For most of my life, my idea of negotiation was to simply walk away; in other words, I did not negotiate. Maybe it’s because I grew up in Detroit, where my exposure to negotiating was at a car dealership where the sales guy kept me in a room until I cried “Uncle!” and signed the papers.
I have an easier time understanding “compromise,” but I wonder if people hold the perception that compromise equates to weakness too. Let’s look at the finer points of the art of compromise.
Simply put, negotiation is a dialogue where two or more people or parties
- intend to reach an understanding.
- want to resolve a point of difference.
- want to gain advantage in an outcome to produce an agreement.
- bargain for individual or collective advantage.
- craft outcomes to satisfy various interests of the people or parties.
Negotiation is intended to aim at compromise. Compromise is defined as the settlement of differences by arbitration or by consent reached by mutual concessions. If this is true, then why does a negotiation often feel like there’s a winner and a loser? Read the rest of this entry »
