The first step in the Win-Win Negotiation process is the development of a Win-Win Plan. The essence of a Win-Win Plan answers the question: “What can I do for the person I’m about to deal with that will motivate that person to give me what I want in return?” I used to think that negotiation was a give-and-take process, but in reality there is no such thing as taking: You can only motivate other people to give. Looking at negotiation as a give-and-take process is like viewing a marriage as a 50:50 proposition. The problem with viewing a marriage in this manner is that you spend the majority of time arguing over where your 50 stops and your spouse’s 50 starts. On the other hand, if you view a marriage as a 100:100 proposition, where both parties concentrate on the giving, the taking then takes care of itself.
Cynics are quick to dismiss the notion of Win-Win planning saying that it’s not “real world,” or that it may work well when times are good and there’s lots of money to spread around, but that it doesn’t hold water when times are tough and money is scarce. Well, let me assure you that Win-Win is “real world” and when times are tough, approaching problems from a Win-Win perspective is probably the one thing that will save your neck!
For example, several years ago I became involved with a copper mining company that owned a mine which had been shut down due to depressed copper prices. As a result, people were moving away from this small company town in droves and there was speculation that the town would have to close the high school and bus the students to a community located fifty miles away. Needless to say, morale in this community was at an all-time low.
As I talked to the mine’s general manager, he explained to me that as gloomy as the situation looked, there was still a glimmer of hope. He believed that if they could figure out a way to reduce the cost of producing a pound of copper by eight cents, then mining the copper would be profitable and they could reopen the mine. His plan was to save five of the needed eight cents by putting in newer and more efficient processing equipment. My job was to show the purchasing department how to negotiate the remaining three cents away from their suppliers—vendors who supplied the mine with materials and services.
The general manager then introduced me to the people in the mine’s purchasing department. The first question I asked the head of the purchasing department was how he and his department planned to save the additional three cents per pound. He reluctantly told me that they had already resorted twice to the only solution they knew: bring in their suppliers and beat them down. This meant the suppliers would do all the giving and the mine would do all the taking, clearly a Win-Lose situation.
I asked the head of the department if he and his people were looking forward to this experience. The head of the department answered in frustration, “Are you kidding? We’ve already beaten them down twice. Some of these people are losing money the way it is. And we’re supposed to ask them for further price reductions? They’re going to be hostile!”
After hearing the rest of the department vent similar frustrations, I suggested a fresh approach—Win-Win. I drew the PRAM Model on the chalkboard and spent the next two hours talking about each of the four steps. At the end of the two hours, from the comments I was hearing, I was convinced these people understood Win-Win. I then walked over to a flip chart, grabbed a magic marker and said, “Now I want you to give me your Win-Win ideas; things that you can do for your suppliers who are already losing money and who are in some cases hostile, that will motivate them to enthusiastically volunteer even further price reductions.”
Much to my disappointment, the room fell deadly silent. So silent, in fact, that I began to think, that as a consultant, it was time for me to consider a career change. Finally, the warehouse foreman raised his hand to suggest an idea. He knew for a fact that the mining company paid fifteen cents a gallon less for its diesel fuel than the trucking company that hauled the mine’s concentrated ore to the smelter some three hundred miles away. He suggested that the mining company purchase the fuel for the trucking company if the trucking company would agree to pass some of the savings back in the form of lower prices. I told this man that he had a great idea and suggested that his company not try to hang onto all the fifteen cents. If he wanted to show good faith and get the trucking company to actively work toward getting the mine back open, he should split the fifteen cents with the trucking company. In this manner, the trucking company could lower its price for its services and, at the same time, increase its profits—truly a Win-Win proposition.
All of a sudden everyone in the room had their hands up. Win-Win ideas, which initially seemed so foreign to these people, were coming at me so quickly that I couldn’t write fast enough on the flip chart to keep up. As a result of that session, the purchasing department not only saved the three cents per pound they were looking for, they saved nearly four cents, and without any hostile confrontations with their suppliers. As the head of the department put it, “For the first time, bringing our suppliers in under very adverse circumstances to talk about a very touchy subject was fun.” The mine opened up two months later—a very happy ending.
As you can see, if you take Win-Win seriously, you can turn even the most dire of circumstances into a glowing success story.
