Διαπραγμάτευση για Δικηγόρους: 5 συμβουλές για την στάση του σώματος (1o μέρος)

26/11/2015 17:24 – o Συνεργάτης, Νομικό Blog

 

Είτε πρόκειται για μία σύναψη συμφωνίας για λογαριασμό πελάτη σας είτε για την εξασφάλιση μιας επωφελέστερης αμοιβής, η διαπραγμάτευση είναι αναπόφευκτο κομμάτι της καθημερινής δικηγορικής πραγματικότητας. Μπορεί να προετοιμάζεστε για ημέρες, εξομοιώνοντας δεκάδες πιθανά σενάρια διαπραγματεύσεων, και να έχετε καταλήξει ακριβώς στην στρατηγική που θα αποφέρει το πλέον κερδοφόρο αποτέλεσμα, αλλά μήπως αυτό δεν είναι αρκετό ;

Η γλώσσα του σώματος και η μη λεκτική επικοινωνία μπορεί να αξιολογηθούν αντίστοιχα με τις στρατηγικές τοποθετήσεις του κάθε μέρους στο τραπέζι των διαπραγματεύσεων. Οι ακόλουθες συμβουλές στοχεύουν στην ευθυγράμμιση στρατηγικής και μη λεκτικής επικοινωνίας, κατά την διαπραγμάτευση:

1. Χειραψία

Η σταθερές χειραψίες χωρίς υγρασία στις παλάμες αποτελούν τον ιδανικό συνδυασμό. Σύμφωνα με έρευνα του Fast Company, οι χειραψίες βοηθούν τους ανθρώπους να νιώθουν πιο άνετα, ενθαρρύνουν την ειλικρίνεια, και αυξάνουν τη διάθεση συνεργασίας.

2. Διατηρήστε επαφή με τα μάτια

Τα άτακτα παιδιά δυσκολεύονται να διατηρήσουν επαφή με τα μάτια τους, ενώ οι νευρικοί πολιτικοί τα ανοιγοκλείνουνσυνέχεια. Ο λόγος ;  Tα μάτια μπορούν συχνά να προδώσουν τις σκέψεις και τα συναισθήματα μας. Για να προβάλλετε μια ισχυρή θέση με αυτοπεποίθηση, θα πρέπει να  διατηρείτε σταθερή επαφή με τα μάτια κατά τη διάρκεια των διαπραγματεύσεων. Αν δυσκολεύεστε να κοιτάζετε στο βάθος τον ματιών τον συνομιλητή σας, εναλλακτικά προτείνεται να κοιτάζετε δίνοντας έμφαση στη ρίζα της μύτης.

3. Μίμηση

Η προσπάθεια μίμησης των κινήσεων του σώματος του συνομιλητή σας τον κάνει να αισθάνεται πιο άνετα. Αν βρίσκεστε σε μια διαπραγμάτευση και ο συνομιλητής σας κλίνει προς τα εμπρός, αντανακλώντας τη θέση αυτή δείχνετε ενδιαφέρον και διάθεση για συζήτηση. Η ανακλαστικές συμπεριφορές γίνονται συνήθως ασυνείδητα και εφόσον επιχειρήσετε να τις αξιοποιήσετε ηθελημένα θα πρέπει να προσέξετε να μην το παρακάνετε.

4. Αποκρύψτε τα συναισθήματα σας

Εάν είστε νευρικοί, μην νευριάζετε. Αν είστε πολύ σίγουροι, μην πανηγυρίζετε γεμάτοι αυτοπεποίθηση. Εάν είστε απελπισμένοι για μια συμφωνία, μην δείχνετε την νευρικότητά σας. Για να διατηρήσετε το σταθερό πρόσωπο ενός “παίχτη πόκερ” θα πρέπει να γνωρίζετε τα συναισθήματά σας σε βάθος και να είστε σε θέση να τα αποκρύψετε ανάλογα με την περίπτωση. Αν έχετε μια σημαντική επικείμενη συμφωνία βιντεοσκοπειστε τον εαυτό σας σε μία “εξομοίωση” διαπραγμάτευσης, και παρακολουθήστε τον τρόπο που εκφράζετε τα συναισθήματα σας, μέσα από την στάση του σώματος σας.

