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A cooperative spirit is more likely if a negotiator can think about working
toward obtaining something of greater value in exchange for something on
which he or she places a lower relative value. Typically, some issues are
more important to one party than to the other. However, both parties can

win. They may have wished for more, but it is possible for both to end up
satisfied. Neither side may get everything it wants, but it can get what it
wants most. Benjamin Franklin expressed it well when he said:

"Trades would not take place unless it were advantageous to the parties
concerned. Of course, it is better to strike as good a bargain as one's

bargaining position admits. The worst outcome is when by overriding
greed, no bargain is struck, and a trade that could have been advantageous
to both parties, does not come off at all."

An example of this approach can be found in facility location incentives.

An industrial prospect may be pushing hard on receiving tax incentives
even though the community has a policy of not issuing them. However,
the offer of labor training incentives, reductions on the cost of home
mortgages for transferring personnel, and free extension of utilities to the
site might offset the value of tax incentives. In other words, the importance
of the issue of tax incentives is muted when other attractive incentives are
placed on the table.

Parties seeking a mutually satisfying solution must work together to
develop a list of things that they can trade. If they can find enough items
they value differently, they can make a deal that takes advantage of those
differences, and all will gain. The success of this type of negotiating

depends on setting an appropriately cooperative tone, beginning
discussions with questions rather than demands. In the absence of
cooperation, it is difficult to discover what the others want most and to
assess what they might be willing to trade.

The cooperative, or collaborative, negotiation process is not how many
people think of negotiating. Unfortunately, it has often been portrayed as a
way of gaining power over someone else; of winning at all costs (except
immoral or illegal). Vince Lombardi is credited with saying that winning is
the only thing. Typically, people think of negotiation as a way of taking

David Kolzow 180