Negotiating – The Role of Role Playing

Role playing in preparation for a negotiation will help you in many different ways:

It will help you eliminate many surprises
It will help you further develop your skills
It will help you achieve better outcomes
It will help you better understand yourself, and how you may be perceived by the other party
It will help you develop a comfort level with the issues at hand

Role playing is like rehearsing for a show.  The person who has the lead at the negotiating table should sit with a few people and outline their position on each major negotiating point.  The other people should offer counter proposals that might be anticipated from the other side.  As these practice sessions proceed, positions and responses need to be critiqued constructively by the group so that the lead negotiator has a comfort level with the positions and the alternatives. .

Even before you do the role playing, do your homework.  Outline the key topics for negotiation.  For each topic, outline your negotiating position as well as what you believe to be the other party’s position.  At this juncture, you should set up a meeting with representatives from all of the affected business disciplines within your organization.  Next, you and your entire team should meet together with all of the affected parties in your organization to get a good read on their reactions and responses to the various topics and positions.  In addition to better preparing you, this approach will help you establish a unified stance on your side of the negotiations and preclude “second guessing” at the conclusion of the negotiations.

By reviewing each topic in this manner, you also should be able to uncover any sensitive areas that may not have been obvious to you.  Further you may uncover some “deal breakers” for the other people on your side of the “deal.”  Finally, the group may provide you with some new negotiating strategies and/or alternatives to further assist you in reaching a satisfactory agreement.

Lesson learned: Role playing better prepares you for negotiating in many ways; its like rehearsing for a show which only serves to make for a better outcome.

What Happened to the Government’s Plan to Reduce Our Dependence on Foreign Oil?

Let’s step back and see what we’ve accomplished in meeting our objective to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

In 1977 the Department of Energy (DOE) was formed to ensure that the US became more self sufficient in terms of energy supply.   The DOE has a budget in excess of $24 billion, and that’s just for this year.  Just imagine what’s been spent in total over the 32 years.  But wait, there’s more.  The DOE has somewhere between 15 and 20,000 federal employees plus around 100,000 contract employees.

Looking at the present level of oil imports which are higher now than they were 32 years ago, I really don’t think much has been accomplished in terms of meeting the “stated objective.” Now, the federal government is going about its business the same old way, only this time their sights are set on the auto industry, health care and the banking system.  Seems to be that the only objective that is being met is to grow the government.

Anyone care to venture a guess as to what the ongoing cost to our country is going to be when this new wave of planning (?) and the new federal government departments are in place?  You don’t have to do the math to understand that we cannot afford it!

H1N1 Vaccine Supply Priority?

If you have already stood in line, and you have been told that there is no more swine flu vaccine available for you, did you bother to ask why?  Well part of the reason is that the some of the vaccine has been set aside for terrorism suspects.  Doesn’t that make you wonder who else is being taken care of before your needs are met?

Can you believe that even though there are shortages of swine flu vaccine for the US public, the people that are out to destroy us are being protected by our government?  What do you suppose they’ll do with the health care program?  Maybe the idea is to make it available for illegal immigrants first, after which if the system isn’t bankrupt, the US public will be cared for!

Is Government Spending Headed for the Outer Limits?

The 2009 deficit is now projected to reach an unprecedented level of aboutt $1.5 trillion.  Not only is that three times last year’s level, but there’s more.  At the present rate of giveaways, bailouts and spending, in conjunction with new programs planned by the government, there are projections of  a $5 trillion deficit by 2013, and more coming.

To put these figures into perspective, let’s look at them in terms of the US Gross Domestic Product  (GDP)– that’s the value of all goods and services produced in the US.  Last year the government’s debt was about 40% of GDP, and in just 10 years the present administration is projecting that the government’s debt will reach in excess of $17 trillion or 75% of GDP.

If you still are not concerned, think about the following points.  When you have debt you have to service it by paying interest to those that have loaned you the money or you are in default.  We’ve seen enough proof of that in the credit card and housing markets to recognize this as a simple truth. Given the growth in debt, interest payments will take an ever increasing share of  government revenue.  Projections are that  by 2019, interest payments will account for 15% of total government revenues– monies which otherwise would be utilized to support  programs required to sustain economic growth and  programs critical to the well being of the US  like education, social security and national defense to name a few.

Putting it all into perspective indicates that if the government doesn’t cut spending, just to maintain our standard of living, taxes have to increase.  Based on performance to date, it is pretty certain that tax increases will come a lot faster than spending cuts under the present administration.

The spending spree being perpetuated by the federal government is putting our  standard of living and our country at risk.  As the debt load increases we will find ourselves becoming more vulnerable to the whims of other nations holding our debt.  The higher the debt, the higher our level of vulnerability!

Did You See the Newest Step in the Government’s Chicken Dance Called Bailout?

Have you heard?  GMAC (General Motors Acceptance Corporation) which is critical to providing  financing to a lot of GM (Government Motors) and Chrysler dealers is talking to the Treasury Department to get additional bailout funds.  This will be the third time they have been to the well to get the taxpayers to save them from their inability to run their business effectively.

