Interest-based Negotiations

Two Roads has been involved in a breadth of negotiations over the course of recent years. I’ve built my negotiation practice using the tools of alternative dispute resolution, namely, principled or interest-based negotiation. In a changing business environment where hard negotiators are abundant, positional negotiation techniques fail to meet the minimum criteria for a successful negotiation. For a negotiation to be considered successful it must produce a wise agreement, it should be efficient, and it should improve or at least not damage the relationship between the parties.

Negotiation on the merits focuses on the conflict circumstances and the interests of the parties, and on the construction of a process tailored to meet those interests. Although alternative forms of dispute resolution have existed for longer than the current legal process, it remains innovative to suggest resolving disputes with alternative methodologies.

Years of academic study and teaching, and even longer practical application, of principled negotiation techniques, have provided me with the tools to truly resolve conflict. In most instances, the results of the principled approach by far exceed the best alternatives to a negotiated agreement for all parties involved.  More importantly, an interest-based approach nearly always improves the relationship between parties and provides security and confidence for the future.

Two Roads’ negotiations have stretched from strategic business loan arrangements with national aerospace and defence firms to First Nation treaty negotiations in British Columbia, treaty implementation negotiations in the Yukon, to municipal service contracts and tourism ventures. Two Roads has successfully led negotiations for its clients facing such agencies as the British Columbia Transportation Financing Agency, Highway Constructor’s Limited, Bombardier Aerospace, the Department of Agriculture, the Ministry of Forests (BC), Municipal Services Branch (YK), the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia and the Department of National Defence, to name a few.

Not all Two Roads projects are at the multi-million dollar scale. Small business negotiations and using principled techniques for sponsoring relationships for eventual partnerships, are the most successful component of the business. In fact, Two Roads’ approach to business negotiation is far from the typical; more often negotiations have become relationship-building exercises with mutual and far-reaching benefits.