What is Win-Win?

Comment: Over the years, I have watched the commercialization and commoditization of operation management practices. Consulting firms, professional organizations, and marketing companies take operation managment practices packaging them into programs and certifications then marketing them to industries for non-operations management professionals often in lieu of Master degree's. This practice dramaitically increased during the 1990's. In some cases, older certifications or programs were repackaged and sold again as a new program.  In this post, I want to focus on Win-win discussing what it is and is not.  

What is Win-Win?

Many people think of Win-Win as the everyone gets something equally, an even split. Others think of Win-Win as some sort of compromise where every everyone gets a little something they want and gives up a little something in the process. In truth, Win-Win is not either of these outcomes. Win-Win may be a little overstated and more of a way of negotiating outcomes than negotiating contracts. For a project manager and/or operations manager Win-Win is the art of managing people in the projects and operations. 

Win-win is not compromise, an even split, relationship building, or achieving satisfaction. Win-win is better known as integrative negotiations which leverage all creative opportunities leaving no resources on the table. The telltale signs of win-win are:

• Does the negotiation contain more than one issue?
• Can more issues be brought in?
• Can side deals be cut?
• Do the involved parties preferences vary across all the issues?

The idea behind Win-Win is to bring multiple issues to the table and refocus the negotiations in such a way that a modicum of outcomes is found benefiting holistically the organization or project. The tactics that work during discussions include perspective taking, asking questions, information sharing, unbundling issues, package deals, and simultaneous offers.

Win-Win can be used by project managers on a routine basis to manage conflict and personalities in addition to negotiating contracts. For example, two principles on a project are engaged in a heated debate that is escalating becoming more personality than professional. The project manager may view the heated debate as counter productive and decides to inject. Using Win-Win tactics, the project manager first takes each persons perspective learning their issues asking pertinent questions. The project manager then shares information about the project refocusing the debate issues between the project and the individual opposed to between individuals solely as he unbundles the issues. Then he may incorporate elements of each argument into the project in a package deal benefiting the project. Had the project manager not refocused the argument between the individuals then a win-lose battle would have been sought.

Win-Win can be a valuable tool negotiating contracts and the paradigm can also be applied to conflict resolution. Win-Win has little to do with compromise and more to do with finding the modicum of outcomes that benefit the organization and/or project over the individual. Although, the individual achieves satisfaction in recieving benefit from the higher preference issues on the table. Win-Win is really a way of life or a way of conducting business. The skills, strategies, and tactics come with training and experience. Win-Win, even though an overstated program, has valuable elements that if applied well benefit everyone.