Negotiation Skills - A communitybuilders.nsw Toolkit

This communitybuilders.nsw Negotiation Toolkit is a summary from a variety of sources of some of the principles, steps and strategies in the process of negotiation.

communitybuilders.nsw Negotiation Toolkit - Background

This Toolkit was inspired by a presentation by Sam Jeffries, Chairperson of the Murdi Paaki Regional Council at the NSW Premier's Department, Strategic Projects Division Conference on 12 December 2002.

During his talk, Sam made a distinction between consultation and negotiation.

Consultation is now a popular and common strategy in community development.
But for true community participation, people must also have the power to influence and help determine the decisions being made, i.e. be part of negotiating a final outcome that is acceptable to all parties.

Negotiation is a partnership in problem-solving, a joint decision-making process that works towards better solutions that give everyone more of what they really need in the long term.

Negotiation moves beyond compromise. It promotes a collaborative approach in which parties pool resources to solve a problem to their best advantage.

Negotiation - A communitybuilders.nsw Toolkit

Negotiation is a sophisticated form of communication, a part of the constructive management of conflict.

It is important that conflict management skills be used throughout the negotiation process.

The Conflict Resolution Network suggests five basic principles of negotiation to adopt a win/win approach and ensure an outcome that all parties can agree on.

• Be hard on the problem and soft on the person
• Focus on needs, not positions
• Emphasise common ground
• Be inventive about options
• Make clear agreements

Suggested steps in the negotiation process to achieve outcomes agreeable to all parties:

1. Preparation -Do your homework and know as much as possible about:

• Yourself and the other parties.
• What is each party's Best Alternative to a Negotiated Settlement (BATNA) i.e. can any of the parties walk away from the negotiations?
• Your best and worst case scenarios (your settlement range)
• Your options and the pros and cons of each
• The other parties' reputations and negotiation models (win/win? win/lose?)

2. Create an appropriate climate and environment for meeting

• Physical: location, venue, seating arrangements should be neutral, non-threatening, calm, supportive.
• Verbal: use language appropriate and understandable to both parties; use interpreters if necessary.
• Time frame: be flexible and don't rush to an outcome - successful negotiation requires time and effort and quick fixes may be only short term solutions.

3. Establish the ground rules

• Behavioural: not interrupting; taking turns; respect; no abuse.
• Procedural: clarify roles of various parties - facilitator, chairperson, experts, absent partners.
• Substantive: what can be discussed and decided; confidentiality; privacy; permission to speak to the media.

4. Adopt conflict resolution strategies throughout the negotiation, including:

• Commit to a win/win solution
• Fight fair
• Manage your emotion
• Be honest
• Get your facts right
• Focus on the issue not the person
• Maintain the relationship (create empathy by seeing yourself and the other party from their point of view)
• Identify unfair tactics and deal with them
• Use active listening (noting non-verbal as well as spoken messages - facial expressions, voice inflexions, body language)
  
• Use a variety of questioning techniques
  
• Make it possible for parties to back down at any stage without feeling humiliated

5. Confirm the authority the participants have to negotiate

• Do all participants have the authority to negotiate a mutually acceptable agreement and see that it is implemented?

6. Identify the non-negotiables

• What can the meeting discuss and decide?
• What is not negotiable for you and the other parties (is this immutable)?

7. Identify the issues and agree on them

• Clarify the areas where you disagree
• Divide the issues into parts
• During the negotiation, address a less difficult aspect when stuck
• Throughout the process, refocus on the issues and try to resolve them based on what's fair for all parties.
• Explore best and worst alternatives to negotiating an acceptable agreement

8. Clarify each party's needs and wants/interests and positions and explore them

• Wants are not the same as needs;
• Explore why the parties have these needs/wants - it may end the conflict (as the story of the two cooks who wanted an orange reveals - one needed the juice and the other needed the rind).
• Base the negotiation on the basic needs and true interests of the parties

9. Find the common ground and establish a common purpose

• You will now have defined the scope of the dispute and set a more balanced tone for the negotiation
• If possible, establish some objective fair standards against which your final solution can be judged

10. Explore the options

• Suggested options must satisfy the parties' needs
• Be as inventive and creative as possible in suggesting and exploring all options

11. Discuss possible solutions, including their viability

• Which solutions address most of what you all want?
• Which most create a win/win situation?
• Review common ground

12. Select areas of agreement and commit to these

• Make clear agreements
• Check that all parties understand and confirm these agreements

13. Record these agreements.

• Ensure all parties have copies of the record of agreements

14. Decide on follow up action and time frame

• Negotiators will need to report outcomes to other stakeholders
• If there is media interest, decide who will be the spokes-person/people
• Decide on a time for implementation of the agreement

This Toolkit was compiled by Roslyn McDonald, Project Officer, communitybuilders.nsw

Sources

Each of the following links will open in a new browser window.

• Conflict Resolution Network: Negotiation Skills
  http://www.crnhq.org/windskill10.html
  
  
• Queensland Government: Protocols for Consultation and Negotiation with Aboriginal People
  http://www.indigenous.qld.gov.au/resources/cultures.cfm

• A.J. Schuler: Negotiate to Win
  http://www.ajschuler.com/negotiation_skills___tips_for_.html
  AJ@SchulerSolutions.com

For further information

Contact	:	Roslyn McDonald, Project Officer
Address	:	SPD, NSW Premier's Department, Level 32, GMT, 1 Farrer place, Sydney NSW 2000
Phone	:	02 9228 5013
Fax	:	02 9228 3277
Email	:	roslyn.mcdonald@premiers.nsw.gov.au