Team negotiation can yield better results (e.g. better estimation of value for money) than individual negotiation because a team makes decisions jointly which is similar to ensemble model of weak learners.

To tap into the power of team negotiation, the team must focus on improving the joint accuracy and precision of efforts by:

• Having enough horizontal and vertical diversity
• Ensuring actors are not influenced by one another in decision making
• Choosing actors that have the best knowledge about the negotiation and its context

A team should have negotiation strategy written. Negotiation strategy consists of counterparties, leverage, staging, framing, and value sharing.

Effective negotiation is driven by preparation, discussion, and assessment. In addition, a team should assign clear roles on who should discuss what aspect of the deal.

Make no mistake, a team negotiation is not a democracy but a meritocracy. It is not dictated by voting, or the leader but by creative conflict, which must converge to a joint conclusion. That conclusion doesn’t have to be shared by everyone, but has to be accepted by everyone.