You are named part of the negotiating group representing CAPECO before the Civil Construction Guild. It is your first experience. How would it act?
Negotiation is not a fight.
More than a competition where an opinion prevails, it is about reaching “agreements” favorable to both parties. As Abraham Lincoln said: "Perhaps I do not eliminate my enemies when I make them my friends."
Put yourself in each other's shoes.
People are going to give you what you want, not when you dominate them, but when you give them what they want.
How to learn to dance tango?
- What do I want? What does the other want? What will be my style of negotiation? What are my negotiable issues? What alternatives do I have?
If you go with the intention of getting the best slice, then there is a problem.
What will be my style of negotiation?
Academics take into account two elements in this topic: the result and the relationship:
| Style | Wanted preference |
| Win-Lose | The result prevails over the relationship |
| Win win | Makes the cake grow Both criteria are important |
| Lose win | Relationship prevails over results |
Here style meets its criteria, depending on the interlocutor, the medium and the events. You can, for example, make staggered concessions. How does that work?
First a reasonable and high, then it is smaller and smaller. Reducing the size of your concessions. With this you can convince the other party that you have pressured him and taken him as far as he could go, since he has subtly communicated to you that you will not be able to get anything better than what is offered.
What are my negotiable issues?
In every negotiation there is a floor and a ceiling.
If a negotiator's ceiling represents the counterparty's floor, we are fine.
In case the trading strips do not intersect, we are in trouble.
Finally: Be guided by your own judgment, never by that of others. But always be very self-critical. With that perhaps at the end I will say: "Now I am aware that I am not aware of all that I am."
