“Getting to Yes” (GTY), the revolutionary book on negotiation by Rodger Fisher and William Ury, suggests a new way to negotiate—called “principled negotiation” or “negotiation on the merits.” Principled negotiation is applicable to all kinds of negotiations, including assisted negotiations like mediation and collaborative law.
Principled negotiation differs significantly form traditional negotiation—called “positional bargaining.” In positional bargaining, parties take one of two positions: hard or soft. The soft side gives in to avoid conflict and make friends. The hard side demands its own way but wastes effort and time on agreements that don’t stick. Fisher and Ury characterize these agreements as unwise.
Principled negotiation turns positional bargaining on its head. It’s hard on the problem and soft on the people. And unlike positional bargaining, it produces wise agreements that meet each party’s legitimate interests, resolve conflicts fairly and are durable.
To promote wise agreements, principled negotiation relies on four key components:
(1) separate the people from the problem;
(2) focus on interests, not positions;
(3) invent options for mutual gain; and
(4) insist on using objective criteria.
In every negotiation, there’s a people problem. Parties don’t understand each other. Differing backgrounds, values and emotions don’t help. These differences lead to confusion. Parties often come to believe that the other side is the problem and lose sight of the real problem.
This is unacceptable. Parties must understand each other in order to craft a mutually acceptable solution to their problem. To increase understanding, GTY recommends that parties:
(1) put themselves in the other’s shoes;
(2) explore the causes of their emotions; and
(3) communicate with one another in an open and honest manner.
Focusing on interests can be challenging, especially at first. Parties tend to fall back on old ways and state their positions. A position is what parties want or think they want; whereas, an interest is what motivates parties’ positions.
The distinction is an important one that’s best illustrated by the orange story, which doesn’t appear in GTY but is useful nonetheless. In this story, two sisters fight over an orange. There’s only one orange. Both sisters take the position that they want the orange. In discussing their interests, they discover that one sister wants the zest to make a cake and the other wants the juice to make a smoothie. Both their interests can be met, but not their positions. That’s the beauty of interests. They open up opportunities for mutual gain and increase the odds of getting to yes.
The best option in the orange story became obvious in fairly short order. This can happen in real life too with the GTY method. Although more often than not, parties must take further steps. They must invent options, evaluate options and agree on mutually acceptable options. To get there, GTY suggests that parties be creative and brainstorm options without judgment.
Despite best efforts, sometimes no option for mutual gain presents itself. If this happens, GTY suggests that parties negotiate a solution based on mutually agreed upon objective criteria. As the name implies, the criteria must be neutral and not subject to the will of either party. The criteria can come from just about anywhere, including the law, community standards, financial principles and religious doctrine.
Rickett Law uses the GTY method in mediation and collaborative law. You can too. Adopting the GTY mindset is a terrific way to achiveve the best result possible and save time and money. If you want to learn more about how the GTY method can help you and your family, click the “Contact RL” button below.
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This website is for informational purposes only. Using this website or communicating through this website with Rickett Law, LLC and/or Cathi Rickett, JD does not establish an attorney-client relationship. This website is legal advertising & is protected by Google’s Privacy Policy & Terms of Service.
