What worked well?
What did not work as well as you had planned?
So what did you learn? Why do you think things happened as they did?
Now what will you do differently next time?
For each of the following, circle the response the best reflects your level of agreement regarding the person(s) with whom you negotiated. You may need more than one form. You will need these records for the Reputation Index. Name of person you are rating___________________________________
This person set a tone for productive, genuine negotiations.
Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree
1 2 3 4 5
Demonstrated thorough preparation and knowledge of the situation.
Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree
1 2 3 4 5
Showed creativity and flexibility in trying to reach an agreement.
Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree
1 2 3 4 5
Presented own/own team’s views clearly and persuasively.
Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree
1 2 3 4 5
Overall, how effective was this student in this negotiation?
Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree
1 2 3 4 5
Additional comments or explanation to support your responses above.
Overview
This document provides a proven, highly flexible framework to plan for a variety of negotiation situations. There is no one best way to organize your preparations, just as there is no one best way to negotiate. However, there are a set of core elements in virtually every negotiation to minimize surprises and to enhance your prospects for a successful negotiation process and outcome. This framework is not meant to be prescriptive, but rather, illustrative. Most of all, it has been designed to facilitate your learning about fundamental negotiation concepts, their interrelationships, and their application. With time and practice, you will be able to adapt your preparation as necessary to the situation at hand. That is the ultimate goal. Below, a number of questions have been provided to prompt your thinking during your preparation. The questions are not exhaustive.
Situation – What is going on? Who is involved and in what context?
What is the problem I am negotiating?
With whom am I negotiating? What do I know about them? What do they know about me?
What authority do I have to make a deal here? What authority do they have?
What is the current status of my relationship with the other party(s)? What has it been in the past? What would I like it to be in the future?
Do you trust the other party(s)? Do they trust you?
Who has more power in this situation? Why?
Is this negotiation a one-time deal or a repeat transaction?
Can a third party be useful (e.g., as leverage, as an excuse, as a witness)?
How much time is available? Are deadlines working for me or against me?
What is needed in the final agreement (e.g., formal or informal)?
What other contextual factors might impact this negotiation (e.g., communication channel, multiple parties, teams, cultural factors, international issues, etc.)
Interests, Issues & Ranges – What do the parties want and why?
What are my interests (prioritized)? What are their interests (prioritized)? Don’t neglect intangible interests.
Which interests are shared (S), are in conflict (C) or just different?
What issues are in the bargaining mix? Are any of them linked? What are my priorities with respect to each? Theirs?
How do my positions on the issues relate to my interests? What about the other party?
What ranges should I plan to guide my offers and concession making? What are theirs likely to be?
Are there other parties whose interests should be considered?
Alternatives – What will happen if the negotiation fails?
What is my BATNA? What is theirs?
How attractive is my BATNA? How attractive is theirs?
What can I do to strengthen my BATNA? What can I do to weaken their perception of their BATNA?
Questions – Information exchange
What do I want to learn from them? How can I better understand them?
What do I need to confirm or verify? Is deception a concern?
What might they want to know from me? How much am I willing to reveal and at what point?
What are the difficult questions they might ask? How should I handle them?
Options – Problem solving
What is my opening offer? Can I use multiple equivalent simultaneous offers (MESO) to illicit information about the other party? How can I frame this offer for maximum effectiveness?
What resources do I have at my disposal that might help satisfy their interests? What resources might they have that could help satisfy my interests?
How might I use specific tactics or techniques to find an agreement (e.g., logrolling, exploiting differences, add/modify issues, contingent agreements, etc.)?
What initial concessions should I propose that might facilitate agreement?
Legitimacy – Justification
What objective criteria might be relevant in this situation to justify my positions? Objective criteria can include standards, historical precedent, rules, law or policy, or what could be deemed as fair.
What rationale and evidence will the other party use in presenting their perspective? How can I counter this (e.g., reframe, redirect, questions)? Do I have a good response (e.g., one that accepts their point, then adds to it)?
Approach – Visualize the interaction
How should I being the negotiation? What tone, attitude and pace should I present?
How might facilitate communication, rapport & trust, given the other party(s) likely point of view?
What agenda should be proposed for the negotiation?
What do I want to communicate (e.g., important points, constraints, commitments, reminders)? How can I best be persuasive in doing so (e.g., influence techniques, frames, evidence, legitimacy)?
What other issues should be considered (e.g., commitments, protocol, logistics, process management issues, team roles, cultural considerations)?
Continuous Improvement (Post negotiation reflection) – Learning from experience
How satisfied am I with the process of the negotiation? The outcome? The other party?
What went particularly well in this negotiation? What didn’t go so well? How do these factors explain my degree of satisfaction with the process and outcomes of the negotiation?
What did I learn from this? About myself? About the other party? About negotiating?
Based on what happened, what will I do differently next time to improve the process and/or the outcomes?
What is my assessment of the preparation and behaviors of the others party(s)?
