Business Negotiations – Week 2 Lecture 1

Styles of Negotiation

Welcome to Week 2. This week we are discussing the integrative negotiation process, and how to achieve the win-win outcomes. In any type of negotiations, it is important to know your style and to stick with your style. In the 1960s, negotiation and conflict resolution experts began categorizing people into five categories: avoider, competitor, collaborator, accommodator, and compromiser. If you are a real opportunist, you can call on each of these styles at the appropriate moment, knowing when to turn one on, when to switch one off, or when to move to another. But the majority of us do not have that ability. Just as with most things, there are probably one or two styles that are most comfortable for you. You should also know that multiple assessment instruments are available that enable you to get a professional read on who you are and what works for you. You can’t control everything, but for those things that you can, put yourself in the best position to do so. Be prepared to adjust for those things you can’t control.

Let’s talk about each one of the styles that we mentioned earlier. “Competitor” is where most of us think we want to be, after all it is the most competitive of us who succeed, right? Most of us also believe that if we have a high level of competitive genes, we are likely to be more successful in the world of negotiating. A competitor loves to negotiate but unlike avoiders, the competitor does not always know how to pick a battle and may too frequently be involved in disputes that are believed to be negotiations. Where the avoider might be more inclined to try more sophisticated forms like persuasion and influence, the competitor has the tendency to enter full speed into negotiating. One individual who demonstrates a competitive personality, is the former tennis superstar Jimmy Connors. He once said, “I hate to lose more than I like to win. I hate to see the happiness on their faces when they beat me.” Connors and competitors love to win, no matter what they say, and they will go to extremes to do so. 

Collaborators are the types who love puzzles. These individuals believe that there is probably not a riddle out there that they don’t think they can solve, given enough time. As a collaborator, you are not necessarily in a rush, and what you are trying to do is put together the deal that others may not see. In doing so, you are looking to collaborate with the other side in order to assemble a deal that works for both of you. To use sports as an example, sports commissioners are some of the best collaborators. Think about it, the ability to call on collaboration skills is essential to bringing the National Football League owners to agreement in the collective bargaining process in order to deal with labor. A former NFL commissioner by the name of Pete Rozelle was a great collaborator, who was able to make it clear to team owners that by working together they would be more successful than if they were constantly squabbling. Union leaders in sports also have strong collaborative skills because they bring together a broad range of players, from those earning the league minimum, to the superstars. 

If you are the one who always says, “Let’s split the difference,” then you are a compromiser. This strategy works well when that statement is delivered at an appropriate time. However, the problem comes when the difference is split at the wrong moment and the end result is not a number or outcome that ultimately makes sense for you. The biggest problem with this trait is pushing to split the difference even when that outcome will not get you to the right place. Compromise is powerful, but if used incorrectly, it can lead to some bad deals. Nelson Mandela is a great example of a person who was not a compromiser. He used to be a boxer, a world leader, operating in an arena where compromise is often not the right answer. Splitting the difference was not his way, and this strength led to him spending nearly three decades in prison. The outcomes he sought and continues to seek are the right outcomes, not a compromise to merely close the deal. 

If you are an avoider, you believe that negotiation is a form of conflict. Most of us would prefer not to be involved in conflict, so many of us have a pretty high dose of avoiders within ourselves. If you are the avoider, then you are cautious about entering into any negotiation, instead you would prefer not to be involved in the deal making. The most positive statement of your style is that you generally choose your negotiation battles very carefully, which is a very good thing.

As an accommodator, you are likely to have an innate focus on the interests of the party sitting across the negotiating table. You may even have a tendency to be too concerned about the needs, hopes, and desires of the other party. This personality is like the concierge at the Four Seasons Hotel who, when you stand in their presence, constantly say, “How might I be of assistance to you?” As an accommodator, you need to be conscious of the fact that the other side is well informed on their needs. You need to be sure that there is a balance of information on the table that can lead to the best deal possible. Sport agents, sales representatives, or marketing agents are notorious for demonstrating the accommodator’s traits. Very often, in order to maintain their client relationships, they let the clients’ well-being dominate their communications.

In today’s business environment, people believe that in order to be a successful negotiator, you have to be competitive and forceful, which is wrong. The key thing to remember is that no style is perfect for every situation. In fact, it’s not style at all, but rather the concept of doing the little things right over and over again, of avoiding death by inches by knowing yourself, following your game plan, and having a good plan B (even C and D). The important thing you need to take away from this video is that you need to know who you are and who your opponent is in terms of style and, maybe more important, not to try to be someone you are not. Identify your strengths and base your preparation strategy on them. Be honest with yourself about what kind of negotiator you are, what you are good at, and what you are not good at. If you are a great negotiator via e-mail, because of your avoiding and accommodating style, use e-mail. If you are competitive, try to sit across the table from your counterpart, especially if that person is an avoider. The style that works for the long run is the style with which you should stick. How far can you go, how much can you accomplish, imitating someone else’s style? What happens in the long, drawn-out negotiations when in the end, fatigue will cause you to go back to the style that comes naturally? It is easy to be yourself for the long run; imitating another style is a formula for potential failure. Be yourself, and assert that style to the fullest.