The [2nd] Most Useful Negotiation Tool

When I teach negotiation, my students inevitably tell me that framing and anchoring are the most useful tools I've taught them. We covered anchoring last week so today we’ll talk briefly about framing, which is just one example of the power of suggestion.

In the political arena, the power of framing is generally called "spin." You needn't, however, be an expert at renaming torture "coercive interrogation techniques" to become skilled at framing your demands during negotiations.

Frames are mental shortcuts that help us organize complex information into coherent, understandable categories. When we label something we see, for example, we highlight what we want to direct our companions attention to. 

“Frames are mental shortcuts that help us organize complex information into coherent, understandable categories.”

“Look at the seagulls!”

Frames also omit information, rendering it unimportant, meaningless or actually invisible. 

{don’t notice the threatening sky in which the birds are flying}

To demonstrate the power of framing, researchers asked subjects questions that contained suggestions of size. The impact of the framing terms -- short and tall, for instance -- were striking.

When asked how tall a basketball player was, research subjects' average estimate was 79 inches, ten inches taller than when asked how short he was (69 inches).

Frames are extremely helpful in overcoming impasse in negotiations over price. A common negotiation frame treats the difference between offers and counter-offers at the point of impasse as the total amount in controversy. 

If, for example, Dawn opened negotiations at $1.5 million and has, in the course of negotiation moved to $600,000, while Harry commenced negotiations at $250,000 and has moved to $550,000 at the point of impasse, the negotiators will tend to focus upon the reasonable division of the $50,000 delta rather than upon the total $550,000 offer or the $600,000 demand.

Focusing solely upon the value that separates the parties reframes the subject matter of the negotiation as more minor than the total amount involved and suggests that the parties, having narrowed the dispute, are quite capable of eventually reaching agreement.

“Focusing solely upon the value that separates the parties reframes the subject matter of the negotiation as more minor than the total amount involved…”

Just remember that you can influence your negotiation by framing bargaining as problem solving, a dispute as and opportunity to benefit both parties and a 20% raise as an attempt to measure compensation as a return on investment rather than a loss to the employer.