Negotiating After Deadlock. Moving from Confrontation to Collaboration.

 

To move negotiators from confrontation to collaboration means knowing how to break a deadlock and move the negotiations forward even when the people you’re negotiating with decide to take a firm stand against you.

 

Four deadlock causes and strategies to break the deadlocks are:

 

DEADLOCK CAUSE DEADLOCK BREAKER

Pushing Your HOT button Go To The Balcony

Lack of Benefit Understanding Step to Their Side

Resistance to Your Ideas Build a Golden Bridge

Lack of Consequence Use Your Power to Educate

 

The First Deadlock Cause & Breaker. The first deadlock may have been caused by your own natural reaction when someone pushed one of your buttons. Natural reactions occur, such as “striking back.” Reactions such as that are not conducive to successful deadlock breaking. A better strategy is to suspend that reaction, regain your mental balance and refocus on achieving the goals you set. A Harvard professor, Dr. Ronald Heifetz, coined a phase to explain this strategy. He called it, “Going to the Balcony.” It is his metaphor for taking a step back and getting a better perspective.

The Second Deadlock Cause & Breaker. Of course, all deadlocks are not caused by reactions to other people’s words or actions. Some may be caused by someone else’s negative emotions, such as defensiveness, fear, suspicions, and hostility. When this occurs, you not only need to regain your own mental balance – you need to help the other person regain theirs, too. A good strategy is to do the opposite of what’s expected. Instead of arguing against the person’s point as he might expect, ask him to further explain. Practice active listening and people will be more inclined to listen to you. This strategy is called, “Step to Their Side.”

The Third Deadlock Cause & Breaker. This deadlock comes about when a proposal has been made but the other parties can’t see the benefits of agreeing to it. This could be caused by a number of things. They may feel they can’t go along because it wasn’t their idea - agreeing might make them “lose face.” In these instances a strategy called, “Building a Golden Bridge” may be successful in breaking the deadlock. Simply put, this strategy means to show them how they benefit from the agreement.

The Fourth Deadlock Cause & Breaker. The fourth deadlock breaker is “Use Your Power to Educate.” In the third deadlock we learned to show the benefits of agreeing. In this one, we do the opposite: we make them see the consequences of filing to agree. The other parties are unaware, or don’t understand what can happen if you do not break the deadlock and move on. It’s in this closure phase of negotiation that most deals are decided. If you’ve tried everything else, make them see the negative consequences of not reaching a mutually advantageous agreement.

In summary, these strategies are:

Go to the Balcony – You can only control your own behavior. This strategy allows you to do that. Belay (fix, stick to) your natural tendency to “fight fire with fire” and remember your goal. Instead of getting mad or thinking of getting even, buy some time and calm down.

Step to their Side – To move from confrontation to collaboration, a favorable climate must be created. The “Step to their Side” strategy does just that. It gives you an opportunity to take the first step towards cooperation by listening to their side, acknowledging their authority and

competence.

Build a Golden Bridge – If the people you’re negotiating with are resisting your suggested solutions, you may have to convince them that these solutions are in their best interest as well as yours. The “Bridge” is the strategy that helps them understand that your solutions are really

victories for them.

Use Power to Educate - Simply said, some people just don’t understand the downside of not coming to an agreement. This strategy is used to elevate their understanding of the negative consequences of deadlock.

 

The sequence in which you use these strategies is important. For example, you can’t defuse someone’s negative feelings unless you’ve gotten your own under control. That means that you’ve got to make sure that your reactions are designed to move the negotiations forward and that they do not cause or contribute, to the deadlock. Performing these strategies in sequence, however, doesn’t mean that once you’ve used one you won’t have to use it again.

Negotiations are fluid. You may find yourself moving back and forth and using a particular strategy to break deadlocks in the early stages of negotiation as well as the later stages. Also, because every negotiation is different, you need to use your specific knowledge of the situation

to determine which strategy to use and when to use it in order to break the negotiation deadlock.

REFERENCES

Ury, William, Getting Past No, Bantam Books, New York, New York 10036

 

If the process of negotiation breaks down and agreement cannot be reached, then an adjournment or re-scheduling a further meeting is called for. This avoids all parties becoming embroiled in heated discussion or argument, which not only wastes time but can also damage future relationships.

At the subsequent meeting, the stages of negotiation should be repeated. Any new ideas or interests should be taken into account and the situation looked at afresh. At this stage it may also be helpful to look at other alternative solutions and/or bring in another person to mediate.

Inexperienced negotiators often avoid taking adjournments because they feel this might make them appear weak. Experienced negotiators, however, aren't afraid to call for a break. They frequently make effective use of them in order to:

· consider a new point or proposal

· reconsider a strategy or objective

· get out of a circular argument

· slow down the negotiation.

When it's necessary for you to take an adjournment, follow these steps:

1 Give a reason for the adjournment and state how much time is needed.

2 Summarize the current state of affairs before you go.

3 Withdraw to a private area.

Agreement

Agreement can be achieved once understanding of both sides' viewpoints and interests have been considered.

It's surprising how often negotiators miss the close. Many are afraid to end the negotiations because they fear they may have missed or forgotten something. The other side often misinterprets this fear as a delay trick and believes that the first party is uninterested or wants even more. They often become confused and defensive and the agreement begins to fall apart.

Closing is a matter of instinct as well as common sense. It's necessary to look for the non-verbal signals and listen to the verbal ones. It's also important to keep your goal in mind. If you've reached it, then make the deal!

It is essential for everybody involved to keep an open mind in order to achieve an acceptable solution. Any agreement needs to be made perfectly clear so that both sides know what has been decided.

An agreement of any kind is a deal. When you reach an agreement, you can talk about clinching a deal or closing a deal.

A bargain is also an agreement reached through negotiation. People who get what they want in a negotiation are said to drive a hard bargain.

An agreement may be in the form of a contract. Contracts vary in their form and content. They can be oral and verbal, binding and legal, employment and labour, commercial and others.

Checking the deal

It’s important to check the points of an agreement to avoid misunderstandings. You could say:

· Let me just go/run over (repeat and summarize) the main points. On A, we agreed that...

· As far as В is concerned (in relation to B), we agreed...

· We still have the question of C to settle (decide and agree on). And there’s still the outstanding (remaining undecided) issue of D. We’ll send you a written proposal.

· We’ll draw up (write) a contract based on those points.

· I think that covers everything.

Implementing a Course of Action

From the agreement, a course of action has to be implemented to carry through the decision.

Negotiation Settlement

There are a number of signals that indicate that negotiations are coming to a close. This may not always mean that an agreement has been reached. In many cases, there are many rounds of negotiations. The preliminary round may uncover the major issues, while subsequent rounds may be needed to discuss and resolve them. Here are some signals of talks coming to a close:

· A difference of opinion has been significantly reduced

· One party suggests signing an agreement.

· One or both parties indicate that a period of time to pause and reflect is necessary.