I started two online courses today, "Understanding and Managing the Clinical Trial Process" and "Effective cummunication and negotiation".

The first class is very professional and full of technical details. Common senses are helpful passing the quizzes. The second course is short. At the first glance, I thought it is a cliche and I could just read the similar content online.  I like the second part about the negotiation  useful.

Here are the notes of the negotiatio part.

1. planning

• write dow the interests and objectives of both parties. Make a note of which interests are common, conflicting, or complementary.
• identify the priorities. make your best guest at the priorities of the other party. identify potential trad-offs on the list. understanding the differences between the "needs" or "must-have" and "wants" will prove a powerful insight that prevents unnecessary bargaining.there can be short-term and long-term interests for both parties. compare your list of priorites and that of the opposition.  This would help you to identify the points to give up. For the same high priority items on lists of both parties, develop alternative solutions before starting negotiation
• determine the best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA) for both parties. if an alternative is available, the negotiator is less likely to accept a "bad deal". Correspondly, if the BATNA is highly undesirable, the motivation to stay at the negotiating table to find a solution will be greater. Whoever has the strongest BATNA has the strongest negotiating position. If the opposition's BATNA is much weaker than yours, avoid getting too greedy. win-win scenarios are genereally the best solution.
• identify the limits of authority. understanding the limits of authorities of both parites. If either side exceeds their limits of their authority, it will often delay resolution
• plan an agenda that include the issues to discuss in the sequence you wish to discuss them. If possible, always use your agenda to have better control of the process. if you have to use the opposing party's agenda, study it to discern their priorities or strategies. allocate time for contentious issues. assign a time limit for each item to beeter manage the flow of the discussions and prevent getting stuck on one issue. reach agreement on the simple issues first. those are the issues that are low priority for one side and high priority for the other.
• structuring the negotiation depends on many factors. the level of trust between two sides. outline your first offer based on the info gethered and understanding the interests of both sides. know what option you wil propose first. practice defending your first offer. be able to clarify why your offer will satisfy the opposition's needs as well as yours. also determine the best possible agreement and the mimimal possible agreement. with these clearly in mind, the boundaries and alternatives of the negotiation should be wll defined.

Effective Communication and Negotiation

Effective Communication and Negotiation