frustrations? Or perhaps you have people bringing you endless small problems to solve. These things certainly seem to crop up a lot for me. And although I no longer work regularly on major negotiations, I certainly still get a lot of negotiation practice. As I […]
For many, the opportunity to study at Harvard University is a dream come true – like seeing the Northern Lights or swimming with a whale shark. (Or not.) In June, I had the good fortune to spend two weeks at the Harvard Negotiation Institute, attending intensive negotiation workshops led by acclaimed experts Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen and Douglas Stone. My […]
Ever noticed how the so-called ‘festive season’ can play out more like an exercise in conflict management? It’s supposed to be the season to be jolly but often ends up stressful as interpersonal conflict gets driven to the surface by unrealistic expectations and misaligned assumptions. At a time when many people are wishing for ‘peace […]
When the authors of the classic negotiation text Getting to Yes* penned the advice ‘focus on interests, not positions’, they couldn’t have chosen a simpler way to describe what in practice can often prove challenging. The guideline ‘focus on interests, not positions’ serves as a powerful remedy to the tendency for negotiators to focus on […]