Or is there something I don’t understand?  Let’s see, by using our taxpayer money, the government took control of GM.  Next, the government fired GM’s CEO and replaced him with their own “wizard.”  The government (i.e. the Treasury Department) ordered GMAC, and some other banks, to raise additional capital by a specific date.  Apparently, the other banks have succeeded, but GMAC has found it necessary to use more taxpayer funds to solve their problem.

Looks like the government has found a way to create a revolving door for continuing bailouts while exercising greater control over GM and GMAC.

Who Is Blocking Our Efforts to Become Independent of Foreign Oil?

Last year the US Geological Service updated their 1995 findings.  They reported that the Bakken field in the western part of the Dakotas and the eastern part of Montana is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska’a Prudhoe Bay.  As reported, we could have access to 500 billion barrels of light, sweet oil.  To put this find into perspective, there’s enough crude to fully support the US economy for over 2000 years.  I would think that would certainly give us enough time to develop a long term strategy to deliver cost effective alternative sources of energy.

The report also indicates that total reserves exceed 2 trillion barrels.  For comparative purposes, that’s over 20 times as much as known reserves in Iran and in Kuwait, and almost 10 times as much as Saudi Arabia.

So, why are we not extracting this oil?  We could be driving down the price of crude, driving down the price of gasoline at the pump for our citizens,bolstering the US economy, putting people back to work in the USA, and extricating this country from the grasp of foreign powers and influence.  Are we at the mercy of the environmentalists?  Could OPEC be involved in blocking efforts?  Why isn’t the federal government pushing  development of the Bakken field?

Negotiating – “Make the Pie Bigger”

If you plan on doing business with another party more than once, a successful outcome in the negotiation requires that both parties feel satisfied.  You really do not want to hammer the other party into submission, as they likely will spend most of their time and energy getting even with you at some time in the future to the detriment of both parties.
Over the years, I have determined that in many people’s minds, probably in most people’s minds, negotiating is a confrontational process where at the end of the day, someone has to win and someone has to lose.  This attitude can be seen from the inception of most negotiations where the parties position themselves on opposite sides of a rectangular table and set up another “chicken dance.”

Imagine a pie in the center of the table with the objective of dividing it between the parties.  If the parties are sitting opposite one another staring at the pie, each will be thinking of ways to cut the pie in such a way that “their half” is bigger than the other party’s half – a pretty typical mind set for negotiations.  To achieve true success, that thinking has to change.  In other words, the objective has to change from getting a “bigger half” of an existing pie, to an objective to work together to “make the pie bigger” so that both parties get a bigger piece of pie than they could have gotten on their own.

For this outcome to have a chance of happening, the physical set-up has to change.  In those cases where I was able to arrange the setting, I made sure that there was a round table where the parties had an opportunity to act as equals —no head of the table and no arbitrary “line in the sand.”  In those cases where a rectangular table is the only available option, ask the other party to make room for you on their side of the table so you can put your heads together and hopefully achieve a better outcome for both parties.   Explain that your hope is to combine your talents and resources to “make the pie bigger.”  At first this approach may not be credible to some people because of their perspective of negotiations as strictly transaction type events.  So, in fact, your first negotiation may be to convince the other party that you are sincere, that you are honest and that you really are trustworthy.  In other words, you will need to convince them that this approach is not some new kind of negotiating tactic or trick to win something from them before you even get to the main points in the negotiations.

Lesson learned:  To achieve a successful outcome, both parties have to feel as though they’ve won.  For both parties to win, you need to “make the pie bigger” before you cut it in half.

Is This A Real Government Proposal or Just Another “Chicken Dance?”

As recently reported, in the past year the US budget deficit has tripled from $459 billion to  over$1.4 trillion. In and by itself, that is frightening and it is sad for the future of this country.

Worse yet is Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke’s plan (?) to reduce the trade imbalance by getting countries with trade surpluses to get their consumers to spend more.  There is no mention of how to get the US consumer to save more.   There is no mention of curbing spending by the federal government.  After all, why take control of something over which you can exercise some control?

Do you suppose the government’s real plan is to export more from the US, starting with our consumption habits?

H1N1 Vaccine Disribution Plan – What Is Really Behind It?

Recently the media have focused a lot of attention on the “swine flu.”  Now that the vaccine has become available in limited quantities, the media have been devoting their attention to where the vaccine is available and who is eligible.  In case you haven’t noticed, one goup of people is notably absent from being able to get protection.  The fact is that “seniors” over the age of 64 cannot access the vaccine.

Given all of the recent “goings on” by the politicians and the media about “health care” programs, I wonder if the distribution plan for the H1N1 vaccine is a clear indication of what the federal government may really be thinking about in terms of “health care” coverage for “senior citizens.”

My article on Ezinearticles.com, under the same title, provides the questions that raised this issue in my mind.  What do you think is happening behind the scenes?  Is transparency needed here?

“Tauriffic” – One Word Says It All!

If your experience even comes close to mine, the new Taurus SHO ( just hitting the streets) will meet or exceed your expectations in every regard.  The ride and handling make you feel at “one with the road,” the seating is by far the most comfortable of any car I’ve ever driven, the powertrain adapts to any given situation, the interior reminds me of an airplane cockpit yet everything is accessible and easy to use, the technology is leading edge, and so on.

There is a lot more, but the best part is that here is a car you can ride in, or you can choose to drive it.  The choice is yours, but either way it is exciting and it is fun!