Fisher Ury Patton: 10 Evidence-Based Coaching Practices

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Fisher Ury Patton, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Practices that may help

1. BATNA: Your Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement
   BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement), developed by Fisher, Ury, and Patton in Getting to Yes, is what you will do if this negotiation fails completely. It is the only rational basis for your walk-away point. A strong BATNA gives you genuine power because you can credibly walk away; a weak BATNA means any deal is better than your alternative, and a skilled counterpart will sense and exploit that.
2. Principled Negotiation, Made Practical
   Principled negotiation, developed by Roger Fisher and William Ury in Getting to Yes, replaces positional bargaining with a method built on four elements: separate the people from the problem, focus on interests rather than positions, generate options for mutual gain, and insist on objective criteria. It aims for agreements that are better for both parties than their alternatives — without requiring either to capitulate or play hardball.
3. Getting to Yes: Principled Negotiation
   Getting to Yes (Fisher & Ury, of the Harvard Negotiation Project) argues for negotiating on the merits instead of haggling over positions: separate people from the problem, focus on underlying interests, invent options for mutual gain, and judge outcomes by objective criteria — with your BATNA as the source of real leverage. It’s an influential framework grounded in decision theory and negotiation experience rather than a lab-tested protocol.
4. Interests vs. Positions: The Core of Integrative Negotiation
   A position is what someone says they want ("I need $80,000"); an interest is why they want it ("I need to cover my expenses and feel valued"). Fisher and Ury’s insight in Getting to Yes is that positions in direct conflict often mask compatible interests — and that negotiating on interests rather than positions is the main lever for creating agreements that satisfy both parties rather than splitting the difference.
5. Distinguish substantive, procedural, and psychological interests
   The interest behind a position is often not about the money or the terms — it may be about face, fairness, or control.
   Interests vs. Positions: The Core of Integrative Negotiation
6. Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT): Unsticking the Meanings That Maintain PTSD
   Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), developed by Patricia Resick, treats PTSD primarily by identifying and challenging "stuck points" — distorted or overgeneralized beliefs about safety, trust, control, intimacy, and self-worth that the trauma produced. Multiple large randomized trials show CPT is among the most effective available treatments for PTSD, comparable to Prolonged Exposure. The core concepts and some worksheets are publicly available; the full protocol benefits significantly from a CPT-trained therapist.
7. The Four Horsemen: Gottman's Warning Signs of Relationship Breakdown
   The four horsemen -- criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling -- are communication patterns John Gottman's observational research linked to relationship breakdown. Contempt is the most corrosive and the strongest predictor; each horseman has a specific antidote. The research is observational and correlational, but the patterns are among the more specific findings in couples science.
8. Use the horsemen as an early-warning system, not only a post-mortem
   Notice which horseman is present in the first 60 seconds of a conflict and intervene before it escalates.
   The Four Horsemen: Gottman's Warning Signs of Relationship Breakdown
9. The Eisenhower Matrix and Delegation
   The Eisenhower matrix sorts tasks by urgency and importance into four quadrants: do now (urgent and important), schedule (important, not urgent), delegate (urgent, not important), and eliminate (neither). The most valuable quadrant is the one most people neglect — scheduling the important-but-not-urgent work that creates long-term leverage. Evidence for the framework is primarily practitioner consensus; its component parts (importance vs urgency, delegation effectiveness) have independent research support.
10. Match your approach to the other person’s decision-making style
    Some people decide from data; others from gut; others from consensus — find out which before presenting.
    The Platinum Rule

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

• The numbers actually work and yet they still won’t budge, and I keep sweetening the offer to no effect→
• I can feel within the first minute of a disagreement exactly where it’s headed, like I already know the shape of the fight→
• I keep pitching my case the way that convinced me→

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