Collaborative Negotiating. In business, the goal of negotiating parties should always be for mutual gain

In business, the goal of negotiating parties should always be for mutual gain. This type of win-win negotiation is often called collaborative negotating. The opposite of collaborative negotiating is called competitive negotiating. The goal of competitive negotiating is for one party to win and the other to lose. Dishonest practices, such as lying, manipulation, intimidation, and bribery are often used in this type of negotiation.

Main Principles of Collaborative Negotiating:

• Resolve previous conflicts ahead of time
• Deal with issues, not personalities
• Commit to listening more than speaking: The more you know about your counterpart, the more likely you will achieve your goals. You cannot convince someone of something when you do not know anything about them, or what their own needs are. A common mistake is to prepare one's next question or point while the opponent is speaking.
• Establish trust in the onset
• Develop a common goal
• Discuss a common enemy
• Take opponent's views/needs into careful consideration: Not only do you want to win this negotiation, you want your opponent to win as well, so that he or she will negotiate with you again in the future.