Glossary

Choosing the audience

Επιλογή ακροατηρίου

Deciding not whether a true thing gets said, but in front of whom, because the same sentence does different work in front of a group and in front of one person. The negotiation work above puts the interest underneath the stated position, and the interest is usually served by one listener rather than by all of them.

Also known asaudience selection, who hears what
Belongs to the skillCommunication
Level4

How to spot it

Before you say it, name the one person who has to hear it, and ask what the others gain by hearing it too.

The research behind the term

The term is not our invention. It comes from published research, and what follows is what that research found — our own synthesis of the published abstract, not a translation of the original.

Fisher, R., & Ury, W. (1981). Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving Inπηγή

What it found

  • A generally applicable method of negotiation is proposed, aimed at mutually satisfying agreements rather than victory for one side.
  • First principle: separate the people from the problem.
  • Second principle: focus on interests, not positions.
  • Third principle: work together to find creative and fair options.

How it found it

A method book that emerged from the Harvard Negotiation Project; it sets out a step-by-step framework of principles rather than primary empirical research.

What it means for communication

Separating the person from the issue is a communicative move before it is a negotiating one: it lets you be hard on the problem and gentle with the person.

Practised in

The term does not stay a definition. It appears inside missions where the pattern happens in real time and you have to recognise it as it happens to you.

  • Twenty Minutes, Four Things at Once

    Level 5

Sources

Every claim on this page maps to published research. The citations link to the original source.

  1. Fisher, R., & Ury, W. (1981). Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In — Source on penguinrandomhouse.com