How To Succeed with Project Stakeholder Negotiations
Good Project managers need the ability to succeed with project stakeholder negotiations, to help with effective decision-making.
A recent article in Psychological Science offers the latest research and some good advice that we can use in our negotiations.
Psychologist Adam Galinsky from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University of Illinois and his colleagues examined two related approaches to understanding one’s opponent in negotiations: perspective-taking and empathy. Perspective-taking is described as the cognitive power to consider issues from somebody else’s viewpoint (also known as ‘re-framing’), whereas empathy is the power to connect emotionally with people.
They conducted a series of experiments to test whether perspective-taking or empathy was the more useful technique, by enlisting the help of MBA students. The researchers first performed personality tests to assess the whether the students were more likely to be capable of perspective-taking, or having the ability to act with empathy.
Next they asked the students to play the part of buyer and seller to reach a deal in the buying and selling of a petrol station (or ‘gas station’). The twist is that the buyer’s maximum price was set below the seller’s reserve price, so the only way to get a deal would be to understand and investigate other options. The creative deal involved understanding that the seller needed the money to finance a sailing trip but would need a job on his return, whilst the buyer needed staff to run the petrol station.
Students who were ranked as ‘perspective-taking’ were more likely to successfully reach a deal. In contrast, higher scores on empathy tended to result in being less successful at reaching a creative deal.
Negotiators give themselves an advantage by thinking about what is motivating the other party, by getting inside their head” Galinsky said. “Perspective-taking gives you insights into how to structure a deal that can benefit both parties. But unfortunately in negotiations, empathising makes you more concerned about making the other party happy, which can sometimes come at your own expense.
This is very interesting, so how do we apply the lessons to project stakeholder negotiations? A useful place to look for tips would be in the field of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), using a technique known as ‘reframing’.
Reframing describes changing the context or representation of a problem. For example if you are lying in bed and hear the bedroom door open, your reaction depends upon the frame of reference; are you expecting the kids to wander in, or could it be a burglar? Is that gunman a ‘terrorist’ or ‘freedom fighter’? Once you understand that everyone might have a different understanding of the same event, then you can take steps to increase your awareness and ability to take a perspective.
So if you want to succeed with project stakeholder negotiations, just don’t get emotionally involved with your opponent as this leads to the worst outcome.