Successful
negotiation with the 4 phases of the meeting guide
The person
who controls the agenda determines what will be discussed and what not. It is
therefore important that you have the courage to take things into your own
hands.
Firstly, agree exactly what is to be negotiated with the person you are
meeting. If the topics are too wide ranging, agree on a process for the
meeting; in other words, the length of time that you are likely to spend on
each topic in order to reach a result.
Discuss as early as possible how you imagine the meeting will proceed. The
following meeting guide has proven to be very useful for negotiations in
practice:
1. Negotiation topics - What is being negotiated?
- When will we be dealing with each topic and for how long?
2.
Information phase- Exchange interests
- Exchange information
- Describe points of view and
perspectives
- Exchange arguments and reasons: establish common ground,
specify differences
- Describe problems
3.
Discussion phase- Where there is common ground, register the first results
- Deal with
problems one by one; discuss the pros and cons; focus on the
benefits.
- Gauge what leeway there is for negotiation
- Find various
choices
4.
Decision phaseIn the decision phase the objective is to aim for a specific negotiation
result. In this phase, important questions are:
- How can we agree on the content?
- How can we agree on the process?
- What
are the factual criteria on which we base the results of the
negotiation?
- Are we basing the negotiation results on objective
benchmarks?
Practical hint: Shaping the discussion phase in a factual and
results-focused manner can often be very difficult because, if the parties'
interests are too different, there is a serious risk of them becoming
deadlocked.
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