"Recipes" for Success from Negotiation Expert "Chefs"

Who doesn't like a good metaphor? Who couldn't use a few negotiation tips too? Why not combine some cooking metaphors and package it in way that the "ingredients" are negotiation skills and the "chefs" are negotiation experts from around the world? Well, that's exactly what has been done (sorry if you were planning on doing it yourself!).

Although tasty, these ingredients won't help in negotiations.

The latest paper posted by Andrea Kupfer Schneider (thanks to Noam Ebner of the Werner Institute at Creighton University School of Law for giving me the heads up) on SSRN (a great and free resource) has some of the greatest and most well-known academic and practitioner based negotiators from around the world sharing their incredible insight on negotiator effectiveness. This means you have the following all in one paper:

Andrea Kupfer Schneider (Marquette Law School), James Richard Coben (Hamline Law School), Robert Dingwall, Daniel Druckman (George Mason U.), Noam Ebner (Creighton Law School/Werner Institute), Howard Gadlin (NIH), Christopher Honeyman, Sanda Kaufman (Cleveland State U.) Michelle LeBaron (U. of British Columbia Law School), Roy Lewicki (Ohio State U.), David Matz (UMASS), Carrie Menkel-Meadow (U. of California-Irvine Law School), Michael Moffitt (U. of Oregon School of Law), Jennifer Reynolds (U. of Oregon School of Law), John Harrington Wade (Bond U.), and Nancy Welsh (Penn State Law).

For those thinking academic papers are boring, yes some might be but this paper clearly does not fit into that mold. Rather, all 18 pages provide a genuine opportunity to learn tips from these pro's.

For those who still aren't sold on the idea, the paper starts off by mimicking recipe books by having each negotiator expert/author (or "chef") share their "recipe" for a negotiator to be successful. Keep in mind, we are all negotiators as we are engaged in negotiations on a daily basis.

Sure, we are all not involved in international incidents, crisis and hostage situations, or multi-million dollar contracts. Most likely the negotiations each reader is involved in (all of which are all still very important) are getting your kids to do ___ (yes, fill in the blank with easily 20 examples), trying to get a raise, working on a proposal, deciding where to vacation or what to have for dinner, purchasing a house or car, or trying to finish a project at work.

We are negotiating throughout the day and you most likely do not realize it. These "recipes" can contribute to your "sweet" success in your daily negotiations!

Because each "recipe" is brilliant, I had a tough time choosing which one to share for this article but ultimately I picked Menkel-Meadow's because I think much of her "recipe" has micro ingredients that require the awareness and ability to master nonverbal communication (yep, I had to somehow connect this all to nonverbal communication).

For example, I have written in the past about the effectiveness of active listening skills and not rushing things (listed as persistance and patience in the recipe). Further, empathy requires someone to be effective in their communication and also affective.

Effective with regard to gathering information while affective as empathy, along with the other ingredients, allows you to develop rapport and trust with the other person. This is important and applicable beyond negotiations as it has relevance in many professional and social settings too.
Returning to the "recipes"—each one provides ample time for both academic and practitioners to discern and oddly enough making you want to go in the kitchen and cook something up.

The paper and "recipes" will surely start to pop-up in trainings and other articles so get a head start and download the paper by clicking [HERE].

Enjoy!

Jeff is currently researching hostage and crisis negotiation as a Research Scholar at Columbia University.

Follow Jeff Thompson on twitter @NonverbalPhD where he frequently tweets comments, pictures, and videos on nonverbal communication.