A neutral intermediary strengthens your position within your own company and helps you to achieve the goals you have set yourself.
You are the owner of a company that sells office equipment throughout Eastern Europe from a central warehouse in Bucharest. You believe that one of your suppliers has delivered defective laptops (the laptops are functional but cannot be sold as they are no longer in perfect condition). This incorrect delivery caused you damage of 10 million euros. However, the manufacturer of the laptops only offered you 100,000 euros as "compensation for annoyance". Both sides agree: they need someone to help settle the dispute. They hire a neutral intermediary to do just that.
Since you already know how mediation works, here are some tips to ensure you get out of the process on good terms.
1. Get the mediator's opinion.
The mediator's personal (individual) discussions with each party involved will give him an impression of the negotiation framework in which a mutually satisfactory solution would be possible. Consider asking the mediator to evaluate your offer. This tactic not only helps you find a proposal that suits you, but also draws on the mediator's knowledge of the other side's interests. This allows you to avoid making an offer that the other party would find outrageous.
Let's say you plan to start asking 9.5 million euros from the computer manufacturer and gradually reduce your demand to 2 million euros. Instead of simply asking the agent to make this offer to the other party, ask them what they think.
The other side thinks that your current €10 million claim is outrageous," he says. "An opening €9.5 million claim could make serious negotiations impossible. Here's a counter-proposal: if you get 7.5 million euros, I can point out the significant amount by which you have lowered your claims. If the other party's counter-offer also includes substantial concessions, both sides have shown that they genuinely want a mutually acceptable solution.
Although you are under no obligation to follow the mediator's advice, realize that his discussions with the other side have given him considerable knowledge of your counterpart's interests. By using this knowledge, you can reach an agreement that will satisfy you.
2. Share your best ideas with the mediator.
When conversations escalate into a dispute, negotiators often draw negative conclusions about each other. If the other side negotiated more respectfully, we would have found a solution long ago – think it. On both sides, this way of thinking leads to the other side's suggestions and alternative solutions being viewed with great skepticism and a good deal of distrust. Psychologists refer to this tendency as "reactive devaluation." However, a lack of trust is fatal for a lasting agreement.
Your mediator can help you overcome this hurdle. Imagine that your one-on-one discussions with the mediator gave you a whole new idea: why not donate the laptops to a Bucharest public school? That would boost your image, but also benefit the manufacturer. At the same time, the students are future buyers or even employees in both companies. In order to avoid a reactive devaluation of the laptop manufacturer, the mediator could make this proposal to the other side – if he considers it a fair option for both parties. He can present the proposal to the other party in a way that minimizes their skepticism.
3. Question your own assumptions.
Sometimes the assumptions made by your own negotiating team prove unrealistic and the biggest obstacle to consensus. If the team doesn't really understand the other side's interests or priorities, they may feel that the only right course of action is to be relentless in their demands and to wait for the other side to make concessions. Or some of your team members are overly optimistic about the probability of winning - in the case of a lawsuit, for example.
If you want to question the assumptions of your colleagues, you face no small problem: If you contradict them too strongly, they may doubt your loyalty or you may come across as "worriers" or "naggers". That would damage your reputation within the company. To avoid this trap, use a neutral mediator to strengthen your own position on the team. In internal coordination rounds, you can ask them questions, for example: “How likely is it that the other side will buckle? How likely is it that we will prevail in court?” Your negotiation team will most likely place particular value on the neutrality and experience of the mediator. You achieve what you want while increasing your perceived competence and vision within the organization.
ISMAN & Partner is a management consultancy that supports national and international corporations, medium-sized companies and start-ups, organizations and institutions in complex negotiation and conflict resolution processes. Founded in 2015 by Calin-Mihai Isman, the experts for negotiation & mediation support managers and employees from the areas of sales, purchasing, M&A, contracting, HR or IT.
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