Negotiations are comprised of small groups of people
struggling to accomplish a mission. Such groups can be viewed as
teams. Negotiating Teams are management challenges. When viewed
collectively, the two opposing negotiating forces actually
comprise a potential negotiations team populated by competing
forces. This discord threatens the team environment.
If you are expanding your team, you are adding the management
challenge of having to manage the people on your team. You
assume responsibility for your team's preparation,
pre-engagement research and the role each co-negotiator will
play. You need most importantly to establish a global goal for
the team and strategy for the pending session. If you are part
of a negotiating team but not the team leader, make sure you
know the team's goals and objectives. If they are not clear, ask
for clarification. Success is being part of a winning team; not
knowing why your team failed. Worse yet is to not know why!
If the other side brings in a team of negotiators, You need to
take steps to engage and manage their team.
If you are facing a team of negotiators, welcome the
opportunity as a management challenge. Apply basic team building
tactics to begin to merge the two teams:
Welcome the other team to the negotiation.
Observe the other team's pecking order and note who your
prime opponent defers to, if anyone. This may tell you who the
real decision maker is.
Don't assume the primary speaker is the actual team leader or
decision maker.
Pepper random members of the other team to uncover latent
leaders or issues that need to be addressed.
Interview each new member of the team as to their role,
qualifications and specific area of expertise.
Establish your role as the overall discussion leader stating
clearly and concisely the objective of the day's discussions.
Look for areas of disagreement or conflict between the other
team members. Typically non-verbal communications reveal such
discord.
Take time to fully debrief the other team, individually,
before launching into the issues of the day.
Negotiating is small group management challenge. Seek to
engage and involve the other team as part of the collective
team. This will predictably come as a surprise to them.
Confusing your opponent is often a viable negotiating tactic.
The group is dysfunctional at the start. There are
conflicting goals and objectives. You can establish an informal
leadership role if you are able to establish a common goal for
the collective group. This is not as hard as it sounds. You have
all invested the time and money to attend the meeting. That
presumes a common goal. Try to find a way to establish that goal
as the primary purpose of the meeting in a fashion that
addresses the needs of both sides.