Achieving Success in Negotiations - Lessons from the Minsk Negotiations

DEFINING SUCCESS IN A NEGOTIATION

LESSONS FROM THE UKRAINIAN/RUSSIAN NEGOTIATIONS IN MINSK

INTRODUCTION

Evaluating true success in a negotiation can sometimes be elusive. Yet knowing the extent to which our negotiations are a success is important. It enables us to commit with confidence; it helps us to persuade other stakeholders, superiors and constituents as to why the agreement reached was a good one; and it allows us to feel positively about the agreement, without resentment or feeling exploited. This translates into better compliance, stronger durability of the agreement and better working relationships.

In studying how to measure success in a negotiation, the latest negotiations in Minsk between the Ukraine and Russia is a good case to examine. In a recent article, the Washington Post declared Putin as the unequivocal "winner" in those negotiations, because he avoided further economic and military costs to Russia. This implies that Poroshenko of the Ukraine, was the loser.

However, as we analyze the concerns of the Ukraine and Russia and how the thirteen points of the Minsk agreement addresses those concerns respectively, a different picture begins to emerge.

THE "WINNER" AND "LOSER" AT THE MINSK NEGOTIATIONS

Let us look at how the Minsk Agreement meets Russia's and the Ukraine's respective concerns:

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