Negotiation skills: Preparation for the negotiation between the band members

Practical exercise

Think about the facts you might want to know in preparation for the negotiation between the band members.

Suggestions with explanations

It is always important to think about the factual situation that exists at the heart of the negotiation to ensure that any suggestions that you make to resolve the parties’ differences are practical. For example, if you were involved in a divorce negotiation that involved access arrangements for children, a suggestion that each party had the children one day of the weekend will work if they live nearby but not be practical if they live a couple of hundred miles apart. So there may be factual details that you want to research: how far away is a particular place? How much does a particular item cost to replace?

In the band negotiation, the band and the songs are fictitious so it would not be possible, for example, to find out how much the band earns in royalties from their most popular song. But you could think about some factual information that could assist you. For example, it seems that their appearance at the festival in Devon is in jeopardy because of Jonny’s actions so maybe you could do some research to see if there are other events in the area that seem like alternatives for the band. It also seems likely that the negotiation is going to involve a question of which of the band members has the right to perform under the name Persimmon for Gaia. You could research similar band disputes to see how they were resolved as this might give you inspiration for how to tackle this issue.