Strategies for Mutually Beneficial Bargaining Sessions
In the realm of negotiations, active listening is a crucial skill that can lead to win-win outcomes. This article, adapted from "Listen Up! Your Talks May Depend on It," by Robert C. Bordone, highlights the three essential active listening skills for successful negotiations.
Active listening is not just about patiently listening or saying "I understand." It involves a dynamic process that can be broken down into three behaviours: paraphrasing, inquiry, and acknowledgment.
Paraphrasing, the first essential skill, involves restating the counterpart's points in your own words to show understanding. For instance, in a negotiation example, a supplier of a state-of-the-art component for a new medical imaging device might respond to a buyer's concerns about production capacity and price by paraphrasing their worries.
Inquiry, the second essential skill, involves asking questions to clarify points or gather more information. This helps ensure understanding and demonstrates interest in the counterpart's perspective.
Acknowledgment, the third essential skill, involves expressing empathy or understanding of the counterpart's position or feelings. It can help build rapport and calm tensions, potentially breaking impasses and providing necessary information for building creative deals.
For those looking to enhance their negotiation skills, the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School offers a free special report. Related posts include discussions on the "Negotiator's Dilemma", collective bargaining negotiations, communication in negotiation, top negotiation advice, and negotiation in international relations.
In practice, these skills can be applied by engaging attentively, summarizing key points, and responding empathetically during discussions. For example, a supplier might paraphrase, inquire, and acknowledge the buyer's concerns, seeking to understand their dissatisfaction with the proposed price, and aiming to assert his own viewpoint and engage in joint problem-solving.
In one such scenario, the supplier proposes discussing a pricing structure that the buyer finds more reasonable. The supplier's response addresses the buyer's concerns about production capacity and price, and the supplier acknowledges the buyer's disappointment with various elements of the proposal.
This article was first published in the Negotiation newsletter. Active listening, when mastered, can be a game-changer in negotiations, leading to more productive and successful discussions.
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