Negotiation Skills and the 10 Negotiating Powers: The Critical Role of Lateral Thinking

Website design By BotEap.comLateral thinking and the 10 Negotiating Powers…

Website design By BotEap.comDoes anyone doubt that men and women are sometimes different, or that they sometimes see the world differently? Has anyone experienced how men and women can sometimes have different perceptions of the same event? Can anyone seriously argue that men and women sometimes approach relationships very differently? So why is this? And why is this even remotely relevant in the context of negotiation?

Website design By BotEap.comTo negotiate effectively, we need to use both sides of our brains. Left-brain people focus on logic, math, rational thinking, and black-and-white thinking. Approximately 90% of men in the world are dominated by the left side of the brain. Right-brained people focus on intuition, emotion, and creativity. Approximately 90% of women in the world are right-brain dominated. To be effective negotiators, we must become lateral thinkers by learning to use both sides of our brains.

Website design By BotEap.comAfter spending more than 30 years negotiating deals around the world, and after researching Nelson Mandela’s approach to his historic negotiations with the apartheid government of South Africa, I identified 10 negotiating powers. These 10 powers reveal the critical role of lateral thinking in the negotiation process by highlighting that negotiators need both left and right brain skills. You will notice that some require efficient left brain skills and others require efficient right brain skills. But, to bring all Powers together, negotiators require a combination of both.

Website design By BotEap.comThese are the 10 Powers:

Website design By BotEap.com• The power to understand that a negotiation is a process.

Website design By BotEap.com• The power of preparation.

Website design By BotEap.com• The power of positioning.

Website design By BotEap.com• The power of common sense and logic.

Website design By BotEap.com• The power of dignity, sympathy, humility and humor.

Website design By BotEap.com• The power of truth and justice.

Website design By BotEap.com• The power of observation – of listening and seeing.

Website design By BotEap.com• The power of morality, courage and attitude.

Website design By BotEap.com• The power of patience.

Website design By BotEap.com• The power to walk away.

Website design By BotEap.comThe advantages of lateral thinking…

Website design By BotEap.comBecause lateral thinkers are people who have the ability to use both the left and right sides of their brain, they have a significantly greater understanding of human behavior than those who are not lateral thinkers. Not only do they see unusual patterns of behavior that others might miss, but they also have a more nuanced and layered sense of what’s going on around them. Because of this, they also see more options for problem solving and have much higher problem solving skills than those who are not lateral thinkers.

Website design By BotEap.comAnd because the negotiation process is about identifying the problems each party hopes to solve, identifying the problems and finding different options and approaches to solving those problems is at the very heart of any successful negotiation.

Website design By BotEap.comLateral thinking and empathy…

Website design By BotEap.comNelson Mandela’s negotiating skills and experiences highlight the enormous importance of looking at every negotiation through the eyes of those with whom one is negotiating. He saw the enormous advantages this can present at many different levels in a negotiation. His life is a remarkable window into his lateral thinking abilities. It is quite fascinating how he honed these skills during his lifetime and how he used them in his dealings with the South African government.

Website design By BotEap.comWhen it comes to being able to see the world through the eyes of the other side, empathy is the name of the game. While it can be tempting to argue, using left-brain skills, that a position the other side is taking is “logical” or “illogical” or “black and white,” almost invariably right-brain skills are much more revealing. . and helpful. Clearly, to get inside someone’s head we need to tap into their emotional state and understand it. We need to tap into whatever intuitive skills we can muster. In doing so, we realize the enormous advantages that most women have over those of us who are efficiently oriented to the left side of the brain.

Website design By BotEap.comThis is why we need to develop both left and right brain skills, or we need to build negotiation teams that possess these skills.

Website design By BotEap.comHow lateral thinking exposes the risk of trading alone…

Website design By BotEap.comI have accepted that I am an efficient left brain person. I consider myself logical and rational, perhaps in excess. I have also always accepted the problem this almost inevitably creates, and the opportunities I might miss as a result. Therefore, I have accepted the absolute necessity of working on the functionality of my right brain. Unfortunately, what I have found at times is that when I began to focus on developing my right brain, I often found myself looking away from the functionality of my left brain. I needed to find a solution to this, and I did.

Website design By BotEap.comI decided that, whenever possible, I would never trade alone. Instead, I wanted the smartest right-brain negotiator I could find by my side, as well as the smartest left-brain negotiator to keep me focused. I would have to gather around me the smartest right-brained and left-brained people I could find. And because 90% of women are right-brain dominant, that’s where I would look for the right-brain part of my team.

Website design By BotEap.comAs highlighted in the 10 negotiating powers, negotiators must keep their eyes on my different balls simultaneously. And because they have to watch and listen to the other side’s negotiating team, and particularly when that team is sometimes quite large, it’s almost impossible to do it alone. Having a left and right brained team of negotiators watching, listening and evaluating what is going on is a huge advantage and will always produce a better result than handling this alone.

Website design By BotEap.comSo don’t be proud, folks. Assemble a team of the most skilled lateral thinkers you can find…