Planning Strategies
Negotiate with Confidence
Use these moves and countermoves to gain control of a negotiation.

BY RICHARD E. GABLE, PH.D., MBA, CEO

We may not want to admit it, but negotiating is a big part of our everyday lives. Think about it. As a physician and business owner, you regularly negotiate with suppliers, employees, colleagues, health plans, landlords and even patients. And that doesn't count the negotiating we all do within our own families. Because negotiating is such an integral element of our lives, we should strive to be as effective as possible in our dealings with other parties, so that we can protect our interests and achieve our goals.

In my January column, I provided guidelines that will enable you to identify your real goals and interests in any negotiation in which you participate. I also noted that it's important to understand what the other party wants from a negotiation and to know how much ground each of you will give to reach an agreement.

This month, I'll discuss several specific tactics you can use to gain control of a negotiation.

"WIN-LOSE" AND "WIN-WIN"

In its crudest form, negotiating is the process of distributing a fixed resource between two competing adversaries. With this type of negotiation, for one side to win something, the other side must lose something. This is frequently referred to as a "zero-sum" game because for me to gain $50, you must lose $50, and the sum of the two is $0.

This distributive, or competitive, approach to negotiation assumes that the size of the pie is fixed and that each side wants to maximize its gain.

Competitive bargaining is a "win-lose" approach in which negotiators try to reach agreement by influencing beliefs about what's possible, while at the same time trying to obscure their own real interests as they attempt to ascertain their opponent's interests.

Enlightened negotiators prefer to employ what's known as integrative negotiation. Integrative negotiation is characterized by a recognition that the parties will have to live together after the negotiation ends. This is the type of "win-win" negotiating environment you should always strive to create.

STICK TO SPECIFIC ISSUES

First, try to focus the negotiating process away from a confrontation of personal wills and arbitrarily held positions and toward using objective criteria.

Steer the discussion into such areas as upholding professional standards, adhering to legal precedents, following accepted practices, and assessing the costs/benefits equation for each party. This reframing tactic moves the discussion toward what is externally fair -- and away from a direct contest of wills.

Next, work with the other party to identify and define the exact scope of the current negotiation. Don't let unrelated issues or past disagreements creep into the specific negotiation at hand.

Your ultimate goal in any negotiation is to reach an agreement that benefits your interests while still satisfying the other party. To accomplish that, take the initiative in offering creative solutions that are acceptable to both sides.

Example: An employee asks for a raise. Offer a quarterly bonus based on the practice's financial performance. This solution provides the employee with additional incentive to do a good job, while also limiting your fixed payroll costs. It's a "win-win."

Example: You need a very expensive piece of equipment that's made by one of your regular suppliers. Offer to purchase the equipment provided that you receive a 15% discount on all other purchases for the next 12 months. The supplier makes the big sale and locks in your business for the next year. You get a major break on the cost of necessary supplies.

YOU CAN'T HAVE IT ALL

Negotiation is an art, not a science. To succeed in this art, you must use common sense and an insightful understanding of your adversary to shape your negotiating position. And most important, you must also use good judgment and humility to know when all that can be achieved has been achieved.

Dr. Gable is chief executive officer of Dynamic Health Connections, Inc., in Lake Forest, Calif., which provides specialized consulting expertise for subspecialty physician groups, managed care organizations and other medical organizations. You can reach him at dhc38@aol.com.