Know your BATNA

In Roger Fisher and William Ury's classic trading book "Getting To Yes: Negotiating agreement without giving in," using decision theory to the construction of the concept of Batna, or better alternative to a negotiated agreement. Many people have heard of this term, but how many actually think about it before or during the negotiations?

The only reason to negotiate is to produce a better result than can be achieved without negotiations. What is the result of negotiation is producing? What are the alternatives? What is your BATNA - best alternative to a negotiated agreement? According to Fisher and Ury, which is the standard against which any proposed agreement should be measured. They continue to argue that this is the only standard that can protect both accept conditions too unfavorable and from rejecting terms it would be in his interest to accept.

Not every negotiation ends with an agreement. There are times when you can do better on foot. In any negotiation there are alternatives. They can not all be interesting, but there will be. The best alternative is your BATNA. A successful negotiation will end with a result that is better than your BATNA. If the result is better than your BATNA you should walk.

Preparation before negotiating BATNA is essential to determine when to walk away or when to speak. If your "bottom line" is arbitrarily pulled out of the air does not help you much when you make decisions. Your bottom line should be based on your alternatives and what you can get elsewhere. If your bottom line is not based on BATNA, how will you know if it's realistic or not? How will you know if you can do better? If you know your BATNA is better than the other side offers, you can walk with confidence. If not, you can become more creative with your trading and work toward an agreement.

Know your BATNA

Some negotiators begin negotiations without knowing what they will do if they fail to reach an agreement. This can lead to being unsure of when to continue negotiations and when to walk. The negotiators who know what they will do if they do not reach agreement, have greater confidence in negotiations.

To determine the BATNA ask yourself, "what could I do to pursue my interest, if no agreement is reached?" Come up with possible alternatives and list the pros and cons of each. When you have a list of alternatives, determine what you will do really, outside chance, if no agreement is reached between you and the other side. This will most probably your BATNA. I say probably because not many people think creatively about other ways to satisfy interests. So be sure to spend some 'time to really determine alternatives.

Furthermore, we must remember that the alternatives are usually not fixed in stone. After determining your BATNA, take a few more minutes to think about how you could make your BATNA easier, more likely, or better to satisfy your interests.

Taking the time to determine your BATNA and thinking of ways to strengthen your BATNA will improve the results of your negotiations. If we only accept offers that are better than your BATNA, improve your BATNA guarantees you a better result. No matter what happens you are in a better position and knowing this will increase confidence in the negotiations.

Consider their BATNA

Each negotiator has a BATNA between the other side. If they thought or not, they have one. During the preparation of negotiations, can be extremely useful to determine at what point should exit the trade. What is the best alternative? If you knew, would not be easy negotiation? Certainly will not be able to determine their exact BATNA with any degree of confidence. The negotiations concern decisions in the face of uncertainty. However, you may be able to make a good guess at what could be done if we can not agree. Do this and you may be able to determine ways to make their BATNA less attractive, more or less difficult to implement high-quality, all of which may help your side of negotiations.

Conclusion

Your BATNA or best alternative to a negotiated agreement is an important concept for trading. Unfortunately, some negotiators can not think of them and their opponents BATNAs before negotiations. Those that do, including those that do not know the term, but instinctively think through their BATNA as they prepare, negotiate with peace of mind knowing where they are going, if they decide to leave.

Roger Fisher, one of the authors of "How To Yes" that I mentioned earlier in this article, also co-wrote another book with Danny Ertel, entitled "Getting ready to negotiate: the Getting Yes Workbook, A Step- by-step guide to preparing for any negotiation. "Besides being a resource for this article, this book will help you with your planning negotiations, including BATNAs determinants. It contains a series of worksheets to help you think about alternative solutions, select the BATNA, and identify the alternatives open to the other side.

Regardless of how you determine your options, remember that knowing your best alternative to a negotiated agreement will make you a more confident negotiator. Know when to walk is powerful. And to know and strengthen your BATNA can improve the results of the negotiations....