Negotiating in Project Management:
Typical Issues by Phase (excerpt)
B. Kim Barnes

Projects are built on agreements. To achieve outstanding business results, project managers and leaders must negotiate with sponsors or clients, customers, team members, and colleagues with key resources. Building effective project agreements requires the negotiators to find ways to meet the needs of all parties. A negotiation is neither a contest nor a debate. It is more like the process of creating a building with the other people who are going to have to live or work in it. The phases of negotiation are similar to the phases of designing and constructing a building.

Constructing a building is, of course, a big project. A few months after a building has been completed, architects hold a “post-occupancy evaluation.” They interview the people who live and work in the building. This provides the architects with good information about what works well and what is less successful—information they will use in designing their next project.

Negotiators would do well to adopt a similar “post-negotiation evaluation” practice, especially when they are in business relationships that require regular or frequent negotiation or close monitoring to be sure an agreement is being implemented on an ongoing basis. In fact, this kind of evaluation is done by many highly skilled negotiators. At some time before they need to begin a new round of negotiations, they meet with the other party or parties to discuss the merits and shortcomings of their previous agreement. The discussion should include both the content and the process of coming to agreement. The discussion and evaluation prepares them for the new negotiation, establishes a collaborative negotiation relationship, and keeps them engaged in continuous improvement. Even when their next similar negotiation is with other parties, the learning will be useful and all who participate will benefit if the discussion is limited to “what did we learn from the last negotiation?” rather than “whose fault is it that I didn’t get the result I wanted?”

Negotiation is often seen as a means to resolve conflict—but it is also one of the most important tools for its prevention. Ideally, negotiation with the project client or sponsor occurs early in the life of a project, thus preventing later conflicts and misunderstandings. Other negotiations will occur throughout the life of the project, from Initiation through Planning, Execution, Control, and Closeout.

© 2004 Barnes & Conti Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.