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About this lesson
Team members will often need to negotiate with each other on tasks and activities and the team leader may need to negotiate with the other managers or supervisors of team members.
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Quick reference
Team Negotiation
Team members will often need to negotiate with each other on tasks and activities and the team leader may need to negotiate with the other managers or supervisors of team members. The team leader needs to have good negotiation skills in order to facilitate these types of meetings.
When to use
Whenever there is a conflict between team members about team activities or when resources must be obtained, the team leader should either be leading or participating in the negotiations.
Instructions
All of us have been negotiating since childhood. We have negotiated with our parents and friends for all sorts of things. Along the way, we have probably picked up some good and some bad habits. The team leader needs to ensure that team negotiations are conducted in a way to strengthen the team, not weaken it.
Negotiation Framework
The Thomas Killman model for negotiation is an excellent framework for analyzing the best negotiation approach based upon the team situation.
Negative Negotiating Tactics
There are several negative negotiating tactics that while they may prove successful, disrupt team cohesion. When a team leader sees any of these being used, they should step in to facilitate a better approach.
Positive Negotiation Tactics
There are also several positive negotiation tactics that the team leader should encourage.
Regardless of what tactics are being employed, the team leader should strive to keep everyone from becoming emotional and taking the negotiations as personal affronts. The number one reason negotiations fail between team members is that both sides get emotional.
Login to download- 00:04 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
- 00:06 When teams run into problems, often the solution requires a negotiation,
- 00:09 either a negotiation between team members or a negotiation with management and
- 00:14 stakeholders in the organization.
- 00:16 A team leader needs to be adept at negotiating.
- 00:20 They may be directly participating in the negotiations as one of the parties or
- 00:24 they may be acting as a facilitator for
- 00:26 team members who need help negotiating with each other.
- 00:29 The Thomas-Killman model is a great framework for
- 00:32 use when approaching a negotiation.
- 00:34 It starts by first assessing the concern for getting the substance of
- 00:38 the negotiation exactly right and assessing the concern of both parties for
- 00:42 the long term relationship between themselves.
- 00:45 Of course, everyone wants a great answer and for
- 00:47 people to be friends at the end, but each negotiation is different.
- 00:51 So take a minute to honestly assess each of these.
- 00:55 If any answer is acceptable, just pick one and there is no need to build or
- 00:59 strengthen the relationship, withdraw from negotiation.
- 01:03 You don't have to win every fight, in fact,
- 01:05 you don't even have to fight every fight.
- 01:07 Withdraw and let the other side press on.
- 01:10 If the concern for the substance is very high, there's only one acceptable answer,
- 01:15 and the concern for the relationship is not, well then, defeat the other side.
- 01:19 Win at any cost.
- 01:21 This will destroy team unity if the negotiation's between team members,
- 01:25 because the relationship is broken.
- 01:27 If the negotiation's between team members,
- 01:29 the team leader should probably step in and try to facilitate a better solution.
- 01:34 If any solution is acceptable, then negotiation can be a way to strengthen
- 01:37 team relationships through the accommodation approach.
- 01:41 This is different from withdraw.
- 01:42 In withdraw, one party said, do whatever you want, I won't stand in your way.
- 01:46 With accommodation, that party says, do whatever you want and
- 01:50 I will help you with it.
- 01:52 Now, when both substance of the solution and the relationship are important,
- 01:56 the best approach is to find a collaborative win-win solution.
- 02:01 Often an outside facilitator is needed to help the two parties find that solution.
- 02:06 The problem with this approach is that it may take a long time and
- 02:10 sometimes there is no win-win solution.
- 02:12 When that happens, the negotiating parties normally must settle for
- 02:16 a compromise solution.
- 02:17 They don't get everything they want, but they get some of what they need.
- 02:21 The relationship isn't strengthened, but it isn't broken either.
- 02:25 One caution when seeking a compromise, in the American culture today,
- 02:29 compromise is considered evil and wicked.
- 02:32 It's an insult to most Americans to call them a compromiser.
- 02:36 It's just the opposite in most of the rest of the world.
