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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.
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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 analysing the best negotiation approach based upon the team situation.
Negative Negotiating Tactics
There are several negative negotiating tactics that while they may prove successful, they disrupt the 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- 00:03 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
- 00:05 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
- 00:13 stake holders in the organization.
- 00:17 A team leader needs to be adept in negotiating.
- 00:19 They maybe direct participants in negotiation as one of the parties,
- 00:23 or they maybe acting as facilitator for
- 00:25 team members who needs help negotiating with each other.
- 00:28 The Thomas-Killman model is a great framework to use when approaching
- 00:31 a negotiation.
- 00:33 It starts by first assessing the concern for getting the substance of negotiation
- 00:37 exactly right, and assessing the concern of both parties for
- 00:41 the long-term relationship between themselves.
- 00:44 Of course, everyone wants a great answer and for people to be best friends.
- 00:48 But each negotiation is different, so take a minute to honestly assess each of those.
- 00:54 If any answer is acceptable and there's no need to build or
- 00:57 strengthen the relationship, withdraw.
- 01:00 You don't have to win every fight.
- 01:01 In fact, you don't have to fight every fight.
- 01:04 Withdraw and let the other side press on.
- 01:07 If the concern for the substance is very high, there's only one acceptable answer,
- 01:12 and the concern for the relationship is naught, defeat the other side.
- 01:16 Win at any cost.
- 01:18 This will destroy team unity if the negotiation is between team members.
- 01:22 If the negotiation is between team members,
- 01:24 the team leader should probably step in and try to facilitate a better solution.
- 01:30 If any solution is acceptable, the negotiation can be a way to strengthen
- 01:34 team relationships through the accommodation approach.
- 01:37 This is different from withdraw.
- 01:39 In withdraw, one party says do whatever you want, I won't stand in your way.
- 01:44 With accommodation, one party says do whatever you want and
- 01:48 I will help you with it.
- 01:49 Next, when both the substance of the solution and the relationship
- 01:52 are important, the best approach is to find a collaborative, win-win solution.
- 01:56 Often an outside facilitator is needed to help the two parties find that solution.
- 02:01 The problem with this approach is that it may take a long time, and
- 02:04 sometimes there is no win-win solution.
- 02:07 When that happens, the negotiating parties normally must settle for
- 02:10 a compromise solution.
- 02:12 They don't get everything they want, but they do get some of what they need.
- 02:16 The relationship isn't necessarily strengthened, but
- 02:18 it isn't necessarily broken either.
- 02:21 So let's look at some negotiating techniques.
- 02:23 I will discuss both some positive and some negative techniques.
- 02:26 Just to be clear, I'm not endorsing any of the negative techniques.
- 02:30 Rather, I'm discussing them so you can recognize them and counter them.
- 02:34 Of course, we have all been negotiating since we were old enough to talk.
- 02:38 We tried to negotiate with our parents to stay up late, or to not eat spinach.
- 02:42 Or, you were negotiating with friends as you traded the toys or
- 02:45 dares on the playground.
- 02:47 So we're all negotiators, but we may have picked up some bad habits along the way.
- 02:52 I'll start with the red herring.
- 02:54 In this case, one party creates a major focus on a minor issue,
- 02:58 in order to get a concession on a major issue.
- 03:00 When that happens, the appropriate response is to isolate the minor issue,
- 03:04 set it aside.
- 03:05 Resolve the major ones, and then come back to the minor ones.
- 03:10 Next is outrageous behavior.
- 03:12 You may have learned this from your two-year-old throwing a tantrum.
- 03:15 One of the parties acts in an outrageous manner, yelling, screaming,
- 03:19 throwing things, or some other behavior,
- 03:21 hoping that the other party will give into their demands just to get them to stop.
- 03:25 You probably can't put that person on a timeout chair
- 03:28 like you would with your two-year-old.
- 03:30 However, you can just ignore the behavior and stay focused on the issue.
- 03:34 The salami game is a favorite of some people.
- 03:36 In fact, I know it is taught in some negotiation classes.
- 03:39 In this case, the two parties get to a tentative agreement.
- 03:42 And then one side asks for just more thing.
- 03:45 In the euphoria of having reached an agreement,
- 03:47 the other side quickly gives in.
- 03:49 Instead, they should counter with a trade-off that they still want,
- 03:52 or stop and reopen the negotiations.
- 03:56 The last negative technique I wanna discuss is the vise.
- 03:59 In this case, one party keeps demanding more.
- 04:01 Whatever is offered, they respond with, that's just not good enough, do better.
- 04:06 The best response at this point is to demand that the party
- 04:09 requesting you to do better put out a target or a threshold that they desire.
- 04:14 The other party can then quickly determine if it's even reasonable
- 04:17 to continue to negotiate.
- 04:19 There are also some positive negotiating techniques.
- 04:22 Let's review a few of those.
- 04:24 The trial balloon,
- 04:25 this is where one side offers a hypothetical solution to the negotiation.
- 04:29 Often this will be something very different from what was initially
- 04:32 proposed.
- 04:33 When this occurs, weigh the pros and cons in the hypothetical.
- 04:36 And if it can be made acceptable, work with it.
- 04:39 Next is the trade-off, and it is the most commonly used approach.
- 04:42 In this case, one side offers something the other side wants, in exchange for
- 04:46 getting something they want.
- 04:48 You should go into a negotiation knowing what you are willing to concede, so
- 04:51 that you're able to negotiate trade-offs.
- 04:54 Finally, let's talk about the higher authority approach.
- 04:57 This one can be negative if it used to manipulate someone.
- 05:00 Think about the last time you went to buy a car and
- 05:03 the salesman said, I need to check with my boss about that.
- 05:07 However, when negotiating a trial balloon or
- 05:09 win-win it is quite possible that you may be proposing something that is outside
- 05:13 the authority of the individual negotiating.
- 05:16 If they appeal to higher authority,
- 05:17 ask them if they are appealing with their recommendation for acceptance.
- 05:21 If they won't, keep negotiating until you find something that they will endorse
- 05:25 when they meet with the higher authority.
- 05:27 I want to close with this thought.
- 05:29 The number one reason that team members are not able to negotiate successfully
- 05:33 is that both of them get emotional.
- 05:35 At that point, their judgement is clouded, they make unfortunate comments, and
- 05:39 negotiations are derailed.
- 05:41 Keep your focus and stay calm, using positive negotiation tactics.
- 05:48 Negotiation is a fact of life, and that is true in the life of a team also.
- 05:52 As a team leader, help your team members negotiate well.
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