Practical Guide to Negotiating in the Military
Abstract
Military leaders in the Department of Defense (DOD)(officer, enlisted, and civilian)cannot operate and succeed in isolation. Because of our professional duties and team-oriented nature, we constantly interact with others. These interactions require leaders to navigate situations ranging from collaborative ventures to contentious clashes. The purpose of this navigation is to do one of three things: (1) achieve a goal, (2) preclude conflict, or (3) address conflict. Navigating any interaction between people usually involves some aspect of negotiation. This guidebook offers tools to facilitate effective negotiation to achieve a goal, such as getting two or more people (or groups of people) to decide on a course of action. Practically speaking, government personnel engage daily in negotiations with coworkers, supervisors, subordinates, contractors, business partners, coalition members, and nongovernmental organizations. At work, you could be negotiating a schedule between operations and maintenance or perhaps a memorandum of agreement between two agencies. At home, you could be deciding at a Saturday breakfast who will take the kids to soccer while the other parent gets the groceries so the entire family can meet for game night and pizza. Another situation might involve you and your friends planning a weekend trip, deciding transportation, destinations, and events as well as how to split the costs. The concepts, tools, and techniques in this guidebook will help you negotiate to resolve an issue of mutual concern, address conflict before it arises, or manage conflict if it does occur. Air Force senior leaders routinely identify negotiation skills as a core leadership competency to help equip leaders with tools to successfully navigate within their environment. They realize that DOD professionals frequently accomplish the mission working with people and teams they have no direct authority over.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 24, 2019
- Accession Number
- AD1117925
Entities
People
- Stefan Jr Eisen
Organizations
- Air University