Daily Archives: January 14, 2009

Federal law would create negotiation training programs for women and girls

Negotiation justice for womenOn January 9, 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives approved two bills that would remedy paycheck discrimination.  One, the Paycheck Fairness Act, would eliminate gender-based pay disparities.

What is especially significant about this Act is that it would establish a grant program to fund training for women and girls in negotiation skills. Section Five of the Act provides:

An entity that receives a grant under this subsection shall use the funds made available through the grant to carry out an effective negotiation skills training program that empowers girls and women. The training provided through the program shall help girls and women strengthen their negotiation skills to allow the girls and women to obtain higher salaries and the best compensation packages possible for themselves.

Congress has at last recognized and aims to remedy a problem that women themselves have long been aware of: that social barriers prevent women from negotiating effectively.

(Hat tip to Concurring Opinions.)

Latest additions to ADRblogs.com cover consensus building, healthy workplaces, personal injury mediation

ADRblogs.comI’ve just added three great blogs to the World Directory of ADR Blogs @ ADRblogs.com, my ongoing effort to track and catalogue blogs around the globe that cover ADR, negotiation, and conflict resolution. It’s my great pleasure to welcome:

If you have a blog you’d like to submit for inclusion in ADRblogs.com, please let me know. Read the submission guidelines and then get in touch.

It pays to know the other side's BATNA when you're negotiating

Knowledge is powerKnowledge is power in any negotiation. Skilled negotiators prepare carefully, taking time to identify their key interests and their alternatives if no deal is reached (in negotiation parlance, their “BATNA” — their best alternative to a negotiated agreement).

These negotiators understand that that’s just one side of the equation. It’s not just enough to know your own alternatives; you also have to know the alternatives your counterparts are weighing. It protects you from making poor decisions at the negotiating table.

In “Nudge, Shel Silverstein, Smart, and Negotiation,” Joel Schoenmeyer, who blogs at Death and Taxes, recounts a snappy anecdote about a negotiation over royalties to show what happens when you don’t bother to do your homework about the other guy’s BATNA. Go read it — it’s got a great punchline.