Interest Based or Principled Negotiation

Interests are the needs or desires one finds beneath positions that can often be used to forge compromises and build bridges between persons in disagreement. In interest based negotiation, disputants try to meet the greatest number of individual needs by expanding available options for each party and making sure everyone's needs are adequately addressed. This style of negotiation is often illustrated by the following parable:

Once upon a time, a brother and sister were fighting over a lemon and called for their mother to intervene.
“Well,” said the mother, “if you asked me to decide the matter for you, I’d cut the lemon in half and then you’d each get exactly the same thing.”
“But I want more than just half a lemon!” both children pleaded.
“Hmmm,” said mother. “Why don’t you each tell me why you want the entire lemon? Maybe there is a better way to resolve this.”
“I want the whole lemon peel to bake cookies,” exclaimed her daughter.
“I want the whole lemon for the juice to make lemonade,” pleaded her son.
“I think I can help you both,” said the mother. With that statement, she peeled the lemon and gave the peel to her daughter and then handed the peeled lemon to her son.

This negotiation style has the following key characteristics:

• It focuses on maintaining relationships.
• Communication is a central component of the negotiations.
• The parties are encouraged to share information.
• It moves away from hardened position to a problem-solving process.
• Education of one or all parties is often used to move the process forward.
• It helps disputants find common ground.
• It helps disputants better identify what is truly important for them to gain in the negotiations.
• It focuses on win-win solutions.