As negotiators, our goal during a negotiation is to use our negotiation  styles and negotiating techniques to reach a mutually beneficial  agreement with the other side. 

This, of course, brings up the question:  what exactly is a mutually beneficial agreement?  If  you ask around, some negotiation experts believe that a mutually  beneficial agreement is one in which each side grabs as much as it can  from a finite pot of resources and calls it a day. Ouch. A much better  approach is to combine competitive value-claiming with collaborative  value creation. The reason that you want to do this is not because it’s  the “nice” thing to do, but because it’s been proven to be the best path  to a truly mutually beneficial agreement. 

Now, just exactly how can we go about doing this?