By Seth Freeman

Lecture 1: the hopeful power of negotiating

Distributive bargaining: haggling

Interest based bargaining: win win, hard on the problem, kind to the person

Focus on interest not positions and then reconcile them with creative options

Positional impasses are impossible to move beyond, you need to go to the level of interests

6 steps to negotiating with interest based bargaining:

1. Prepare by thinking about yours and the others negotiators and brainstorming creative solutions
2. Do research on interests and options
3. Start negotiation out on positive tone, say you hope to find a mutually beneficial solution
4. Ask questions and listen about others interests early on. Understand the interests well. Ask them why they want certain things.
5. Share some of your interests
6. Suggest 1 or 2 creative options and then welcome their suggestions

Lecture 2: the other negotiator

We have a tendency to focus on our needs when entering a negotiations

Understanding the other persons needs and wants is important for 4 reasons:

1. It establishes trust
2. Let’s you avoid misunderstanding
3. Let’s you discover others strengths and weaknesses
4. Let’s you discover creative solutions