Terrific Team Negotiating
By: Grande Lum
Negotiating one-on-one can be difficult. Team negotiating can become exponentially more difficult and more frustrating. In addition to worrying about what the person on the other side of the table is planning, you also have to work well with those on your side of the table to avoid:
A "teammate" saying something totally inappropriate
You and a colleague tripping over each other at a crucial moment
Your team negotiations breaking down into chaos and disorganization
Typically, negotiators do not take the time to tap into the real benefits of working in a team. In my work with all types of organizations from labor and management groups, to companies who were attempting a merger, and to account sales and purchasing teams, I have noticed a common thread shared by successful teams…they practice as a team.
Successful teams who prepared effectively were more able to navigate through difficult negotiation terrain. Great preparation fully unleashed the knowledge, the experience, the expertise, and the creativity of the teams.
In order to achieve successful team negotiations, you need to prepare your approach in advance of the actual negotiation – as a team. Before entering any negotiation it is important to identify the answers to the following questions.
1. What is the team trying to accomplish?
The first priority is to set team goals and work backward. Visualize the negotiation coming to an end with all parties satisfied. Try to conceptualize what is entailed in accomplishing the team goals successfully.
Perhaps the overall purpose includes coming up with a win-win deal or simply just developing a better working partnership. Once you have established your goals, you can brainstorm with your negotiating team on ways to bring this goal to fruition.
2. What are the deliverables?
Once you have established the overall purpose of the negotiations, identify the tangibles or concrete goals that will be accomplished during the negotiations. What exactly will success look like? For example, you may be trying to get a contract by the end of the meeting or a list of agreed upon action steps. If you articulate this clearly going in, the team can focus together on achieving the goals.
3. What information or expertise is needed to help you reach these goals?
You may need certain financial, legal or other expertise present during the process or at the least, have it readily available. Without thinking this through before hand, you can needlessly delay achieving the results you planned as you wait for the experts and their data to arrive.
4. How will your team make decisions?
Whether by consensus or with final authority of the team leader, it is important to work out beforehand how decisions will be made. Looking forward to how the joint teams make decisions will be helpful as well.
In summary – Practice, practice, practice.
There is no substitute. Certainly everyone is busy -- and with more team members involved it is difficult to find quality time to prepare. However, the more critical the negotiation is, the more important it is to spend quality time getting ready.
While you have no "control" over what the other side does in the negotiation, your team can fully manage its own preparation. Much like acclaimed actors or elite athletes, once effective negotiators have done their preparation, they are ready for anything.