In my last blog, I talked about the difference between Positions (WHAT I want) and Interests (WHY I want what I want).  Understanding the difference is critical for successful negotiations.  Negotiators who bargain over interests, which are based on needs, fears, desires and concerns,  are more successful than those than bargain over positions.  There are often many different ways to satisfy an interest, while attempting to satisfy positions usually does not offer such flexibility.

A simple example from Mary Parker Follett, a pioneer in organization development, illustrates the difference between positions and interests.  Two children are fighting over an orange.  An obvious solution is to divide the orange between the two, but each child’s position is that they want the whole orange.  Upon further discussion, it is revealed that one child wants the flesh of the orange to eat, while the other wants the peel of the orange to flavor a cake batter.  By identifying the underlying interests, an arrangement is made that allows each child to get exactly what they need.   

Here are some simple techniques for identifying underlying interests: 

Ask “Why”?  Try to understand why someone is taking a certain position, the same way we do when we are gathering requirements. Explore the cause/effect relationships by asking the Five Whys.  Research from the Harvard Negotiation Project has shown that successful negotiators ask three times as many questions as unsuccessful negotiators.

Ask “Why Not”? Think about what is keeping the other party or parties from accepting what you are offering.  One technique is to think about how they might be criticized for accepting your offer. 

Realize That Each Side Has Multiple Interests Invest the time to dig into the other parties’ interests.  Don’t walk away after figuring out just one interest, as there may be many.  Single issue negotiations are much more likely to result in stalemate than multi-issue negotiations. 

Think about Your Interests  Spend as much time thinking about your interests as you do thinking about the other party’s interests.  Think about your needs, your concerns, your fears and your desires.  This will help you with creative problem solving, which we will discuss in my next blog article, when we will consider how to take the interests we’ve identified and use them to expand the negotiating pie.