Coaching practices for Expanding the Pie Negotiation Beyond Splitting the Difference in a New Job

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Expanding the Pie Negotiation Beyond Splitting the Difference in a New Job, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

  • The whole thing has collapsed down to one number and we’re just staring each other down over price, so whatever I gain they lose
  • We’re treating this like there’s one pie to fight over and someone has to lose
  • There are several things on the table here, and some matter way more to me than others
  • When I negotiate I jump straight to my offer and try to claim my slice, and I suspect I’m leaving value on the table
  • I’m walking into this dead certain it’s one fixed pie

Practices that may help

  1. Expanding the Pie: Negotiation Beyond Splitting the Difference
    Expanding the pie means trading across issues that the two parties value differently, so both sides gain more than any fixed compromise would allow. Malhotra and Bazerman’s research shows that most negotiators leave joint gains on the table because they treat every issue as a zero-sum battle.
  2. Add issues to expand the pie
    Bring more variables in — timing, scope, future work — so there’s more to trade.
    Win-Win Thinking: Expanding the Pie
  3. Invent options for mutual gain
    Brainstorm multiple possible deals before deciding, expanding the pie before splitting it.
    Getting to Yes: Principled Negotiation
  4. Logroll by trading issues of unequal importance
    Concede on what matters less to you in exchange for gains on what matters more.
    Expanding the Pie: Negotiation Beyond Splitting the Difference
  5. Win-Win Thinking: Expanding the Pie
    Win-win (integrative) thinking treats negotiation as a chance to create value before dividing it, instead of fighting over a fixed pie (distributive bargaining). By trading across differences in what each side values, both can come out better than a simple compromise — a well-supported idea in negotiation research, though it requires the right conditions to work.
  6. Expand the pie before you divide it
    In negotiations, surface what the other side actually values most before claiming your share.
    Give and Take: The Giver Advantage
  7. Negotiate from abundance, not scarcity
    Question the assumption that what one side gains the other must lose.
    The Third Alternative, Made Practical
  8. Use a post-settlement settlement to improve a deal after agreement
    Once you have a deal, offer to keep exploring whether a better one exists for both sides.
    Expanding the Pie: Negotiation Beyond Splitting the Difference
  9. Reject the fixed-pie assumption
    Stop assuming your gain must be their loss — most negotiations have hidden joint gains.
    Win-Win Thinking: Expanding the Pie
  10. Make multiple equivalent simultaneous offers (MESOs)
    Propose several package deals of equal value to you — see which the other side prefers.
    Expanding the Pie: Negotiation Beyond Splitting the Difference

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