Negotiating Tip #1

This is the first in a series of negotiating tips I’ll be publishing every Monday over the next four months.

With rare exception, everything in life is negotiable. You need to recognize that you are involved in negotiations throughout the day at work and at home.  At work you negotiate with your boss, your peers, your customers, your suppliers, etc.  At home you negotiate with your spouse and your children, and if you admit it, some of you even negotiate with your pets.

At the same time you have to be alert to the fact that there are some “no win” situations” that you need to acknowledge before you get in too deeply.

Offshore Drilling

Here in the USA, there doesn’t seem to be very much support for offshore drilling along either the East or the West Coasts.  So why is it that the US Export Import Bank is loaning billions of dollars to Petrobras in Brazil, a state owned company,  to finance their exploration of an offshore discovery in Brazil?

This decision would appear to be in conflict with the original charter of the Department of Energy to reduce our reliance on foreign oil.  It also appears that the US Treasury may have a greater need for those funds.  Finally, why not employ our own resources to access our own resources?  Where is the long range strategic thinking in all of this, or is it yet another chicken dance with a high price tag?

Have You Heard the Good news?

According to various wire services, the President has announced some good news.  The “good news” is that the deficit for the next fiscal year will be lower than this fiscal year — from $1.6 trillion all the way down to$1.3 trillion .  Is that really good news?  Maybe the government needs to be bailed out!

Scary Thought!

Here is a scary thought.  Someone shows up at the front door of your business and says, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help!”

When Will We Learn?

It has been more than eight years since the terrorist attacks on the World Towers in New York City.  Since then, there have been several other attacks by terrorists attempting to use the airlines to destroy property and kill US citizens.  So what have we learned during this time?

Let’s see.  We have created some new government agencies and departments, we have hired more government employees, we have increased the presence of airport security personnel, we now have to remove our shoes, belt and jackets as part of the screening process, we cannot carry on more than a few ounces of a variety of cosmetics, toiletries, water, etc. and on and on.  Based on the most recent attack on flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit, it would appear that we really haven’t learned much.  What we do is continue to put band aid fixes on the effect.  The most recent attempt shows that we are not focused on the cause.  How is it that someone already on a watch list, whose own father alerted US authorities, who purchases a one way ticket, and the purchase is made with cash even gets to board a flight to the US?

The lesson to be learned is pretty simple —  we need to become proactive in our efforts to thwart terrorist attacks instead of reacting to the latest threat on a piecemeal basis.  We also to to recognize that the terrorists are not going to stop trying!  The question is how do we stop them before they succeed again?

New Terminology for the Airlines

I don’t know whether you have ever thought about some of the terminology used by the airlines, but I find some of it a little disconcerting.  For me, it starts  with the fact that I have to go to the “terminal”  to catch my flight.  Maybe it’s just me, but that sounds a little ominous before I even get on the plane.  What is even more bothersome  is when I’m already en route and one of the attendants makes an announcement for those who are getting off at their “final destination.”

After flying around the world for over 50 years, these terms are starting to get a bit wearing.  I would like to see some new terms put into use. What do you think?

Negotiating – Other Lessons

During negotiations many things become intuitive as the process continues and as you get to understand the other people involved in the process.  Nevertheless you have to keep in mind that while there may be similarities in the process, each negotiation is unique in some ways.    Always remember that negotiating is not a science and that you have to be as creative as possible to come up with the best outcome.

In terms of creativity there is no limit to what how deep you may have to reach into your experiences to break a stalemate, to get the other party to actually hear what you are trying to communicate or to get someone to move on to another point to make some progress.  Although nothing is ever identical from “deal” to “deal, there are many similarities.

Here are a few of the things that I’ve learned over the years.

1. To break a “stalemate” and relieve the tension in the room, take a break and use a joke.  Be careful when using this approach that you don’t misread the situation or tell a story that offends someone.
2. Recognize body language of others at the negotiating table and other people in the room.  They are like “tells” at the card table.   You want to pay particular attention to the other person’s eyes.  We can pretty much control the muscles in our lower face, but eye movements are more difficult to control.   That’s why many professional poker players wear dark glasses at the table.
3. Periodically remind yourself to pay attention to what kind of messages you, and your team members, may be sending to the other party through your own body language.  A simple thing like head shaking “yes” or “no” by your team members while you are talking tells the other party an awful lot about your position.
4. Avoid falling into the typical North American character trait of being eager to get to the bottom line quickly, or to make an issue go away, by “splitting the difference” just because you are uncomfortable negotiating.  If you are recognized for “splitting the difference”, the other party will soon learn to adjust his sights higher and ratchet up the outcome in their favor.
5. Eliminate the clock from negotiations.  Do not establish arbitrary deadlines in your haste to return home or to get the negotiations over with.   Arbitrary deadlines will force you to accept terms that might otherwise have been bettered given sufficient time.
6. When dealing with other cultures, don’t overestimate English language comprehension based on speaking skills.  I am not demeaning other cultures as their understanding of English typically far exceeds our ability to speak their language, but there are subtleties and nuances in English that go far beyond the words themselves.

Lessons learned: Stay alert, stay creative and take your time.

The Hidden Risk in Government Bailouts

One factor that does not seem to be taken into consideration when assessing the real cost of the government bailouts relates to the “human element.”  We as humans tend to adjust our tolerance for risk based on changing circumstances.  As a result, when something appears to have been made safer, we tend to take more chances.

In the perspective of government bailouts and business, when the human factor comes into play, the decision makers  will feel safer in that the risk level for thier particular business has been reduced by virtue of access to government funds (i.e. taxpayer money).  The net result could be even riskier and possibly poorer business decisions resulting in the need for more government bailouts.

Isn’t this what started the whole bailout cycle?

Centralization or Decentralization?

This question often arises when businesses reorganize. On a different level, the issue often arises in Washington as to how the various intelligence agencies should be structured.

Some historians believe that part of the cause of  our unpreparedness in Pearl Harbor resulted from the fact that bits and pieces of intelligence about the attack resided with different intelligence agencies.  In contrast, as stated in Malcolm Gladwell’s book “What the Dog Saw”, the root cause of the Bayof Pigs fiasco was that the operation was conceived by a small, highly cohesive group whose close ties inhibited the beneficial effec ts of argument and competition.”

Given that we are facing what appear to be significant problems with recent intelligence operations regarding terrorist attacks, which alternative will provide better protection– centralization or decentralization?

Transparency

To gain more insight into the real issues and dealing in government I think we all would like to have more transparency in government  dealings and negotiations.  In fact, it probably would be healthy in terms of helping keep our elected officials somewhat more on track.

Along those lines, Florida has “sunshine laws” in effect which require that any meeting between two school board members, condo association board members, city council members, etc., be open to the public.  So why is it that when this legislation was enacted by the state,  the “sunshine laws” do not apply at the state level?  I guess that means that everyone below the state legislature needs to be watched, but the elected officials at the state level are “above the law.”