Leadership negotiation. Summary Chapter 4

Summary Chapter 4
Negotiation: Strategy and Planning

In this chapter, the authors discuss what negotiators should do before opening negotiations. They suggest that effective planning and target setting are essential to achieving objectives.

Consequences of insufficient planning include:
• Negotiators fail to set clear objectives that serve as benchmarks for evaluating offers
• Negotiators may not understand their strengths and weaknesses
• Negotiators cannot depend only on being clever and articulate

The discussion of strategy and planning starts by exploring the process of strategy development, starting with the negotiators goals and objectives. The resulting planning roadmap is described as follows;
1. Understand the key issues to be resolved in the upcoming negotiations
From analysis, research, experience, and consultation with experts
2. Assemble all the issues together and understand the complexity of the bargaining mix
Prioritize the issues and determine which issues are linked or separate
3. Understand the key interests at stake that underlie the issues
Interests may be substantive, process-based, and relationship-based
4. Define the limits and alternatives (When do we away, when do we present other deals)
Establish two clear points: Resistance and alternative points
5. Clarify the targets and the opening points (Where do we begin the discussion)
Define a specific target point and the asking price, understand trade-offs
6. Understand my constituents and what do they expect of me
Assess all the key parties by completing a "field analysis"
7. Understand the other party ("Know your enemy as well as you know yourself", Sun Tsu)
Understand the other party’s resources, interests, resistance points, strategy, etc
8. Plan the process by which I will sell my ideas to the other party
Present a clear and compelling case and counter arguments effectively
9. Define the protocol (Agenda, who will be present, where and when do we negotiate)
10.Design a process to track and document negotiations and to understand whether a good agreement has been reached

The plan presented above may need to be modified as discussions proceed but the absence of such a plan will increase the chances of failure. From my own experience in project management, effective planning is indeed an element of success.