Negotiating a Favourable Outcome

Stages of the principled negotiation process

The principled negotiation process will normally include the following stages:

• Preparing for negotiation: you need to ensure that you are fully up to speed with the relevant facts, that you can clearly articulate your concerns, interests and needs and that you have identified some possible solutions to the dispute.

• Setting the scene: parties to the negotiation should have access all relevant information about the proposal well before the negotiation session. Choose a negotiating venue which is on neutral ground, comfortable and free from distractions and interruptions. If possible, agree on the structure of the negotiating session in advance.

• Identifying the issues: each party should be given the opportunity to describe without interruption the issues they consider need to be addressed. Other parties then have the opportunity to ask questions for clarification. The points which the parties have in common, as well as those which are in dispute, can then be identified.

• Exploring the issues: the parties fully discuss each of the issues identified in the previous stage, so that each party understands the other's point of view as well as their underlying needs.

• Identifying potential solutions: Potential solutions, which address each issue and the underlying needs of the parties, can then be identified. Each party can state, in turn, potential solutions which they wish to bring to the table. Alternatively, a brainstorming session can be used to generate a wider range of possible solutions.

• Assessing potential solutions: The parties jointly consider objective criteria against which the options can be assessed. These could include measures such as environmental standards or rates of return. Potentially acceptable solutions can then be identified. Parties may need some time away from the negotiating table, to consider whether any of these options is acceptable to them and would be viable in the long term.

• Recording agreement: Agreements reached during the process should be recorded so that there is no misunderstanding about what has been agreed. A final agreement may need to be recorded in a memorandum of agreement, change to an application or consent order.