Tip 2: avoid trench warfare

Welcome to our short series of weekly tips and tricks to help you achieve strength in any settlement negotiation.

This week.......avoiding trench warfare

As Michael Fisher stresses in his book Getting to Yes, conflicts too often turn into trench warfare. Both parties defend their initial position fiercely and only make concessions if they must.

Instead of searching for a good solution together, each wants to win or at least avoid an embarrassing defeat.

This usually results in an open battle, which costs a lot of time and energy. Even worse, both sides often take unnecessarily extreme positions because they expect to have to make concessions.

In fact, this results in longer and more painful arguments.

Instead of trench warfare, try and find common ground. Acknowledge areas of agreement and try and create a collaborative environment for discussing areas of disagreement.