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Preparing for a negotiation means more than deciding what you want: you also need to check your facts, understand what matters to the other side, and plan how to have a focused conversation. In a 2017 Building Design + Construction article, Brenda Radmacher lays out four practical steps: rehearse with a sounding board, connect your facts to the other party’s needs, consider their perspective, and share relevant discussion topics in advance when appropriate. Her example is a job interview and compensation negotiation, but the preparation framework can also help construction professionals get ready for a project or business discussion.
Radmacher’s recommendations are preparation advice, not a guarantee of a particular outcome or a rule that fits every negotiation. The central idea is useful across settings: prepare your own case while learning enough about the other party to make the conversation relevant to both sides. The original example concerns a candidate and a prospective employer—not a construction contract—so the construction examples below are practical applications of the framework, not claims made in the article.
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Radmacher’s four steps are to practice with a sounding board, connect your facts to the other side’s needs, consider that party’s perspective, and, when it makes sense, share relevant topics or questions before the meeting.
- Get a sounding board. Talk through the issues with someone who will listen and ask probing questions. Rehearse what you intend to say and use the discussion to uncover gaps in your preparation.
- Use the facts and connect them. Find information you lack, then explain how your experience, strengths, or other relevant facts relate to the other party’s needs.
- Take stock of the other side’s perspective. Consider its needs, expectations, and past experiences. Radmacher suggests that viewing the other person as a partner can help you identify useful information and possible responses.
- Prepare the other party. When appropriate, share relevant topics or questions in advance so the other person can come ready to discuss them.
These steps reinforce one another. Rehearsal helps you notice what you still need to learn; learning about the other party helps you choose which facts to emphasize; and a thoughtful advance note can help both sides arrive ready for a more focused conversation.
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How can a sounding board improve your preparation?
A sounding board gives you a chance to explain your position aloud and hear questions you may not have asked yourself. Radmacher writes, “One of the best ways to prepare is to have a sounding board—a friend, colleague, client, or spouse who is willing to listen and ask careful, but probing questions is often the best way to investigate the omissions in your preparation.”
The value is not that your adviser must agree with your position or predict what the other party will do. It is that a listener can help you find places where your reasoning is unclear, your evidence is thin, or your plan does not address a likely concern. Choose someone willing to challenge your thinking respectfully, rather than someone who will only reassure you.
For a construction-related discussion, you might explain the issue to a colleague who understands the work but is not directly involved in the negotiation. For example, if you need to discuss a project change, describe what changed, what decision you need, and why it matters. Ask the listener to identify unclear terms, missing information, and questions the other party may raise. This is an illustrative use of Radmacher’s rehearsal advice, not a claim that the original article examined construction changes.
Keep the rehearsal focused. Try explaining your position in a few clear sentences, then invite questions such as:
- What is the specific decision I want from the other party?
- Which parts of my explanation rely on assumptions rather than information I have confirmed?
- What might the other party need to know before responding?
- What would I say if the other party disagrees with my main point?
- Which issue should I clarify before the meeting rather than raise for the first time at the table?
These prompts are a practical way to make the sounding-board conversation probing rather than merely performative. You do not have to accept every suggestion. Treat questions as a way to locate omissions and decide what you need to verify.
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How do you connect your facts to the other party’s needs?
Gather the information you lack, then make the connection between your evidence and what the other party needs to decide. A list of your strengths or concerns is less useful than a clear explanation of why they matter in this particular conversation.
In Radmacher’s job-interview example, the candidate recognized that her skills and background matched the employer’s open role. The point was not simply to recite her qualifications; it was to connect them to the position the employer needed to fill. That makes the case more relevant to the person listening.
In a construction negotiation, the same logic can guide preparation without presuming what the contract says or what either party should accept. If you are discussing a project issue, identify the facts you can support, the decision or concern those facts bear on, and the reason that issue may matter to the counterpart. A contractor preparing to discuss a proposed change, for instance, could organize the known project facts and the questions that need resolution, then consider how those facts relate to the client’s priorities. The example illustrates the method; it is not a substitute for reviewing project documents or obtaining professional advice where needed.
A useful preparation sheet can separate three things:
- Known facts: information you have confirmed and can explain clearly.
- Open questions: details you still need to learn or verify.
- Relevance: why each fact or question matters to the decision under discussion and to the other party.
This distinction helps prevent an assumption from being presented as settled information. It also helps you decide whether a point belongs in the meeting, in advance correspondence, or in further preparation before either side can make a useful decision.
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How should you think about the other side’s perspective?
Consider what the other party needs, expects, and may have experienced before deciding how to present your case. Radmacher’s framing is to think of the other person as a partner in the discussion; that is an approach to explore, not a universal description of every negotiation.
Perspective-taking does not mean abandoning your own interests or assuming you know the other party’s motives. It means asking what information might matter to them, what constraints or expectations could shape their response, and what concerns they might raise. If you do not know, treat those points as questions rather than facts.
