Clever Thinking

Expand the pie by thinking outside the box

A common mistake is to believe the "pie" (aka the pool of available resources and gains) is fixed. Very rarely is this the case, even in the most competitive of negotiations. Use creative ideas and clever thinking to expand the pie, thereby resulting in a larger piece for all parties.

This technique can be used in all negotiations, but is especially well suited for collaborative negotiations. To accomplish this goal, you'll need to follow these tips:

  • Share and discover interests. Trying to create ideas when all you have are positions will be very challenging. To think creatively, you'll need to have a grasp on all of the underlying interests at play. Be sure to share your interests and learn the interests of the other party.
  • Think outside the box. To make expansion work, you'll need to come up with non-cliché proposals, so put your thinking cap on. Try to think about all angles and interests.
  • Logroll. Sometimes certain issues are far more important to one party than the other. If you find a pair of these issues, you can logroll them so that both parties get all of what they do care about, and give up all of what they don't care about. The result is both parties are happier than if they had tried to meet in the middle.