CS-NEGOTIATION KEY TAKEAWAYS SESSION 5-6

Adrian Tajmani
MIM Section 5
For this session we talked about the external criteria and legitimacy that turn
interests into objectives, and basically how emotions play an important role in
the negotiation.
One key element we talked about was the negotiation deadlock, which means a
state of tension that happens when emotions influence the rest of the
negotiation process.
In this case one of the easiest thins to do is to just simply suspend the
negotiation and continue it later in another moment. If that is not an option
maybe change the topic of the negotiation for a while to reach a comfortable
state and then go back to business.
One key element to avoid this situation is to try to gain openness and be open
yourself by giving enough information to build trust among the parties. Another
strategy is either to go back to the core of the negotiation or to a better moment
within the negotiation, which might help dissipate possible conflicts.
Its always important to try to put yourself in the place f your counterpart to try to
understand their perspective and why he might act one way or another. This is
very important in order to avoid escalation of conflicts in the negotiation.
Then we discussed what strategy could you apply if you have aversion towards
your counterparty but must negotiate. For instance you may be trapped
because there was an important investment, specially time investment which
tends to force a position and become less likely to change. Another strategy
could be doing incremental transformations, which basically means that the
more you wait the harder it is to change your negative image.
Finally we discussed that the best way to decide who to talk first it is to start
talking to your supporters first and think which issues you address with each
party, also how are you able to handle the process; the best option is to start
bilateral and then go multilateral.