Stop arm-wrestling

While negotiation might be thought of as a way to settle differences, it can also be a way to discover and work with similarities between the two parties. At the Syngenta Business Institute, Rob Williams, superintendent at Stockton Golf & Country Club in Stockton, Calif., had what he called a "challenging experience," but an eye-opening time as well.

"I enjoyed listening, watching and interacting with the different personalities that people portrayed, Williams recalls. "A good lesson learned was to realize that not everybody shares your view points, or they look at situations from another angle."

At SBI, one style of negotiation was described as a "zero-sum game." In other words, one side's gain corresponds to the other side's loss, so both come out as winners (or losers, if you're taking a negative view). This approach is known as distributive bargaining.

Integrative bargaining, on the other hand, says that two parties can produce a greater outcome together than either could reach on his own. This results in a true win/win outcome for both parties.

In that case, Williams learned that negotiations are not an arm-wrestling tournament. In order to successfully negotiate, a superintendent needs to have goals and look at the long term consequences.

"We learned to look for the win/win result," Williams says. "Giving up a little ground this time may result in greater return in the near future. If both people are stubborn negotiators and not prepared to consider any concessions, you may both end up losing out and causing permanent damage to the working relationship."

The key to effective negotiations, like many issues, is communication. "Without effective communication skills, our jobs would be considerably more difficult," says Williams. "Those skills can be put to good use in a small issue like trying to negotiate some available time on the course to undertake vital agronomic practices, or a larger issue like negotiating your yearly budgets."

Williams' new skills have been paying off. "Taking a 'How can I make this work for both of us' attitude into the negotiations resulted in some positive results as well as an enhanced relationship with the individual I was negotiating with," he says.

"With our busy schedules it is not always easy to know when you need to step back and take a fresh look at things," Williams continues. "Working at a private facility, I need to occasionally stop and take a few deep breaths and not only recognize my challenges, but also the challenges and needs of other departments in providing a high quality product for our membership."

Williams was able to put his new negotiation skills into almost immediate use this spring. "I have a very tight window with days closed for greens aerations, and I was being asked to shorten that window even further," he explains. "I had to give another presentation to educate our board of directors on why these aeration processes are vitally important to health of our greens. Through these negotiations, we kept our usual days and actually received a little more time for wiggle room or problems."