MANUAL TEAMWORK, LEADERSHIP AND NEGOTIATION

TEAMWORK, LEADERSHIP AND NEGOTIATION

Therefore, we should not allow ourselves to be impressed or pressured by others, if it is a bad agreement for us, we should not accept it, although it is necessary to have properly analysed the situation in order to do so. A method for doing this will be presented later. • The basis for agreements is cooperation, not competition. Negotiating is not competing and reaching agreements is not winning. We saw earlier that an agreement is only reached when all parties are minimally satisfied, and in order to adjust positions to this point it is necessary to seek ways of mutual collaboration. If we understand negotiation as a competition in which some win and others lose, our behaviour will cause the other party to defend itself against our attacks and lose hope of finding a good mutual agreement, so it will erect more barriers to defend itself and block the channels that allow us to understand the needs and interests of both parties. In a negotiation we cannot take (steal) what we are interested in, we will only get it when the other party gives it to us. It seems absurd to propose a rule of the game like this, but it is often forgotten that in order to get the other party to grant us something (in negotiation we make concessions, not concessions) we must grant them something in return or they must have strong reasons to act in this way. If we want to get the other party to grant us what is in our interest, we must provide them with the reasons for doing so. In other words, all the credit for what we gain in a negotiation belongs to the other party and vice versa. • We must show our rules of the game to the other side without explaining them to them. If everyone played by the same rules, the negotiation game would be clear, simple and easily solved. However, we cannot trust the other party to act according to the basis of negotiation shown in this chapter, and if he does not trust us, we cannot explain to him that our interest is to benefit him as much as possible so that he benefits us. He would simply not believe us. In order to show our style of play, we must act in a way that shows the other negotiators what our rules are, making

110