The gap between where you are and where you want to be is often full of obstacles; some are visible and intuitive, however many are difficult to see - blind spots. Failing to identify these obstacles can result in negotiation deadlocks, or in agreements that are difficult to implement leading to conflicts down the road. Above all, it can result in significant losses of negotiation value.
Research shows that 80% of executives leave in excess of 10% of value on the negotiation table, and the worst part is that most of them are not even aware of it!
A negotiation consultant identifies these negotiation obstacles and designs (and executes) an effective negotiation strategy to overcome them. It also gives the client an external perspective, a birds-eye view of the problem. Allowing the client to see all the actors, understand their interests, priorities, and very importantly, identify blind spots that are often invisible to the internal players because they are ‘too close to the problem’.
In 1970 NASA’s Mission Control Center received a distress call from Apollo 13, “Houston we have a problem” after an explosion had crippled their spacecraft. This quote resembles the type of calls we often get at Alkimya Catalyst from our clients. An Alkimya negotiation consultant is then parachuted on location; they come with experience, expertise, tools, and processes to control the situation and get the negotiation process back on track and achieve desired results.
Our negotiation consultants are strategists, behavioral analysts, and above all, problem solvers. Their task is to work with the client to explore tactical and strategic solutions to address the negotiation situation and maximize value.
Ideally, situations like the one NASA faced in 1970 can be avoided. Our negotiation consultants’ main task is to work with the organization to address internal systemic issues and help the organization thrive in the long term. They develop negotiation solutions and processes that will ensure that effective preparation happens, avoiding future crises.
Identifying negotiation obstacles requires a precise and methodical negotiation process; 70% of negotiation success results from effective preparation. Preparation, however, is often misunderstood as the process to develop the one hundred reasons to support the argument that “you are right”. In contrast, Effective preparation is an exploratory process to identify and understand all the negotiation obstacles from the perspective of all parties involved in order to build a negotiation strategy that leads to an agreement that works for everyone. An Alkimya consultant will bring experience, expertise, tools, and processes to help you and your team build and execute your negotiation strategy.
Next time you have an important negotiation, ask yourself, how much is an additional 10% of this negotiation worth?
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