Judging Negotiation Styles

There are different kinds of negotiation styles employed by different people. Obviously one person's personality, character, upbringing and a whole plethora of factors come into play when one adopts a particular negotiation style over another.

One party could be a hard negotiator. (S)he sets a high demand, and reduces it slowly. Another could be a bottom-line negotiator. Go straight to (or close to) the bottom line, and refuse to budge. One party could adopt an aggresive stance, but conceals a kind heart. Another could be sweet and smiling, but is internally hard as steel.

Is any one negotiation style better than another? If we're merely talking about styles, then I guess to each his own. Perhaps a better way to gauge negotiation styles is by looking beyond the style to the substance.

Is the negotiator bringing value to the table? That value may not be in the form of a compromise, but can be something entirely different altogether. A lateral solution, if you like. As long as a negotiator is bringing value to the table, then I would think that is a good negotiation. On the contrary, a negotiator who only seeks to chip away another person's interest without offering any value in return would be a less than desirable negotiator, no matter how sweet and smiling he/she may be.

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