Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving In

by Roger Fisher

Any method of negotiation may be fairly judged by three criteria: It should produce a wise agreement if agreement is possible. It should be efficient. And it should improve or at least not damage the relationship between the parties.

The more you clarify your position and defend it against attack, the more committed you become to it.

the more attention that is paid to positions, the less attention is devoted to meeting the underlying concerns of the parties.

This method, called principled negotiation or negotiation on the merits, can be boiled down to four basic points.

People: Separate the people from the problem. Interests: Focus on interests, not positions. Options: Invent multiple options looking for mutual gains before deciding what to do. Criteria: Insist that the result be based on some objective standard.

the participants should come to see themselves as working side by side, attacking the problem, not each other. Hence the first proposition: Separate the people from the problem.

The second point is designed to overcome the drawback of focusing on people’s stated positions when the object of a negotiation is to satisfy their underlying interests. A negotiating position often obscures what you really want.

Problem Positional Bargaining: Which Game Should You Play? Solution Change the Game—Negotiate on the Merits Soft Hard Principled Participants are friends. Participants are adversaries. Participants are problem-solvers. The goal is agreement. The goal is victory. The goal is a wise outcome reached efficiently and amicably. Make concessions to cultivate the relationship. Demand concessions as a condition of the relationship. Separate the people from the problem. Be soft on the people and the problem. Be hard on the problem and the people. Be soft on the people, hard on the problem. Trust others. Distrust others. Proceed independent of trust. Change your position easily. Dig in to your position. Focus on interests, not positions. Make offers. Make threats. Explore interests. Disclose your bottom line. Mislead as to your bottom line. Avoid having a bottom line. Accept one-sided losses to reach agreement. Demand one-sided gains as the price of agreement. Invent options for mutual gain. Search for the single answer: the one they will accept. Search for the single answer: the one you will accept. Develop multiple options to choose from; decide later. Insist on agreement. Insist on your position. Insist on using objective criteria. Try to avoid a contest of will. Try to win a contest of will. Try to reach a result based on standards independent of will. Yield to pressure. Apply pressure. Reason and be open to reason; yield to principle, not pressure.

The four propositions of principled negotiation are relevant from the time you begin to think about negotiating until the time either an agreement is reached or you decide to break off the effort. That period can be divided into three stages: analysis, planning, and discussion.

To find your way through the jungle of people problems, it is useful to think in terms of three basic categories: perception, emotion, and communication. The various people problems all fall into one of these three baskets.