Long and hard? Or short and successful?
In general, negotiations of any kind are plagued by several common problems.
“One problem you may experience when negotiating with another party is poor communication. It is well known that if one party fails to listen intently to the other party, negotiations could stall or become unproductive. During negotiations, all parties should speak directly to each other and be prepared to explain problems, articulate shared and unshared interests and work together toward a fast resolution, according to Community Catalyst, Inc.”
Other problems could be: failing to identify the bargaining chips in exchange for something more valuable, power dynamics combined with personality clashes, lack of emotional intelligence, individual differences, cultural differences, and many more.
NLP approaches negotiation from a different perspective. Instead of focusing on the content of each negotiation, it approaches it from the structural point of view.
Each position of the two parties, even if radically opposed to the other, has a positive intent. However, that positive intent is not obvious at the level of that party’s external behavior. By the process called “Hierarchy of Ideas,” NLP can help discover the positive intent of both parties thus reaching consensus far easier.
Even trained mediators and negotiators (unless trained in NLP) who listen attentively can miss the real intent of the parties involved in negotiations. To be a good “listener,” the following skills from NLP are extremely effective.
Considering that the negotiation happens with the decision maker (an “essential” for the success of any mediation or negotiation), and if there are no other hidden reasons (usually financial in nature) for keeping the negotiation going on ‘forever,” NLP can assist with the following:
With the help of these NLP techniques, the timeframe for a successful completion of the negotiation (or mediation) is significantly shortened and the emotional demand on both parties is alleviated significantly for the mutual benefit of all involved.