Most people hear the word "negotiation" and picture a fight. Winners vs losers.
But negotiation isn't always a battle—it can be a team effort. People only come to the table if they believe they'll do better together than alone.
Done right, negotiation is creative, collaborative—even fun!
I've seen negotiation from two angles: first as a community mediation volunteer, later as a business school professor. Negotiation and mediation are really the same thing, just from different sides of the table. But they tell the story very differently, and each perspective offers unique insights.
In mediation training, we teach the warm-and-fuzzy 'win-win' story where everyone gets what they want. But for my MBA students, we use hard numbers to prove how negotiation can leave everyone better off.
Getting Comfortable with Negotiation
The only people who consistently love negotiation (besides those who have taken my class) are the fiercely competitive.