Tactics to Communicate Firm Flexibility

1. Use competitive tactics to establish and

defend basic interests rather than to demand
a particular position or solution to the dispute.
State what you want clearly.
2. Send signals of flexibility and concern about
your willingness to address the other party’s
interests. Openly express concern for the
other’s welfare and “acknowledge their interests
as part of the problem” (Fisher, Ury, and
Patton, 1991, p. 55). In doing so, you communicate
that you have your own interests at stake
but are willing to try to address the other’s as
well.
3. Indicate a willingness to change your proposals
if a way can be found to bridge both negotiators’
interests.
4. Demonstrate problem-solving capacity. For
example, use experts on a negotiating team or
bring them in as consultants based on their
expertise at generating new ideas.
5. Maintain open communication channels. Do
not eliminate opportunities to communicate
and work together, if only to demonstrate
continually that you are willing to work with
the other party.
6. Reaffirm what is most important to you
through the use of clear statements—for
example, “I need to attain this; this is a must;
this cannot be touched or changed.” These
statements communicate to the other party
that a particular interest is fundamental to
you, but it does not necessarily mean that the
other’s interests can’t be satisfied as well.
7. Reexamine any aspect of your interests that is
clearly unacceptable to the other party and
determine if it is still essential to you. It is
rare that negotiators will find that they truly
disagree on basic interests.
8. Separate and isolate contentious tactics
from problem-solving behavior to manage the
contentious behavior. This may be
accomplished by clearly specifying a change
in the negotiation process, by separating the
two processes with a break or recess, or, in
team negotiations, by having one party act
contentiously and then having a second
negotiator offer to engage in problem solving.a