Understand the concern
Use a question, a tentative summary or a short mirror to check what the other person is telling you.
Curated path · Available on iPhone
The Three Schools of Negotiation
Understand the other side. Develop a workable proposal. Decide what you can agree to.
Included with Catalogue, Learner and Professional. See access details.
Who this path is for
A better proposal starts with better questions.
You have explained your case, but the conversation is not moving. Is the problem the way you are being heard, a need your proposal misses, or a limit you have not understood?
For professionals and anyone negotiating deadlines, responsibilities, prices or shared plans. No negotiation experience is required. The path introduces the ideas through work and everyday examples, with a question or exercise to take into your next conversation.
What you will learn
Three things to practise.
Build and compare options
Look beyond the stated request to what it needs to accomplish. Compare proposals with practical limits and your alternatives.
Check what agreement means
Find out how the proposal is understood, what happens after yes and when an agreement is not workable.
A passage from Lesson 01
Friday or Tuesday? First ask what the deadline is for.
In Lesson 01, a colleague wants a report on Friday. You believe a careful version needs until Tuesday.
Imagine you're discussing a deadline with a colleague. They want the finished report on Friday, but you believe a careful version needs until Tuesday. You could repeat Tuesday more firmly, and they could repeat Friday. But neither of you has yet explained what the date needs to accomplish.
Does your colleague need the entire report for a decision on Friday? Or do they need a few checked figures for a meeting, while the rest could follow later? You don't know that yet. And until you ask, you may be arguing over two dates while overlooking a different arrangement that would help you both.
So your first useful move might be a question: “What needs to be ready on Friday, and what will it be used for?” Their answer could change the proposal you make next.
This is a text excerpt from Lesson 01. The complete narration and lesson text are available in the app.
The complete sequence
Your seven lessons.
Begin with what you know and what you are assuming. Explore listening, interests, alternatives and perception, then combine them in a complete negotiation.
Before you make your case
Compare what listening, interests and perception reveal about a negotiation before choosing a proposal.
Audio · 10:04Listen for the part you don't understand
Use a mirror, a tentative summary or a direct question to understand a concern without pretending to know its cause.
Audio · 8:11What happens after yes?
Ask about constraints and implementation, then distinguish a friendly response from an agreed action.
Audio · 7:49Find what the request needs to accomplish
Separate a requested arrangement from the interests it serves, then develop options without ignoring the relationship.
Audio · 8:03Compare the whole offer
Assess options using relevant comparisons, practical limits and a realistic alternative outside the agreement.
Audio · 8:17Check the proposal they hear
Clarify how a request is understood, then assess a transparent trial or a trade that respects both sides' priorities.
Audio · 8:16Choose the next useful move
Combine listening, questions, interests, alternatives and perception in a complete negotiation, including the decision to stop.
Audio · 8:57
Total recorded audio: 59:37. Lesson lengths are rounded to the nearest second at normal playback speed. Listen in order at your own pace; seven lessons do not need to mean seven consecutive days.
Ideas behind the path
Sources and further reading.
This path compares three overlapping approaches. Chris Voss’s attention to listening, the interests-and-options approach in Getting to Yes, and Stuart Diamond’s attention to perception each help you examine a different part of a negotiation.
Read more in Chris Voss and Tahl Raz’s Never Split the Difference; the Harvard Negotiation Project’s account of Getting to Yes, by Roger Fisher, William Ury and Bruce Patton; and Stuart Diamond’s Getting More.
The comparison is Catalyst’s teaching synthesis, using original situations and exercises. The approaches overlap; they are not three exclusive methods you must choose between.
Available in Catalyst
Listen to the complete path.
All seven lessons include narration and readable lesson text with a Catalogue, Learner or Professional subscription.
You do not need generation credits to listen to this catalogue path. Learner and Professional also include credits for creating personal paths.
Before you begin
A few practical questions.
Do I need negotiation experience?
No. Ideas such as interests, alternatives and tactical empathy are introduced through concrete situations. You can use the lesson examples if you do not have a current negotiation to practise on.
How do the three approaches fit together?
They draw attention to different parts of the same conversation: what you hear, what each person needs and how a proposal is understood. The final lesson combines them to help you choose a useful next move.
Can I use this outside sales?
Yes. The lessons include deadlines, shared plans and practical arrangements as well as offers and prices. The aim is to understand and shape an agreement you can carry out, while recognising when the limits make agreement unavailable.
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