Negotiation Basics—Strategies & Styles

To become a better negotiator, a crucial first step is to understand strategies and styles. This is important not only so that you can use this knowledge to shape your approach to negotiating, but foremost to identify the other side’s game plan.

Negotiation Strategy

A pre-determined plan of action to reach a specific objective or goal to in order to come to an agreement in negotiation. Negotiation Strategies:

Distributive Negotiation—Working for only your best interests while disregarding the interests of anyone else involved.

Integrative Negotiation—Exploring the interests of all parties involved so that together you can discover solutions that create value and strengthen relationships.

Mixed-Motive Negotiation—Expanding the pie and attempting to meet as many needs as possible while at the same time claiming a piece for yourself.

Negotiation Style

The attributes of a negotiator’s personality that affect the tactics and strategies used to negotiate. Negotiation Styles:

Competitive Style—Attempting to gain the most at any cost.

Accommodative Style—Yielding to the other side no matter how it hurts your cause.

Avoiding Style—Trying to evade all negotiation situations.

Compromising Style—Making concessions to come to an agreement by meeting in the middle.

Collaborative Style—Exploring the interests of both sides and inventing new ways to expand the pie in order to reap maximum gain for both parties.