Basic Steps in Negotiation

1. Preparation – This is the foremost step in the negotiation process. Both the parties will organise and accumulate the information necessary to have an effective negotiation. Parties must investigate the history to know more about each other.

2. Set specific rules and guidelines – Once you have done your planning and developed strategy you are ready to begin defining the ground rules and procedures with the other party over the negotiation itself. Who will do the negotiating? Where will it take place? What time constraints, if any will apply? To what issues will negotiation be limited? Will there be a specific procedure to follow if an impasse is reached? During this phase, the parties will also exchange their initial proposals or demands.

3. Clarification and Justification – When initial positions have been exchanged both you and the other party will explain amplify, clarify, bolster and justify your original demands. This needn’t be confrontational. Rather, it’s an opportunity for educating and informing each other on the issues, why they are important and how each arrived their initial demands. This is the point at which you might want to provide the other party with any documentation that helps support your position

4. Bargaining and problem Solving – The essence of the negotiations process is the actual give and take in trying to hash out an agreement. It is here where concessions will undoubtedly need to be made by both parties.

5. Closure and implementation – The final step in the negotiation process is formalizing the agreement that has been worked out and developing any procedures that are necessary for implementing and monitoring.