Often negotiations get stuck in "positions" each party holds. In 3-D Negotiation authors James Sebenius and David Lax describe how you can shape important deals through the 3 dimensions of tactics, deal design, and set-up.
In this interview, the authors describe a "3-D barriers audit" for negotiations:
"First, you should ask whether it is a tactical or people-related barrier like communication, trust, misperceptions, or the like. Second, you should ask whether the problem is deal-related: Does the proposed agreement offer sufficient value to the parties to be more attractive than no deal? Does it accomplish their objectives? Third, are there set-up problems such as wrong parties, interests, no-deal options, sequence, or basic process choices?"
The article gives the following example :
Consider an example of both kinds of mistakes from the U.S. Midwest. In this case, environmentalists and farmers opposed a power company's plans to build a dam. On the surface, the parties appeared to have deep, irreconcilable positions, which had resulted in a long stalemate. Yet a superior deal could be designed if the parties looked past their stubborn bargaining positions to their underlying interests.
By stepping back and mapping the parties' real interests, it emerged that the farmers were worried about reduced water flow below the dam, the environmentalists were focused on the downstream habitat of the endangered whooping crane, and the power company urgently needed new generating capacity and a greener image. After a costly legal impasse that threatened to last for years, the three groups designed a better deal that included a smaller dam built on a fast track, water-flow guarantees, downstream habitat protection, and a trust fund to enhance whooping crane habitats elsewhere.
David,
I emailed you about the 3D Negotiation book, but forgot to mention that on the book's website -- http://www.3dnegotiation.com -- people can download the Introduction and Chapter One.
Posted by: Andrea Harris | October 05, 2006 at 10:13 AM