imposes a solution on the other. Joint solutions could include; bonuses for productivity ay rises in return for innovation focusing on other non-financial employee benefits in lieu of cash (e.g. time off, training or even sharing in the public sector benefits if they negotiate better deals with their suppliers) Increasing the Pie One of the most common failings among negotiators is to assume that the pie is fixed and that therefore the only way to protect their own position is to claim as big a slice of the pie as possible and make sure that the other side gets as small a size of the pie as possible. This kind of assumption is often not correct. Of course, if you just focus on what people say that they want in these circumstances it's hard to find common ground. However, concentrating on why people want the things that they say that they want automatically reveals more options, because there will always be more than one way of meeting that need. Re-framing the issue to invite the creation of joint solutions makes it more likely that those alternative options will be uncovered and that the parties will be committed to the joint solutions they create.