Discover the 4 key pillars for negotiations

Hello, friends. Continuing our negotiation series, we recently discussed the importance of understanding the conflict clearly. Before sitting down to negotiate anything, you need to consider: what is the conflict? Who is it with? Is it an individual, personal conflict, or a group conflict involving a disputed issue? This clarity leads to better analysis before you sit at the negotiating table. Today we will discover the four key pillars of negotiation. Read earlier article The strong and assertive negotiator.

Patience is the beginning of success.

This time, we will explore the 4 key pillars of negotiation, understanding it from the perspective of collaborative negotiation established by Harvard University, which sees negotiation as reaching an agreement between the parties involved.

To do so, we have these 4 key pillars for negotiations:

  1. Information:

    Before anything else, you have to set up all the information that you're about to put forward to get this clear, keep your negotiation objective in mind. Without clarity, you WILL ACHIEVE NOTHING. If we do not know specifically what we want, in measurable and achievable terms, we will not be prepared with the information we may need or must present.

  2. Legitimacy:

    Similarly, all information presented must have supporting evidence. Where does it say you are the best? Which goals have you achieved, and do the numbers support them? This is where we have to have certifications, data, figures, endorsements and witnesses at hand that can validate the accuracy of our information, in short, if you say you studied a particular subject, have your degree or diploma ready to verify it. Otherwise, those are empty words.

  3. Commitment:

    Every negotiation must include a commitment between the parties, because in some way in a collaborative agreement, we all make some concessions, and there is also an inherent level of trust. You and your counterpart must therefore clearly specify the commitments and their deadlines and terms.

  4. Patience:

    A familiar saying goes, “Whoever gets angry loses.” Emotional intelligence teaches us that, in a negotiation, the first person to lose their composure, grow angry, become desperate or feel pressured starts making gut decisions rather than thinking rationally. Whenever you negotiate, relax and be clear about what you may encounter and what will happen, patience is the beginning of success.

These are 4 key negotiation pillars to understand and work on consistently before reaching the negotiating table. Under no circumstances do we recommend arriving unprepared: “Information is power.” The party with greater certainty and precise, clear, concise information will also have studied the figures to know when to begin negotiating and how far to push. But that is the subject of our next episode.

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 See you next time.

Author: Jesús Sánchez

Consultant and instructor for more than 𝟣𝟧𝟢 companies and organizations in technology, services, communications, finance, commerce, consumer goods, transportation and government. External instructor with S.T.P.S., the Ministry of Tourism, the State Water Commission and the Querétaro State Institute for Workforce Training. Instructor throughout Mexico and South America for more than 𝟣𝟧,𝟢𝟢𝟢 executives at all levels. Trainer of more than 𝟥𝟢𝟢 internal instructors nationwide. Trainer of internal instructors at research centers nationwide.