Forbes Top 10 to Ace Online Negotiations

The coronavirus pandemic changed the meeting and negotiation game. It’s easy to jump on the complaint wagon, but there are also advantages to consider. For instance, many people found they can get things done without traveling hundreds of miles for a minor negotiation. In fact, remote meetings save organizations millions of dollars in travel expenses, save managers hours on planes and trains, and help bring environmental costs down. 

If you understand the dynamics of virtual negotiations, you can leverage them in your favor and get the best deals done. When you compare video conferencing to the telephone and other remote negotiation tools, the difference is amazing. 

An average business phone conversation lasts only  five minutes. A short meeting can certainly be efficient, but can you imagine falling in love over the telephone? When visual cues are missing, it is very hard to build a trusting relationship. You don’t even see who else is in the room. 

In one study, face-to-face negotiators in a simulated strike were more likely to coordinate settlement earlier than those standing side-by-side (and unable to see one another). That’s because face-to-face nonverbal (gestures,eye contact, etc.) and paraverbal (uh-huhs, and such) lead to a better connection, increased cooperation,  more win-win results, and a more even distribution of pie slicing. 

Women, in particular, reach better agreement when visual contact is enabled. For men, face-to-face communication can increase discomfort with another male and may be best reserved for difficult and complex negotiations. Furthermore, women tend to do better when they negotiate virtually. It’s easier for them to be  more assertive, since online or telephone negotiations reduce pressure on women to demonstrate gender appropriate behavior.

Video conferences have an interesting advantage over real life face-to-face negotiations: 

When negotiators believe the other party is far away (several thousand feet), rather than nearby, more win-win is created. The reason: Distance creates a big-picture orientation.

The success pyramid is clear: Face-to-face negotiators reach the most win–win outcomes, telephone negotiations are next best, and email communications come in third.

Four Challenges to Consider When Conducting Online Negotiations

Before we talk about how to solve the most irksome problems associated with online negotiations, let’s look a little closer at exactly what those problems are.

The missing water cooler

There’s no casual contact: Difficult problems and issues are often solved in casual conversations at the office, in hallways or at the water cooler. Workers in adjacent offices communicate twice as often as those in offices on the same floor, even when you include email and telephone contact. 

The talking head illusion

Your video conferencing counterpart appears as a talking head or torso, making it impossible for you to observe body language in the context of the environment. And the talking head can sometimes not really be ‘read’ when the image stops, buffers, or is lags behind. 

And there is another problem: It’s almost impossible to make eye contact during a video conference, especially when using a PC camera that is typically mounted on top of the monitor. if you look into your counterpart’s eyes on screen, they will have the impression that you are looking beneath them. Lack of eye contact makes it hard to establish a trusting relationship. 

Another interesting point, one suggested by Noam Ebner of Creighton University, is the heightened awareness of differences. Not only do we see the other person’s head, but we typically also see our own. That leads to a subconscious comparison, leading to an inordinate focus on differences of gender, race, age, culture, etc. 

Technical and security challenges

It’s common to lose a conference participant or to have troubles with the microphone or camera. This is annoying and ruins the mood and flow of the negotiation. The World Trade Organization cancelled this year’s biennial meeting, earlier scheduled for Kazakhstan in June. Switching to a virtual format was ruled out due to technical and security challenges, including the difficulty of providing simultaneous translations, access to stable internet connection by all members, susceptibility to hijacking, and the possibility of unauthorized recording. If you are negotiating sensible topics, don’t be naïve. 

How to Overcome the Obstacles and Even Turn Them Into Advantages

You know there are problems associated with online negotiations, but you also know there are advantages to online versus in-person meetings. Given that you can’t make the COVID-19 crisis go away, here are 10 steps you can take to make lemonade out of the lemons:

1. Start with small talk, covering topics that are not relevant for the negotiation. The other’s background (pictures, furniture) offers ample opportunity to find a topic. As with any communication task, finding common ground is paramount. 
2. Be aware that everything that surrounds you will communicate something about you. Make sure you and your background project a look suitable to the purpose of the negotiation session.
3. To build trust, establish eye contact by looking into your computer camera instead of looking at the other person on your computer screen.
4. Don’t think you can multitask. Checking or sending emails (with a bing) will make you a worse negotiator and insult the other party. Remember: You always notice when the person you are speaking with is distracted. 
5. Comment on positive aspects of diversity: “Wonderful that such different people and cultures all work together to solve such a complex deal!” 
6. Battle the “talking head” illusion by politely asking the other to move further away from the camera, so that you can see as much as possible. Reciprocate – unless you want to hide your thoughts. 
7. If you have security issues, get them out of the way first. If you can’t alleviate the potentially unstable environment and your issue is sensitive or trust is low, revert to negotiating in person – even if it means waiting.
8. Practice using the video conferencing tool before key negotiations. Make sure all participants have a good internet connection. Postpone meetings if necessary.
9. Prepare just like you would for a real-life negotiation. There is no difference. 
10. Follow up immediately with an email summarizing the negotiation results. Ask the other party to confirm the agreements arising from the prior discussion. 

The pandemic will eventually pass, but the effects of the pandemic won’t. Don’t think the world will return to “business as usual” in another month or two. It won’t. Smart negotiators are leveraging the present problem to establish future solutions. Building your video conferencing skills will pay off richly.