Strategic Alliance Magazine Q3 2017 - 20

T H E A RT O F S PA R R I N G A N D C RO S S I N G S WO R D S

"Alliance managers often think alliance management
is just executing contracts. But in fact, the alliance
manager is negotiating ... how to align and progress
projects and resolve issues," Borgeld explains. "Simply
making a good decision doesn't lead to an excellent execution. You need to have people buy in. That is where
the negotiation and influencing come in."
Group negotiations make the process even more
complex, he points out. And in a multi-industry,
multi-partner alliance, it requires particularly
careful consideration with both the internal and
external negotiation processes (see Figure 4).
As the complexity increases, the process
of resolving conflict likely will require
skilled management as well that could result in even greater creativity in problem
solving.
The workshop includes exercises to encourage
participants to turn conflict into cooperation.
"If you want to resolve the conflict, you need to
think out of the box," Borgeld points out. This
is why conflict resolution is so difficult. People
think inside the box and actually tend to think even
more narrow than the box actually is. By thinking
outside of the box, options will appear that you might
not have identified at all. This puts you into a strong
position in negotiations and allows you to influence
decision making so that the best decision is made."
So what happens if progress is unlikely to continue
and its time to throw in the towel? "There are always
going to be times where people have such conflicting
views. If you can't build an agreement, you might have
to go your separate ways," says Arreche. "It's okay to
say 'No!' Negotiation is sometimes saying 'Yes' to
maybe the better of the worst options. But conflict
resolution and building an agreement could still be
the genesis of something completely new. Many of
the tools we use create options that support both
parties and might be better than either extremes," he
concludes.
With so many considerations-cultural, personality, hidden agendas, etc.-it's important to recognize
when you've given negotiations your best shot and
it's time to conclude the process and bring in the litigators or walk away from the deal. Understanding
20
STRATEGIC ALLIANCE MAGAZINE | Q3 * 2017

when that time has arrived is just one of the many
questions you can wrestle with in an ASAP workshop, conference session, and/or Netcast. These
topics are surfacing more frequently in ASAP Media
and conferences, an indicator that alliance managers
recognize the need to add more conflict resolution
techniques to their toolboxes. For starters, consider
these resources:

Why Does Great Alliance Collaboration Require Good Conflict? ASAP
Netcast by Lynda McDermott

The Right Kind of Conflict Leads to
Better Products Harvard Business
Review, December, 2016: https://hbr.
org/2016/12/the-right-kind-of-conflictleads-to-better-products

Strategic Decision Making & Negotiations: Learnings from Game Theory
and AM Practice ASAP workshop led by
Harm-Jan Borgeld and Stefanie Schubert
at the upcoming BioPharma Conference
Sept. 13, http://www.asapbiopharma.
org/17/bio17workshops.html

Dare to Disagree Ted Talk by Margaret
Heffernan, https://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_heffernan_dare_to_disagree n

ASAP Media Managing Editor Cynthia B. Hanson is
a certified mediator who received her training from
the International Academy of Dispute Resolution
(INADR). The academy focuses on education at
the undergraduate, graduate, law school, and
professional levels. It is comprised of lawyers, judges,
professors, and other professionals sharing an
abiding conviction that mediation is the better way to
resolve conflict. INADR was founded in 2002 with the
mission to "encourage society to resolve differences
and disputes in a more sensitive and compassionate
manner; and to promote peace and civility in human
behavior." Learn more at http://www.inadr.org.

https://hbr.org/2016/12/the-right-kind-of-conflict-leads-to-better-products https://hbr.org/2016/12/the-right-kind-of-conflict-leads-to-better-products https://hbr.org/2016/12/the-right-kind-of-conflict-leads-to-better-products http://www.asapbiopharma.org/17/bio17workshops.html http://www.asapbiopharma.org/17/bio17workshops.html https://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_heffernan_dare_to_disagree https://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_heffernan_dare_to_disagree http://www.inadr.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Strategic Alliance Magazine Q3 2017