- 02:39 So in America, if using compromise approach, try using another term.
- 02:44 One that I've found that seems to work better is,
- 02:46 let's find the next best alternative.
- 02:50 So let's look at some of the negotiation techniques.
- 02:53 I'll discuss both some positive and some negative techniques.
- 02:56 Just to be clear, I am not endorsing the negative techniques, rather, I'm
- 03:01 discussing them so that you can recognize them and know how to counter them.
- 03:05 Of course, we've all been negotiating since we were old enough to talk.
- 03:09 We tried to negotiate with our parents to stay up late or to not eat our spinach.
- 03:14 So we all are negotiators, but we may have picked up some bad habits.
- 03:19 I'll start with the red herring.
- 03:21 In this case, one party creates a major focus on a minor issue in order to
- 03:25 get a concession on the major issue.
- 03:29 When that happens, the appropriate response is to isolate the minor issue,
- 03:33 set it aside, resolve the major issues, and then come back to the minor one.
- 03:39 Next is outrageous behavior.
- 03:40 You may have learned this from your two year old throwing a tantrum.
- 03:44 One of the parties accident outrageous manner, yelling,
- 03:47 screaming, throwing things or some other behavior,
- 03:50 hoping that the other party will give in to their demand just to get them to stop.
- 03:55 You probably can't put that person in a timeout chair like you would with your
- 03:58 two year old.
- 03:59 However, you can just ignore the behavior and stay focused on the issue.
- 04:04 The salami game is a favorite of some people.
- 04:06 In fact, I know it's even taught in some negotiation classes.
- 04:10 In this case, the two parties get to a tentative agreement,
- 04:14 and then one side tries to stick in just one more thing.
- 04:17 In the euphoria, having reached an agreement, the other side quickly agrees.
- 04:21 Instead, they should either counter with a tradeoff that they still want, or
- 04:26 stop and reopen the negotiation.
- 04:30 The last negative technique I want to discuss is the vise.
- 04:33 In this case, one party keeps demanding more and more.
- 04:37 Whatever is offered, they respond with, not good enough, do better.
- 04:41 The best response to this is to demand that the party requesting you to do
- 04:45 better, put out a target or threshold that they desire.
- 04:49 The other party can then quickly determine if it is even reasonable to continue to
- 04:53 negotiate.
- 04:55 Well, all those negotiation techniques were manipulative in nature,
- 04:58 but there are also some positive negotiation techniques.
- 05:01 Let's take a few minutes and look at those.
- 05:04 The trial balloon, this is where one side offers a hypothetical solution for
- 05:08 the negotiation.
- 05:10 Often this will be something very different from what was first proposed.
- 05:14 When this occurs, weigh the pros and cons of the hypothesis.
- 05:17 If it can be made acceptable, work with it.
- 05:21 Next is the trade-off, and it is the most commonly used approach.
- 05:25 In this case, one side offers something the other wants in exchange for
- 05:29 something they want.
- 05:31 You should go into a negotiation knowing what you're willing to concede so
- 05:35 that you're able to negotiate trade-offs.
- 05:38 Finally, let's talk about the higher authority approach.
- 05:41 This one can be negative if it's used to manipulate someone, but
- 05:44 it can also be positive.
- 05:46 When negotiating a trial balloon or win-win, it is quite possible that you may
- 05:51 be proposing something that is outside the authority of the individuals negotiating.
- 05:56 If they appeal to a higher authority,
- 05:58 ask them if they're appealing with a recommendation for acceptance.
- 06:02 If they won't, keep negotiating until you find something that they
- 06:06 will endorse when meeting with the higher authority.
- 06:10 I want to close with this thought.
- 06:12 The number one reason that team members are not able
- 06:14 to negotiate successfully is that because one or both of them becomes emotional.
- 06:19 At that point, their judgment is clouded, they make unfortunate comments, and
- 06:23 negotiations are derailed.
- 06:25 Keep calm using the positive negotiation tactics.
- 06:29 Negotiation is a fact of life.
- 06:31 And that's true in the life of a team also.
- 06:34 As a team leader, help your team members negotiate well.
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