We’ve all heard that “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” Originally penned by Scottish poet Robert Burns in his 1785 poem “To a Mouse,” this phrase recognizes that even the most carefully developed plans can end in disaster if and when the unexpected occurs.
This applies to negotiations, too. Every negotiation has an unlimited number of variables floating around at any given point in time. This is one reason why no negotiation proceeds in exactly the same way. You just never know how your counterpart will react or what might happen to undermine your leverage, etc. This makes negotiations fascinating – and challenging.
Of course, you still need to plan. Strategic planning forms a core element in changing your behavior from instinctive to strategic based on the experts’ proven research. But you also must be flexible and sometimes modify your plan and moves in-the-moment.
This directly relates to the second way AI can empower you to achieve better negotiation results. In last week’s column, I detailed the first way AI can help: by providing an efficient tool to assist you in developing effective Strategic Negotiation Plans.
Here are two more.
2. “Negotiation coach” with real-time suggestions to unexpected challenges.
Let’s say you’re negotiating with a regular supplier of services to your company, and you’ve reached impasse on a critical provision like price or payment terms.
Ask AI – what are common impasse-breaking strategies on price or payment terms in negotiating with long-term suppliers of services where you both care about the relationship?
Use AI to get real-time advice with targeted negotiation questions. In effect, use it as a negotiation coach.
Perhaps ask AI what to do if your counterpart unexpectedly has limited authority. Or, if you’re dealing with a new and aggressive lawyer/power negotiator, ask how to respond without destroying your clients’ relationship.
Three caveats. One, you must consider whether its options make strategic sense in your specific circumstances. One big downside of AI relates to its hallucinations/inaccuracies and potentially bad advice that’s NOT based on proven research.
So, dig deeper into its sources to ensure AI’s response is supported by valid experts and research. Salary negotiation advice from a Harvard Business School professor will be more valuable than from an online influencer.
Two, AI is only as good as your inquiries. If you ask about impasse-breaking strategies with a business partner with whom you want to work in the future, but don’t mention the relationship, you may get highly counterproductive advice.
And three, don’t overly rely on AI in complex negotiations with numerous moving parts, issues, interests and parties. It’s best for relatively straightforward negotiations and issues within those negotiations.
Overall, though, AI can provide a valuable starting point when facing unexpected situations.
One more note. You might consider this a pretty basic AI suggestion. Of course you can ask AI for help. I agree. But have you ever asked AI what to do while taking a break in a negotiation? Probably not. Give it a shot.
3. Excellent resource for lessons learned.
I recommend that everyone debrief after their significant negotiations and identify what worked, what didn’t, and how to improve. You should then track and review these lessons prior to your next negotiation.
AI can help with this. Describe what happened in your negotiation and ask AI to suggest possible lessons learned. You will almost certainly identify ways to improve.
Lifelong learning leads to better negotiation results.
Latz’s Lesson: AI can be a virtual negotiation coach with fairly effective real-time advice and help identify lessons learned in your debriefing. Use it to take your skills and results to the next level.
* Marty Latz is the founder of Latz Negotiation, a national negotiation training and consulting company that helps individuals and organizations achieve better results with best practices based on the experts’ research. He can be reached at 480.951.3222 or Marty@LatzNegotiation.com.