Introduction to Goal-Directed Negotiation (GDN)
Exploring our GDN Framework
Click each of the drop down titles below to explore the characteristics of our Goal-directed Framework
Your Journey to “Yes” … or even to “No”
You may say that negotiation is always about getting to “Yes”; that is an agreement, yes? In many cases, you would be right. But, as with leadership, negotiation challenges are rarely straightforward.
We must ‘think on our feet’ when faced with such challenges and respond differently in diverse circumstances. Sometimes we might want to say “No” or encourage others to say this.
Questions to elicit both responses have power± (power can be positive and negative!) Power can also be formal and informal, often based on position and authority, but at other times, informal influence is the most powerful. Informal sway can be tangible or intangible. We will usually find it enshrined within people’s interests. Either way, we need to look for it and set and pursue our negotiation goal accordingly.
How often have you faced a challenge and taken the proverbial “solution off the shelf” which has been tried and tested before? You then analogously “plug it in” to solve the problem.
Most of us have done this. Our follow-on is that we often stand back and wonder why it did not work in creating the desired solution!
Leadership and negotiation work together seamlessly. We need to think differently about how we lead and how we negotiate.Traditional wisdom asserts that good leaders rely on vision, charisma and confidence in their abilities. Separately, others think negotiation is an external task in agreeing to deals with customers, suppliers or partners. The two skill sets for leadership and negotiation are viewed in isolation and rarely considered together. Achieving our negotiation goal requires both.
“Getting to GRIPS with negotiation”
“Getting to Yes” is one of the aims but not the sole aim, and a “win at all costs” strategy is competitive rather than collaborative, irrespective of whether the goal is to strike a deal involving many thousands or even millions of pounds or working as a public leader in providing community services. Our unique approach uses the Goal-Directed Negotiation Framework, focused on “Getting to GRIPS” with negotiation.
We begin with a ‘Goal’. Every negotiation requires an outcome. It is then supported by a Review of information, creating Intelligence which leads to tactical Planning and Strategizing the negotiation. “Yes” may be the right goal, but the steps taken must be adaptive to emerging information and the intelligence we create to identify all parties’ interests. Our unique framework provides a practical foundation to achieve this through an Applied Negotiation Space.
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