Frequently Asked Questions

Your questions about negotiation answered.

“Negotiation” comes from the Latin for “not” (nego-) + “leisure” (tiare). Negotiation is the effortful, intentional “work” that we engage in to better ourselves and our communities.
The conversations we have (both internal and external) generate the outcomes we live with. On a more granular level, a negotiation is a conversation with an outcome - “any attempt to exert influence over an outcome”.
One might say that we are always negotiating - even the avoidance of negotiation is, itself, an approach. Negotiation is less of a question of “when should I do it” and more of an awareness that we are perpetually trying to meet our needs.
In the pursuit of our needs, we benefit from separating our “positions” (what we want) from our “interests” (why we want them).
The time it takes to negotiate an agreed outcome depends entirely on the type of negotiation being made. Generally, complex business negotiations can take years, while negotiating a salary raise may take a few weeks.
However, negotiation is diverse, as we unknowingly negotiate in everyday interactions. The length and scope of a negotiation depends on the complexity of the issues raised, the industry, the environment, the relationship of parties involved, culture, and much more.
Negotiation training is important because it is a consequential life skill that very few of us are formally taught. We partake in negotiations every day, whether professionally or socially. Negotiation training helps us bridge the gap between negotiating assumptions and behaviors, allowing us to become more aware of when and how we pursue our interests. In doing so, we are able to recognize negotiable situations and act accordingly.
Negotiation is generally divided into “integrative bargaining” or the creation of value, and “distributive bargaining” or the division of value (AKA “haggling”). Fundamental to any negotiation is considering the creation of value before the division of value. Meaning, we could dig beneath each party’s position for interests, and figure out their “why beneath their what”. In contrast, skipping straight to the transactional stage of the negotiation forgoes the building of relationships and creative options.

Yes and No!
First, even though it is largely semantic, we talk about conflict transformation rather than conflict resolution. The reason for this is because we think resolution implies that conflict is a. a bad thing and b. that it can be made to disappear. We believe conflict transformation regards that conflict has the potential to be the engine of innovation, and that it helps us to think about redirecting the energy involved with destructive conflict into constructive conflict.
Negotiation and Conflict Transformation are similar, if not synonymous, in that both seek to generate creative OPTIONS by identifying the INTERESTS beneath the positions.
Curiosity, humility, empathy, creativity and perseverance.
Negotiation allows us to be better off together.
Even if you’re businesses are competing, it’s better to think about arenas or moments where collaboration makes sense. Negotiation in business makes sense when we understand the interests of both sides.
The mediation training process varies state-to-state and country-to-country, but typically starts with a 30 to 40 hour basic mediation training (remote or in-person). From there, you may enter a practicum to gain expertise in a specific practice area, you can find a list of practice areas from the Association for Conflict Resolution.
Another option is networking with experienced mediators in the practice area you wish to specialize in and observe some of their mediations. Some practice areas may require specialized training, like divorce mediation, in addition to the basic mediation training.