Larry Susskind, MIT professor and co founder of the Program on Negotiation and Consensus Building Institute, made an appearance in the ‘Negotiations Ninja’ podcast hosted by Mark Raffan to talk about his book – Good for you, Great for Me.
Building trust is key for any successful negotiation. But what helps build it is the ‘What if?’ game. The longer you play, more comfortable the situation. More options are out in the open with more intent and comfort being stated without the pressure of conclusion. ‘What if I did this, would you do that?’ Do it enough number of times and the consensus will emerge.
The other gem in this podcast was about agreement. Larry’s formula ‘Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed’! Make that the stated principle from the word go. Do not make concessions expecting concession in response. Till every point is agreed upon – none of the agreed points before needs to be honoured. This is one lesson that can save a lot of unhappy agreements we get into.
One key takeaway – A mutually beneficial agreement needn’t benefit everyone equally. When you enlarge the pie everyone gets more – even if you go home with the biggest piece.
Link to ‘ Good for you, Great for me’.http://www.negotiations.ninja/podcast/good-for-you-great-for-me/
Interview on Mediator Show – https://www.mediate.com/articles/susskind_full.cfm
