Negotiations in Times of CrisesThe Wharton School

Challenges in Strategic Negotiations

August 2011 Gilead Sher

The Art and Practice of NegotiationsSome practical advices Relate to needs, rather than positions Never accept the first offer Never lose your temper: use a neutral and relaxed language In other words: keep calm and carry on Always give only against consideration Stay focused on final objective Express appreciation to the other party Understand your deal before signing

Phase I Preparations, Diplomacy, Staff Work

Phase II

Phase IIILegitimacyAdvocacy

Phase IV The Negotiation Team Work OPPOSITIONSPOILERSCONFLICTING INTERESTSAFFECTED GROUPS and INDIVIDUALSEXTREMISTS

Phase VReporting-Addressing spoilers-Concluding

How to create VALUE on a lasting basisThe right parties?The right issues?The right sequence?The right table?And then: 1. tactics (AT the table) 2. deal design (creative agreement on the surface and below it) 3. set up (extends to actions AWAY from table, to create most promising situation)

Identifying the problems and barriers; Depersonalize themStrategic policy design and goal definitionSetting priorities, accommodating public interestsSequential targeting; specific objectivesMedia, consensus building and public opinionConstituencies: legitimize the otherPerceptions and gap analysis; standards, normsProcess management in multi-issue, multi-party, multi-level set ups; DisciplineSigningTiming: identifying opportunities; time issuesMandates, coalitions, spoilers participants, opponents and other playersReference List

Personalities; MindsetsMomentum and leverage; walk away alternativesImproving options; Creating a larger pieAdapting to changes in conditions and circumstances, reframing; fresh thinkingCreativity in general; Being purposive, neither reactive nor passivePsychological and social dimensions Rolling re-assessmentThe behavior of leaders and principalsGetting commitments and certaintyThe International ArenaGetting to Closing.Reference List (Cont.)

Different Approaches to Resolving a Complex ConflictKey negotiation issues: What is the immediate and long-term purpose of the negotiations; and then - What decisions need to be made now in order to achieve those aims? Who can influence those who possess power (political parties, interest groups, media, individuals);Who has the formal power and who is in fact the decision maker.

Planning the Negotiations

Roger Fisher, Beyond MachiavelliSeven Elements of Negotiation in a Conflict SituationInterests Options Legitimacy Relationship Communication Commitment Alternatives

Verint March 2010 Strategic Negotiations

Media, Consensus Building and Public OpinionPreparation of Public OpinionAdvocacy; lobbying; gaining legitimacy (internally and externally) In critical negotiations, concerted effort and attention must be given to continuous, comprehensive public relationsLeadership must keep in touch with the groups that would be likely to experience the heaviest loss as a result of any agreement

Perceptions and SymbolismPerceptions vs. Objective Facts and EvidenceSymbolic ImagesIn such negotiations one always needs to keep in mind the dignity, symbolism, tradition and heritage that the other party is concerned with.The key to close a deal would not be the truth, the "justice" or the objective facts, but whats in the minds of the respective parties.If you mistakenly analyze the other sides perception regarding its own objectives, you will constantly misread its conduct throughout the negotiation process

Negotiation in times of CrisisProcess ManagementBinding MechanismClear Benchmarking

PerceptionsMindsetsSymbolismTraditionNarratives

How words can help negotiation

Process ManagementProcess management may be as vital as the substance and content of the negotiations themselvesPrimarily when there is a high-level third party involvement, a rigid framework that ensures progress is needed with a binding agenda from which the parties cannot be allowed to departIt is essential that the facilitator require all negotiating parties to give their responses at every stage; to dictate a clear agenda, to compose a check list of who does what, when, and follow up its implementation.

Signing and Timing

Signing and Timing

Never leave the negotiation table before signing a document, once you have the final agreed draft readyConstantly read the battlefield map, plan aheadSimplify closing proceduresIdentify windows of opportunity and aim at focusing events

The Oslo Process timeline

The Theory of Constraints

Mandates and CoalitionsWhen you have a number of negotiating counterparts, you need to know their place in their system that has sent them, their authority within that administration and the amount of leeway they haveMobilizing resources, constituencies and stakeholders; Identifying policy allies, looking for natural coalitions and shared interests; asking yourself how motivated these potential coalition partners are/might be;Relationship mapping locating who the real decision maker is. Who influences him;

Bridging the Gaps through CreativityEvery person comes to the negotiations theyve been sent to with his/her own vision, made up of their beliefs, interests and personal experienceGain empathy, reverse rolesHarvards Professor Robert Mnookin: Problem Solving is an orientation that seeks to create value both by minimizing transaction costs and by actively and creatively searching for trade-offs. The goal is to search for solutions that best serve your interests, while also respecting the legitimate needs and interests of the other side.

Momentum and LeverageMaintaining positive momentumConfidence building measures:It is essential to create the momentum of conceding little things along the way, in order to bring the other side to closing eventSeek to show visible, tangible changeOne needs to know that one has earned concessions from the other side; it is deeply rooted in human nature

Adapting to Changes in Conditions & CircumstancesSituations are constantly changing and you have to adapt yourself to such changes in accordance with the conditions and the mood of the people on the opposite sideThink quickly, systematically and functionallyEvery change is important but nothing is more significant than getting the substantive agreement concluded and, subsequently, implementedFollow your intuition

LeadershipNegotiations from the leaders perspective are merely a mechanism for communicating in order to implement strategiesA leader should be concentrating on leadership, setting out principles and general policy, not on the actual mechanics of the negotiationsThe loneliness of the leader at the decisive moment should be addressed sensibly

International and Political NegotiatorsAll negotiators need to strive for the pie to be potentially enlargedWaiting for ever more ripeness versus the risk of failing and then overcome the heavy price of resuming negotiations after such failure

Getting to ClosingIn the best-case scenario, the negotiators might be able to bring the parties to a point from which an agreement is achievableThis is the point of balance where the compromises of one side meet the interests of the other and vice-versa

August 2011Thank you, Shalom, Salam

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