What are the 5 styles of negotiation?
Negotiation is an integral part of our lives. We negotiate deals, and agreements, and resolve differences through discussion and mutual understanding. The success of a negotiation depends significantly on the approach or style of negotiation. There are five main styles of negotiation, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Understanding these styles can help you negotiate successfully in both personal and professional situations. In this post, we will explore the 5 main negotiation styles:
1. Accommodating Style
This style involves giving in to the other party’s demands and prioritizing the relationship over your own interests. The accommodating negotiator aims to create goodwill and trust by yielding to the other side’s wants.
Strengths: Helps build relationships and rapport. Allows you to show flexibility. Can diffuse tension and calm the other party.
Weaknesses: You may neglect your own needs and interests. Others may take advantage of your flexibility.
When to use: Preserving relationships is very important. When you have little power or you’re wrong. Giving in doesn’t affect your key interests.
Example: Accepting a reasonable return policy to please an angry customer. Lowering your selling price to match a competitor’s offer.
2. Avoiding Style
This approach involves evading the negotiation process altogether. You neither pursue your interests nor accommodate the other party. It delays difficult conversations for later.
Strengths: Sidesteps uncomfortable exchanges. Provides time to think and strategize. Avoids committing to unwanted terms.
Weaknesses: Breeds frustration and resentment in others. Issues remain unresolved. Opportunities may be lost.
When to use: When stakes are low or there’s no chance of agreement. To let tensions subside and revisit discussions later.
Example: Postponing salary negotiation with the boss to a “better time”. Dropping grievances with a colleague to avoid further arguments.
3. Competitive/Aggressive Style
Taking an aggressive stance to maximize your wins while minimizing concessions. Using power to forcefully push your position. The other side’s losses are your gains.
Strengths: Allows you to seize opportunities and set precedents. Shows you are bold and unyielding. Gives strong first impressions.
Weaknesses: Harms relationships and trust. Triggers uncooperative reactions. Stalls progress and draws out negotiations.
When to use: Rarely. When quick, decisive action is needed. When significant interests are at stake. As a limited tactic combined with other styles.
Example: Threatening lawsuit to get compensation from an organization. Demanding lower prices from suppliers by leveraging size.
4. Compromising Style
Involves give-and-take from both sides to reach mutually acceptable outcomes. Splitting the difference and finding middle-ground solutions.
Strengths: Achieves fair, mutually beneficial results. Allows both sides to gain something. Creates feelings of goodwill and equality.
Weaknesses: Suboptimal results for both parties. Critical interests may be compromised away.
When to use: In complex negotiations with multiple issues. When both sides have equal power. To break deadlocks and move forward.
Example: A labor union accepting lower benefits to get higher wages. Selling your old car for an intermediate price between your asking and buyer’s offer.
5. Collaborative Style
Actively exploring interests, options, and standards to find a win-win solution. Aligning both parties’ motivations to expand the pie before dividing it.
Strengths: Surfaces maximum information. Yields mutually beneficial, integrative agreements. Strengthens relationships.
Weaknesses: Time-consuming. Requires trust and openness from both parties. Not always feasible.
When to use: When teams/groups negotiate among themselves. When parties want an enduring relationship. When time permits a thorough exploration.
Example: Brainstorming together with an employer to create a new role that supports your career goals. Getting to know a potential partner’s needs before structuring a business deal.
Now that we’ve covered the 5 main negotiation styles, let’s go deeper into strategies for applying each one effectively:
How to use the accommodating style successfully
- Pick your battles – Only use this style for issues that don’t affect your core interests. Don’t yield on important things.
- Consider future negotiations – Giving in may build your negotiating partner’s trust and goodwill for next time.
- Ask questions and acknowledge needs – Understanding the other side’s motivations allows specific, targeted concessions.
- Combine with other styles – Pair accommodating tactics with power moves to advance your key priorities.
- Set limits – Establish boundaries so accommodations don’t become excessive. Say no if requests become unreasonable.
Making avoiding work in your favor
- Buy time to prepare – Postpone discussions until you can research facts, build leverage, and develop a strategy.
- Let emotions cool – If tensions are running high, stall negotiations to let feelings subside before re-engaging.
- Avoid commitment – If talks seem unproductive, disengage temporarily rather than agreeing to bad terms.
- Mask strategy as delay – Frame avoidance as the need for more time rather than disinterest in negotiating.
- Follow up promptly – Re-connect at a specified date so the other party knows you’re still committed to resolving issues.
Wielding competitive tactics effectively
- Establish credibility – Demonstrate expertise, confidence, rank, or connections to gain leverage.
- Anticipate reactions – Predict how your stance will impact relationships and prepare contingency plans.
- Make reasonable asks – Over-the-top demands won’t be taken seriously. Ground requests in real value.
- Follow through on threats – Don’t make empty threats. Back up aggressive moves with capability and willingness to execute.
- Use sparingly – Limit competitive ploys to critical issues. Aggressiveness on everything will stall progress.
Finding a middle ground through compromise
- Separate people from the problem – Frame the negotiation as collaborating on an issue, not a personal conflict.
- Unpack priorities – Understand which elements each side values most and make those non-negotiable.
- Look for low-hanging fruit – Start by compromising on the easiest issues and build momentum gradually.
- Search for substitutes – If you can’t meet halfway on a key issue, find a substitute that satisfies the underlying interest.
- Sweeten the deal – Include unexpected concessions or gestures of goodwill to get the other party closer to the agreement.
Maximizing cooperation through collaboration
- Explore interests – Dig beneath stated positions to uncover motivations, constraints, and flexibility.
- Generate options – Brainstorm creative alternatives instead of locking into one solution.
- Use objective criteria – Appeal to independent facts, experts, or standards to anchor discussions in logic.
- Reframe as a shared goal – Emphasize how an agreement can benefit both parties rather than just you.
- Keep views open – Listen sincerely and don’t judge ideas too quickly. Creative solutions often emerge through dialogue.
The most skilled negotiators don’t rely on any single style but strategically combine elements of multiple approaches.
The next time you enter a negotiation, take stock of the situation, the relationship, and your own priorities. Then utilize the most relevant tactics – across accommodating, avoiding, competitive, compromising, and collaborative styles – to achieve the optimal results.
With flexibility in approach and mastery of diverse strategies, you can become an adaptable, effective negotiator ready for any situation.