In a construction context, a project owner, contractor, consultant, or supplier may be approaching the same issue from a different role. Before the conversation, list what you understand about the other party’s needs and separate it from what you need to confirm. A question such as “What information would help you assess this?” can be more productive than assuming the other party sees the issue as you do.
That preparation can also help you plan possible responses. If the other side raises a concern you anticipated, you can address it directly or ask a clarifying question. If its concern is unexpected, the work you did to identify open questions can make it easier to listen and gather information rather than rush into a defensive answer. This is a practical implication of considering the other side’s perspective, not a promise that the discussion will become easy or cooperative.
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When should you share topics or questions in advance?
Share relevant topics ahead of time when doing so is appropriate and likely to help the other party prepare. Radmacher’s example shows one way this can work: the job candidate found out who would attend the meeting and sent a list of discussion items beforehand.
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According to the article, that advance information helped the team focus on two concerns and streamline the discussion. It is an example from one job-interview setting, not proof that advance disclosure will improve every negotiation. The right level of detail depends on the conversation and what both sides need to prepare.
For a construction discussion, a short note might identify the subject to be discussed and the questions that need attention. For example, you could say that the meeting will cover a project issue and ask which information the other party would find useful to review. Keep the note relevant and factual. Do not present a proposed agenda as an agreed outcome, and do not assume that sharing topics in advance means disclosing every argument or position you may want to discuss.
Before sending anything, consider:
- Will this information help the other party bring the right people or information to the discussion?
- Are the topics specific enough to be useful without suggesting that a decision has already been made?
- Is the information appropriate to share at this stage?
- Would a brief question about what the other party needs be more useful than sending a long list?
If advance sharing would be inappropriate or unhelpful in your situation, do not force it. The fourth recommendation is conditional: prepare the other party when appropriate, rather than treating early disclosure as a required step in every negotiation.
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Use the four steps as a sequence: clarify the discussion, check your information, rehearse, and decide what the other party should know beforehand. This turns Radmacher’s recommendations into a practical routine without adding a guarantee about the outcome.
- Name the decision or issue. Write down what the conversation is about and what you need to clarify, discuss, or decide. Be specific enough that a sounding board can understand the situation.
- Separate facts from questions. Record what you know, what you still need to verify, and which points depend on an assumption. Gather missing information where you can.
- Connect your case to the counterpart’s needs. For each important fact, note why it may matter to the other party. If you do not know what the other party needs, make that a question to ask rather than an unsupported assumption.
- Rehearse with a listener. Explain the issue and your reasoning aloud. Ask the listener to probe for omissions, unclear points, and possible concerns.
- Consider the other perspective. List the other party’s likely needs and expectations, but distinguish what you know from what you are guessing. Prepare to ask questions and hear new information.
- Choose whether to send an advance note. If sharing topics would help and is appropriate, identify them clearly and briefly. If not, keep the material for your own preparation.
- Review before the conversation. Make sure you can explain the issue, the facts that support your position, what you need to learn, and why the discussion may matter to the other side.
A negotiation preparation workbook can be one optional way to organize this work, but Radmacher does not require a paid resource. A conference paper hosted by the Supreme Court of Ohio cites Roger Fisher and Danny Ertel’s Getting Ready to Negotiate: The Getting to Yes Workbook as a negotiation-preparation resource. That citation supports it as a possible aid; it does not establish its current availability or price, or imply that Radmacher endorsed it.
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What should you take from Radmacher’s advice?
The four steps are most useful when treated as a connected preparation process, not as a formula that guarantees agreement. Rehearsal can expose omissions; facts become more persuasive when connected to the other party’s needs; perspective-taking can help you anticipate questions; and carefully chosen advance topics may help focus a discussion.
Radmacher’s piece was published on August 4, 2017, and centers on a candidate preparing for an interview and compensation negotiation. Its practical recommendations can inform other conversations, including construction-related ones, but the article does not provide evidence that the approach works in every setting. Its broader observations about women’s negotiation behavior should likewise be understood as the author’s claims, not independently verified findings established by the article. Read the original Building Design + Construction article for Radmacher’s full account.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is negotiation preparation only useful for salary discussions?
No. Radmacher illustrates the advice with an interview and compensation negotiation, but the four preparation ideas can be adapted to other discussions. For a construction matter, treat the adaptation as a planning aid and rely on the relevant project documents and professional guidance for the substance of the issue.
Do I need to send an agenda before every negotiation?
No. The advance-sharing step is conditional, and the article’s example does not establish that it helps in every setting. Consider whether a brief note would genuinely help the other party prepare and whether the information is appropriate to share.
What if I do not know what the other side wants?
Do not turn guesses into facts. Identify what you do know, list the uncertainties, and prepare open questions that can help you learn the other party’s priorities during the conversation.
Is a negotiation workbook required to use these four steps?
No. The steps can be organized in ordinary notes and rehearsed with a willing listener. A workbook is optional; the Ohio Supreme Court-hosted conference paper cites one example, but does not establish its current price or availability.
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