Negotiate It is not always easy and not all people have the same capacity, although it can be learned or perfected. It is the case of the managers who have assumed negotiation practically as a habit in their daily lives, although not all of them are really one hundred percent prepared for this task. The artificial intelligence generative (AI) becomes a good ally especially to have alternatives that favor reaching an agreement. But its role goes further. On this topic and all the possibilities that generative AI offers in relation to negotiation, Guido Siebieradirector of Siebiera y Asociados and In-Organic growth specialist, with more than 25 years of international consulting experience, speaks with theEconomist after the workshop given at the Zaragoza Chamber of Commerce.
Are you a manager aware of the importance of knowing how to negotiate?
It is assumed, but at the same time they do not see it as a job, as someone who has to train and improve every day. Furthermore, it is not such a “sexy” topic to publish or to make your name, even though a manager negotiates. All the important things are negotiated. It even requires negotiation to motivate a group of people to work on a common project. Maybe we do it so much throughout the day that we no longer notice it as much.
Has it become a habit and that is perhaps why it is not given as much importance?
Many organizations believe that they have born negotiators who do it very well and, when there is something to negotiate, they send them. It is a fairly widespread perception and it is not understood that this is a job like making shoes. You can learn and improve. Continuous training is just as important as in other professions.
And do you really know how to negotiate?
Negotiating is not overwinning, it is finding an agreement in the end with other human beings. If it’s approached as “me versus them,” we do ourselves a disservice. And perhaps this old idea of the executive in charge, if applied to the field of negotiation, will go very badly because we will lose many opportunities to reach agreements with people who may not be one hundred percent aligned with our ideas.
Generative artificial intelligence is fully breaking into many areas of the business environment. What can you do in a negotiation?
Many people stand in front of artificial intelligence and ask them what they can do in a situation. And it’s not bad, but what comes out is a bit of common sense and sometimes it doesn’t indicate something really useful. What you have to do is like put a little elf on your shoulder and ask the AI very specific things. Harvard professors have already systematized the idea that the power of negotiation depends on your alternatives. If I negotiate with someone and I have three or four interesting options to reach the agreement, my position in the negotiation improves.
A very clear example is when you apply for a job and you have not sent any other resume to another company. This is your only way and your negotiating power is very low. On the other hand, if you are negotiating in parallel with three or four other job offers, in each of them you can move in a very different way. So this is where generative artificial intelligence is really good, at iterating, at coming up with alternatives.
Are the proposals of generative AI really applicable in negotiation?
ChatGPT or other generative AI can be asked in relation to a specific situation to propose, for example, ten alternatives to reach an agreement in that context. In a matter of seconds, it’s ten o’clock. Some are not really applicable, but it helps to see others that had not previously occurred to you, especially when you have been negotiating for a long time and you are stressed or tired, it takes many hours in a row… and you are no longer as creative. AI doesn’t care about the time or any other circumstance, it is equally creative at one in the morning and generates the different alternatives without any problem.
In addition, other questions can be asked to the AI to prepare for a negotiation, such as what the other party’s possible threats or countermeasures would be. This way it is possible to get ahead of them.
Would it also be helpful to make a kind of SWOT of the negotiation?
Since it can iterate so much, it is possible to ask it for ten threats or measures, then for another ten, and another ten… It gives you a very significant advantage over other people who do not use it.
During his speech he also spoke about the presentation of the first offer. Is it good or bad to take the initiative in negotiation?
It is a permanent discussion. I think there is an extremely powerful psychological mechanism because we are incapable of forgetting the numbers or anchors that the other party gives us. If we do not make the first offer, we lose that powerful mechanism and leave it to the other party. If we move in a field in which we know more or less what is happening, then it is always better to make the first offer to use this powerful anchoring mechanism.
And what role does the other person with whom you have to negotiate play?
All negotiations are between human beings. If reaching an agreement is of no importance to the other person, you can be the best negotiator in the world, and you will achieve nothing. Negotiation is like a dance and to dance you need two. The art here, perhaps, is to understand the two levels: the personal interests of the interlocutors and the institutional interests they represent.
During negotiation we tend to use so-called mental traps. Are they really negative?
There are many studies that show that it hurts human beings to lose something more than to gain something they want. It is loss aversion. The moment something feels like yours, the mental trap comes in and the fear of losing something you think belongs to you. I always recommend three things: accept the negotiation time that the other party proposes, go to their place and bring something, even if it is some candy or a plant, something physical, and choose one of the minor points that exist in any negotiation that is not so important to offer agreement on it at the beginning of the conversation. The other party will thus be caged and will have pressure to respond.
And how can artificial intelligence help against mental traps?
It is a very powerful tool to avoid them because a person can only see the information that justifies what they think and analyze a situation but with a preconceived idea. In these cases, the AI can be asked about, for example, the information necessary to contrast a preconceived idea.
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