6.511 Arbitration and Negotiation.

The processes of arbitration and negotiation provide a good example of the application of NLP principles to the handling of interference in organizations. The steps of the procedure are a slight modification of the reframing TOTE (they are very similar, in fact, to the procedure used with the two conflicting parts of the overweight client in the transcript presented earlier in this chapter).

1. Establish the specific outcome of each individual involved in the conflict in relation to a meta-outcome that all parties agree upon.

For example, have each person make the following statement, filling in the blanks. "I specifically want the outcome of ___, for the purpose of ____.

Their purpose will be a meta-outcome. If their meta-outcomes do not at this point match one another in some way, have each of them repeat the process again, this time substituting the meta-outcome each has come up with in the last statement as the specific outcome of this statement. Keep repeating this process with the newly generated meta-outcomes until you arrive at a general goal that everyone agrees upon. Then anchor their agreement.

Establishing that all of the parties actually have the same goal immediately puts a frame around the rest of the interaction. When all parties agree that they are attempting to achieve the same outcome, their conflicts become reframed as a matter of detail to be worked out, and the rest of your task is essentially team-building.

A. It also helps to establish from the very beginning that the conflict between the negotiating parties is counter-productive to the achievement of their meta-outcomes and specific outcomes, and to have all parties agree that it should be resolved as quickly as possible.

2. Get all parties to agree again on what a successful outcome of the negotiation would be. For instance, find out what would constitute an acceptable decision. And if a successful settlement is not made, find out what further information is needed, who will get it and how the information will be gathered. (See Design 5.32.)

3. As the parties are considering the issues and making decisions about what is to be an appropriate outcome to the negotiation, observe their strategies for decision making.

4. Access reference structures for possible resources — such as, "Have you ever been able to settle a negotiation before in a way that you were satisfied with?" or "Has there ever been a time when you were able to communicate with someone really effectively and surprised yourself by setting something right that you had previously thought would never get straightened out?" Covertly anchor these experiences so that you can put them into play at the appropriate time.

5. Control the analogue communications of the parties so that they produce no adverse effects on the negotiation proceedings. We believe that most of what actually gets communicated in our verbal interactions is the result of the accompanying nonverbal or analogue cues. When we arbitrate for organizations (or work with groups — as in family therapy) we pay attention to and control the nonverbal portions of the interactions more than we do the verbal portions. In our experience, this has made a tremendous difference in the parties' responses to one another. If an individual, for example, were to raise his voice and point his finger at someone while making a point or statement, and if we noticed that the person to whom he directed his nonverbal gestures began to tense up and stop breathing (indicating a negative response), we would have the person who made the statement stop, change their analogue and repeat the exact same statement. In practically every instance this will change the other individual's response to, or understanding of, the statement.

6. Utilize the decision making and motivation strategies of each party to influence their decision making processes (especially if you are a negotiator) when you think it is appropriate or necessary, making use of any anchors that you have established.

7. Act as a translator (especially if you are an arbitrator) reinterpreting and recording what has been said into the vocabulary of the different representational systems when you find that differences in the strategies of the individual parties are getting in the way. Establishing some rapport with each party via overt or covert pacing, will also be a very effective tool.

8. As you carry out the negotiation process, start with the meta-outcome that everyone is in agreement with and move on to specifics from there, gathering information and altering each party's position until you can find the middle ground. Any time that you run into problematic disagreements return to the meta-outcome to reestablish the positive framework.

VII. CONCLUSION

The Denver Zoo, so the tale goes, was very interested in acquiring a polar bear. The director of the zoo at that time, a grey haired old gent with a long white beard, had quite a penchant for polar bears. He had always been awed by their large and muscular bodies, and respected the primordial intelligence that he felt they demonstrated in their slow but elegant movements and that he saw so clearly in their keen eyes. Most of all, however, he liked their long, thick, pure white fur that reminded him of the hair that adorned his own face. Because of this special affinity that he felt toward the bears the director decided that the polar bears of the Denver Zoo should have the largest and most naturalistically built cage of all the animals in the zoo. So he set his designers, engineers and construction crew to work to build an enclosure that was so big and naturalistic in its representation of the splendor of the arctic terrain that it would rival in craftsmanship and expense the cages of even the largest and most famous zoos of the world.

The construction of the polar bear's enclosure was only about half completed, however, when the director was offered a good deal on one of the most beautiful polar bears he had ever laid eyes upon. In fact, when he was inspecting the animal the director almost had the experience that he was looking in the mirror when he looked into the eyes of the beast who swayed slowly back and forth as he returned the directors stare.

Since good deals on polar bears don't come along very often (and such a magnificent polar bear at that) the director decided to go ahead and purchase the bear even though its enclosure was only partially completed. The bear was sedated and when it awoke it found itself in a small cage made of thick metal bars that had been

placed directly in the middle of the giant naturalistic enclosure that was still under construction. It was to remain in the smaller cage until the larger structure was finished.

The small enclosure was just large enough that the polar bear could take about four good sized steps before being halted by the cold metal bars. Having nothing else in particular to do while inhabiting the small cage the bear soon developed a habit of pacing its tiny environment. It would take four steps in one direction, rear up on its hind legs as it made a 180 degree turn slowly and with a conviction that only polar bears are capable of, and take four steps in the opposite direction before rearing up by slowly thrusting its front paws high into the air as it made its turn. All day long the bear would slowly pace back and forth in its cage carefully observing the work crew as they labored away on the huge enclosure that surrounded it.

Finally, after months of painstaking craftsmanship and steady labor, the zoo's construction crew completed the polar bear's new home. The bear was against sedated and small cage of metal bars that had been the bear's world for so many months was removed. A large crowd of zoo visitors along with the entire zoo staff and construction crew and, of course, the proud director, gathered around the enclosure and anxiously waited to see how the bear would take to its beautiful new environment. The polar bear awoke, cautiously got to its feet and shook the remains of the drug induced sleep from its head. The director could almost feel the excitement that must have surely been building in bear's own breast as it made ready to explore its beautiful lifelike environment. He eagerly watched as the bear took four slow but steady steps before rearing up, paws high in the air, and turned around to take four steps in the opposite direction, rearing again as it turned and retraced its first steps and reared… .