getting to yes negotiating agreement

What is Getting To Yes: Negotiating Agreement Success?

With a “Getting To Yes” negotiating agreement strategy, negotiators don’t have to choose between either waging a strictly competitive, win-lose negotiation battle or caving in to avoid conflict.

Many professional negotiators have come away from talks wondering, How did that pleasant discussion turn sour? Why did the deal unravel at the last minute? Poor communication explains many of our negotiation mistakes.

But when negotiators work toward a “getting to yes” negotiating agreement plan, parties on both sides of a negotiation or dispute can achieve more. By listening closely to each other, treating each other fairly, and jointly exploring options to increase value, negotiators can identify potential tradeoffs and win-win opportunities across issues and interests.

A “getting to yes” negotiating agreement strategy involves a search for solutions that leave both parties better off than they would be if they reached an impasse and turned to their outside options.

“Getting to yes” originated with the revolutionary book, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, by Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton. It is a straightforward, universally applicable method for negotiating personal and professional disputes without getting taken-and without getting angry.

What does a “getting to yes” negotiating agreement look like in practice?

It helps us separate our counterpart from the problem at hand, and makes it easier to focus in interests rather than positions. And importantly, it helps us head off the vicious cycle of action and reaction. By refusing to react, you can instead channel resistance into activities such as “exploring interests, inventing options for mutual gain, and searching for independent standards.”

A “getting to yes” negotiating agreement approach provides a concise strategy for arriving at mutually acceptable agreements in every kind of conflict — whether it involves parents and children, neighbors, bosses and employees, customers or corporations, tenants or diplomats.

To learn more, download this FREE report, Getting the Deal Done, from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

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