5. Κρατήστε μία ευθεία – ανοιχτή στάση Σώματος

Το σταύρωμα των χεριών, η αυλάκωση των φρυδιών ή το σφίξιμο των δοντιών σας είναι πολύ κακές συνήθειες, οι οποίες δίνουν την εντύπωση ότι είστε απόμακρος, ότι νιώθετε απειλούμενος ή νευριασμένος. Διατηρήστε μια ανοικτή στάση, με τα χέρια σας ανοικτά, τις παλάμες ελεύθερες, και τα πόδια σας σταθερά στο έδαφος.

Η γλώσσα του σώματος είναι ένα εργαλείο που, εφόσον το  κατανοήσετε σε βάθος, μπορείτε να το αξιοποιήσετε κερδίζοντας το συγκριτικό πλεονέκτημα στις διαπραγματεύσεις σας.

Top 10 Worst Negotiation Tactics of 2015

Here are some of the worst negotiation tactics displayed during calendar year 2015 – from hard-bargaining, distributive negotiation strategies aimed at getting the whole pie to stonewalling strategies intended to stymy the development of a negotiated agreement

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Both self-proclaimed negotiation experts and novices alike tried out tactics that flopped at the bargaining table this year. Some erred by miscalculating their BATNAs (and their counterparts’), while others made the mistake of shunning negotiation altogether.

10. Stonewalling the negotiation process. Contract negotiations between Jason Pierre-Paul and the New York Giants demonstrate the hazards of intentionally stonewalling your counterpart in negotiations. A successful defensive end with the Giants since 2010, Pierre-Paul was renegotiating his contract after a couple of mildly disappointing seasons. The Giants’ offer of a “franchise tag” designation did not sit well with Pierre-Paul, who bargained hard for a better deal. The Giants countered with a multiyear, $60 million contract. Pierre-Paul again held out. After sustaining an injury in which he lost his right index finger, the Giants retracted their multiyear contract offer, leaving Pierre-Paul with the original offer.

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Build powerful negotiation skills and become a better dealmaker and leader. Download our FREE special report, Negotiation Skills: Negotiation Strategies and Negotiation Techniques to Help You Become a BetterNegotiator, from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

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9. Choosing not to negotiate with difficult partners. In January 2015 the Negotiation Briefings newsletter featured an article, “Dealing with difficult people – even when you don’t want to,” discussing the impasse NATO leaders had reached with Russian President Vladimir Putin with regards to his unilateral actions in the Crimea. Aside from exhibiting obstinacy in the face of a unified European front, Putin also proffered a unilateral solution to the Ukraine crisis using a seven point memo he had written on a napkin prior to the summit, a seven point memo which he then failed to implement in any meaningful way.

8. A flawed team approach. Three of the costars of “The Real Housewives of New York” tried the team approach when they joined forces this fall to demand high salaries for the show’s new season from their network, Bravo. But the women didn’t have a strong BATNA, or best alternative to a negotiated agreement, and Bravo did—the women could be easily replaced. Consequently, the maneuver was “a useless exercise in nothing,” as their castmate, business mogul Bethenny Frankel, noted.

7. “Blurred Lines” in court. Crooner Robin Thicke’s 2013 hit single “Blurred Lines” attracted so many comparisons to Marvin Gaye’s song “Got to Give It Up” that the singer and his cowriters become concerned that the Gaye family might try to sue them for copyright infringement. Rather than try to negotiate a solution, though, Thicke and his team preemptively sued Gaye’s family for declaratory judgment on the matter, a move that naturally attracted a countersuit. In March 2015, a jury ruled against Thicke, reaffirming that collaborative overtures are often a better opening move than litigation.

