Negotiation Skills

In Western cultures, many people are uncomfortable with silence. We tend to talk on top of one another, with little pause between point and counterpoint. Any silence that occurs often feels awkward, as you’ve experienced. But effective negotiators know that silence in negotiation can be a useful tool. Here are four advantages of silence. … Learn More About This Program

Imagine that you are about to enter into a negotiation. Unbeknown to your counterpart, the stakes are particularly high because you are dealing with difficult situations behind the scenes. Maybe your organization is struggling financially and needs a break to stay in the black. Or you are planning to ask for a raise to help … Learn More About This Program

Research suggests how to frame your opening offer for maximum advantage in multi-issue negotiations. … Learn More About This Program

Wise negotiators recognize the value of both collaborating and competing at the bargaining table. They look for ways to increase the pie of value for all parties, often by identifying differences across issues and making tradeoffs. And they also rely on distributive bargaining strategies to try to claim as much of that larger pie for … Read Distributive Bargaining Strategies

Deceptive tactics in negotiation can run rampant: parties “stretch” the numbers, conceal key information, and make promises they know they can’t keep. The benefits of negotiation in business offer strong incentives to detect these behaviors. Unfortunately, however, most of us are very poor lie detectors. … Learn More About This Program

Effective leadership and communication go hand in hand, especially when it comes to negotiating a leadership role in an organization. … Learn More About This Program

Due to the anchoring bias, the first offer made in a negotiation often has an outsized effect on the outcome. But recent research shows that anchoring with a range offer can have an even bigger impact than a single figure. … Learn More About This Program

Unethical negotiation tactics are often difficult to detect at the bargaining table. But with advance knowledge of how they unfold, you can prepare to defuse them. … Learn More About This Program

In past articles, we have highlighted a variety of psychological biases that affect negotiators, many of which spring from a reliance on intuition, and may hinder integrative negotiation. Of course, negotiators are not always affected by bias; we often think systematically and clearly at the bargaining table. Most negotiators believe they are capable of distinguishing … Learn More About This Program

The pitfalls of email negotiation are well documented, but research suggests tackling these problems head-on can improve results. … Learn More About This Program