The power of bargaining

Playing poker isn’t just about having the best cards. The top players are masters at bluffing and can coax others into raising the stakes before forcing them to fold. They never give anything away and always exude confidence, even when holding a weak hand.

Parallels are often made between poker and a whole range of business negotiations - from agreeing pay rises and promotions to company mergers and takeovers. But is it best to keep your cards close to your chest? Or should you be more open?

People often think that showing their hand in a negotiation will give the other party an advantage, but that’s not entirely true. Being transparent about your priorities can help create more value for you and the other side.

A negotiation is often seen as a competition where someone wins and the other person loses. You think, “This is a debate that I need to win so I’ll make my case and try to convince the other side to see things from my perspective”. This type of thinking is flawed because it means you believe the other party’s point of view is wrong, which can lead to a ‘fixed-pie’ bias – the more I win, the more you lose. It’s seen as a zero-sum game.

Instead, you should see negotiating as a joint problem-solving exercise rather than a debate. It’s about you and the other party listening to each other and acknowledging and appreciating differences. You don’t have to be a pushover, but it’s important to look at this as a creative process where you look to increase the size of the pie. Finding common ground and achieving both parties’ objectives creates a bigger pie, so everyone can win.