6. Failing to negotiate for yourself. The Sony Pictures email leak scandal rocked the world of Hollywood when it revealed personal correspondence between executives, directors, and actors. One of the more interesting revelations we explored in the May 2015 article “Negotiate for what you need to succeed,” published inNegotiation Briefings, was that the blockbuster film American Hustle’s female stars were being paid less than their male counterparts, leading many to decry the gender inequality prevalent in salary and compensation not only in Hollywood but in other industries. This situation highlights the importance of being able to advocate for yourself in negotiations, a skill distinctly different from but closely related to that of advocating on behalf of others.

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Build powerful negotiation skills and become a better dealmaker and leader. Download our FREE special report, Negotiation Skills: Negotiation Strategies and Negotiation Techniques to Help You Become a BetterNegotiator, from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

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5. Edward Snowden’s bad BATNA. Edward Snowden, the controversial whistleblower who leaked documents about the National Security Agency’s mass surveillance program, has had little luck negotiating his three felony charges with the U.S. federal government. In hopes of returning to the United States from exile in Moscow, Snowden says he has offered to go to prison, but his appeals appear to be falling on deaf ears. The case serves as a reminder that despite your best negotiation tactics, sometimes the only factor that can overcome a bad BATNA is the passage of time.

4. Reddit’s “no haggling” policy. This spring, Elaine Pao, then the CEO of Reddit, revealed that her company was attempting to correct the persistent gender gap in employee pay by forbidding internal salary negotiations. The well-intentioned policy put Reddit at a disadvantage in the cutthroat high-tech labor market and sent the incorrect message that women are incapable of negotiating assertively on their own behalf. A better approach to addressing the gender pay gap? Give employees access to negotiating training and root out sources of hidden bias in your organization.

3. Stopping outsiders from sabotaging your negotiations. One of the most difficult tactics negotiators may grapple with at the bargaining table is the attempt by outsiders to derail or sabotage a negotiated agreement as we discussed in our June 2015 Negotiation Briefings article, “Stopping Outsiders from Sabotaging Your Deal.” This exact problem was faced by John Kerry’s negotiating team in early 2015 as they tried to negotiate a nuclear arms deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Congressional Republicans, staunchly opposed to any agreement with Iran, crafted a separate statement that they sent to Iran’s Supreme Leader, an effort many saw as one geared towards subverting any potentially negotiated agreement.

2. An overly orderly approach. A first round of talks launched by the U.S. government aimed at restoring full diplomatic relations with Cuba proved disappointing in January, with the parties making little headway. One reason may have been their decision to focus on one issue at a time, a choice that can keep parties focused on their positions. By contrast, you are far more likely to notice potential tradeoffs that may exist across issues when you discuss them simultaneously.

1. Brinksmanship with benefactors. As he approached European creditors this summer for a new bailout package for Greece, Alexis Tsipras, then the nation’s prime minister, struck a combative tone that did not go over well. Dissatisfied with the deal on the table, Tsipras put it up for a referendum vote in Greece. After Greeks rejected it, the Greek economy tumbled even further, and Tsipras and his team were forced to accept an even worse package from Europe. The lesson? A conciliatory tone will carry you much further than brinksmanship when you’re making bold requests.

In Greece Crisis Negotiation, Tough Conditions May Have Affected the Deal

Exhaustion, time pressures, and stress can take a toll on the crisis negotiator.

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During a crisis negotiation, all that may seem to matter is reaching a deal as quickly as possible. The desire to head off a disaster may lead crisis negotiators to forego the usual comforts of life, such as sleep, in their single-minded pursuit of their goal.

Those appear to have been the conditions under which the government of Greece and its European creditors negotiated a definitive new bailout package for the financially troubled nation. After Greek voters rejected the deal on the table in a referendum, Greece’s prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, and his team headed back to Brussels for a 17-hour marathon negotiating session to come to a new agreement.

