Negotiating: Speak With One Voice

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Negotiating: Speak With One Voice

 

When you are engaged in business (or other) negotiations on behalf of your company or team, be certain that you are always negotiating with one voice. Negotiating as an entire team (or as a fragmented group) will almost always work against you and your team in arriving at agreements, settlements or arrangements with vendors, investors or any other outside third party.

Amateurs in the art and science of negotiating often speak with multiple voices when dealing with their counterparts on the other side of the bargaining table, and this usually yields poor results for the team. If your counterpart can divide you, or sees that you are of different minds, he or she will take advantage of that state by putting you in the awkward position of arguing with your own team mates, or of choosing the weakest member of the team to be his or her double agent (or emissary) to the entire group.

If you are entering into negotiations, have your team discussions in private and 1) do not allow your counterpart to either bypass the spokesperson/negotiator for your group, or 2) allow any members of your team to open up a separate channel to the other side.

Of course there are exceptions to this general rule where governments or very large entities are concerned in either intelligence-gathering operations or ambassadorial talks about major treaties and other types of multilevel arrangements. In these situations, there might be some "back-door" or covert secondary discussions behind the scenes or through the ranks for numerous reasons -- but in each of these cases, the team makes its ultimate decisions internally, in private.

In sum, if you must speak in multiple voices (on the rare occasions where this is done by deliberate design), make sure that you are privately sharing information and reaching your own internal agreements about each of the simultaneous or parallel negotiations. So if you are not speaking with one voice, speak with just one mind.

Douglas E. Castle for Taking Command! and for The Douglas E. Castle Consultancy.

Join me on Linked In at http://www.LinkedIn.com/in/douglascastle

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TAKING COMMAND! ACHIEVING YOUR OBJECTIVES.

http://takingcommand.blogspot.com

The Guide to self-mastery, goal-setting, strategic planning and decision making, leadership, management, contingency planning, leveraging assets, rule and domination, choosing allies, dealing with enemies, assessing risk, time management, negotiation... achieving personal authority, influence, wealth and success through total TRANSFORMATION.

Key Terms: Leadership, management, self-growth, self-mastery, personal power, career advancement, negotiation, winning, wealth, success

Leadership: Majority Versus Consensus - Which Is Better And Why?

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Majority Versus Consensus - Which Works Better And Why

If you are tasked with leading or commanding a team, and a group decision is called for under the circumstances (i.e., strategic planning meetings, special meetings of the board of directors, advisory sessions with your "kitchen cabinet" of advisors and experts), you must reach a decision through a discussion followed by a vote.

In voting, a majority just means the approval of the holders of greater than fifty percent of the voting interests or persons present. Consensus means a unanimous vote carved out of  brainstorming, head butting, compromise and careful crafting of the precise wording of the motion or decision to be decided upon. Consensus is generally more time-consuming and requires more wrangling, wrestling and effort to reach -- but it also means that the decision made will reflect the voice of every voting person. Unanimity is very powerful in bonding a team to itself (internally) and to the matter at issue (externally, decision by decision). Consensus requires compromise while majority usually does not.

A true consensus works better than a majority because all of the voting participants have "bought in" to the team decision. A majority, while deemed adequate to proceed along a certain path based upon a decision, leaves some participants "out in the cold" and more inclined to hamper progress or to sabotage the efforts of the majority. Frankly speaking, a majority victory leaves potential enemies in an angered, agitated or defeated state, while a consensus is the result of a true joint effort.

If you'd like to proceed along your path to achievement with the combined, cooperative and consolidated efforts of the entire team, unanimity by consensus is the surest method to keep from deviating from your master plan.

Always work toward a consensus. Always work toward compromised but all-inclusive unanimity in voting on important issues.

In closing, one of the earmarks of a great team leader is in his or her ability to moderate any topical discussions toward a consensus before a vote takes place.

Douglas E. Castle For Taking Command!




TAKING COMMAND! ACHIEVING YOUR OBJECTIVES.

http://takingcommand.blogspot.com

The Guide to self-mastery, goal-setting, strategic planning and decision making, leadership, management, contingency planning, leveraging assets, rule and domination, choosing allies, dealing with enemies, assessing risk, time management, negotiation... achieving personal authority, influence, wealth and success through total TRANSFORMATION.

Key Terms: Leadership, management, self-growth, self-mastery, personal power, career advancement, negotiation, winning, wealth, success