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The Solution to Negotiation Deadlocks -- Hint: It's Neither Compromise Nor Coercion
Compromise is the process of finding a middle ground between two positions or solutions. The middle ground is not capable of generating sustainable solutions to today's problems. Because of this our society may at last be on the brink of evolving beyond our traditional over-reliance on compromise as a first-choice problem-solving strategy.
What makes compromise a poor twenty-first century problem-solving strategy? Today's challenges are far more complex than they have ever been because today's world is far more interconnected than it has ever been. The best obtainable outcome using compromise is that all parties walk away from the negotiating table feeling equally ripped off. This makes compromise a poor strategy for creating sustainable solutions.
Most people know only one other problem-solving strategy than compromise: coercion. If there is a method of solving problems that is even worse than compromise, it's coercion.
If remedies for our challenges cannot be created by compromise or coercion, then what problem-solving strategy can do this? Fortunately, there is a third negotiation style. It is called synergy. Synergy integrates everyone's perspectives in order to form a complete picture. Integrated pictures in turn reveal more complete solutions than any single perspective can see on its own. This is how synergy takes people far beyond compromises unsatisfying ritual of meeting in the gray middle.
Humility is the gateway into synergy. Recognizing that no single party can accurately grasp the big picture is the kind of humility that synergy requires. There are two ingredients beyond humility that synergy requires:
1. Core Intention Discovery: Looking behind the positions people have taken and the solutions they have proposed to identify the fundamental values and purposes beneath them. This means becoming understanding the outcome people are seeking from the solutions they are suggesting.
2. Integrating Core Intentions: Combining everyone's core intentions reveals a more picture than any one group can see by themselves. This is the only picture from which sustainable solutions can grow. This is how synergy serves the common good far better than coercion or compromise.
Our society is at a problem-solving turning point. Will we keep depending on compromise and coercion to generate solutions simply because we are accustomed to them, or will we instead choose to match the strategy we use with the needs we have by turning to synergy instead? Coercion and compromise are out of step with the needs we have. Synergy is the only one of the three problem-solving strategies we can use to negotiate truly sustainable solutions. The time has come to make synergy our first-choice strategy for solving problems and negotiating solutions.
No matter how much more familiar you might be with coercion and compromise, synergy is very learnable as a solution-creation method and negotiation strategy. Start developing your synergy skills today.
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