The final deal gives Greece up to $98 billion but little else from its wish list. The crisis leadership, including Europgroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem and German chancellor Angela Merkel, emerged from their all-night negotiating session looking “weary and red-eyed,” according to the Guardian.

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Discover how to apply the lessons of hostage negotiation scenarios to avoid disasters, diffuse tensions, and break through impasse with open communication when you download your copy of the FREE special report,Crisis Communication: How to Avoid Being Held Hostage by Crisis Negotiations, from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School today!

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Several features endemic to crisis negotiation may have made the dealmaking particularly challenging to those involved:

1. Exhaustion

As a crisis negotiator, you may feel you aren’t doing their jobs if they don’t work around the clock. But foregoing sleep is likely to exacerbate an already dire situation.

Why? Because sleep deprivation severely harms out decision-making abilities. Physical and mental exhaustion reduce our ability to process new information and to deal with distraction, in addition to hindering our short-term memory, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School professor Michael Chee told the Guardian. Sleep deprivation also leads us to make risky decisions and become insensitive to losses.

Chee says likens prolonged sleep deprivation to torture and notes that “the most insistent person who is standing at the end” of a round-the-clock negotiating session “probably prevails.”

2. Time pressure

Time pressures, such as a financial or environmental disaster that is worsening by the day, are also likely to take a toll on crisis negotiators. It’s understandable that negotiators will want to resolve a crisis as quickly as possible. But in their haste, they may actually exacerbate the situation.

Speed can be dangerous in negotiation, United Nations diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi, who has led crisis negotiations in Afghanistan and Syria, said during a 2002 interview while receiving the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School’s Great Negotiator Award. When negotiators are fixated on wrapping up talks as quickly as possible, they may focus only on the most vivid issues and overlook those that could be used to generate value-creating tradeoffs.

Deadline pressures can also cause negotiators to limit information sharing and overlook how they could benefit from one another’s proposals.

3. Stress

The stress inherent in the typical crisis negotiation tends to exacerbate conflict between parties, as each looks for reasons to deflect the other party for what has gone wrong. This type of blame game has been evident in the Greek financial crisis, with Greeks blaming the Eurozone’s austerity measure for its stagnant economy and European leaders accusing Greek government leaders of failing to steer a clear course out of the crisis.

Emotional stress also leads the average crisis negotiator to fall back on stereotypes, including culturally based snap judgments, Columbia University professor Michael Morris has found in his research. And stress leads negotiators to claim less value than they would when feeling more relaxed, Cornell University professor Kathleen O’Connor and her colleagues have found.

As a crisis negotiator, how can you manage the exhaustion, time pressure, and stress that typically infects such high-pressure talks?

Here are several suggestions:

• Assess the threat level. Does a crisis negotiation truly need to be conducted day and night, or can it be lengthened to encourage rational decision making? Look for ways to alleviate the immediate crisis so that you can build in enough time to conduct comprehensive negotiations.

• Take frequent breaks and make time for sleep. If talks are so urgent that they need to be conducted around the clock (as in the event of an environmental disaster), include enough people on your negotiating team to allow everyone to take adequate breaks to refresh and recharge.

• Prepare, prepare, prepare. Don’t make the mistake of rushing into a crisis negotiation unprepared. Insist on giving all parties enough time to thoroughly research the relevant issues, options, and alternatives. Otherwise, you will find yourselves scrambling to catch up at the negotiating table—and could make impulsive decisions as a result.

• Encourage collaboration. To reduce stress, emphasize that all parties involved have an interest in collaborating on a solution. In crisis negotiations, it can be especially important to emphasize the importance of cooperation to reduce the odds that parties will blame one another and become overly competitive.

Related Crisis Negotiations Post:  Police Negotiation Techniques and Negotiation Skills from the New York City Police Department Hostage Negotiations Team

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Discover how to apply the lessons of hostage negotiation scenarios to avoid disasters, diffuse tensions, and break through impasse with open communication when you download your copy of the FREE special report,Crisis Communication: How to Avoid Being Held Hostage by Crisis Negotiations, from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School today!