Andy Raskin recently wrote on his experience of a CEO he was working with, negotiating with a senior colleague on the strategic story for the company. The colleague was not aligned with what was being proposed and Andy’s sessions with him did not help at all. He didn’t budge. Next, the CEO has a chat at the end of which this employee turns around completely. It was attributed to a negotiation technique espoused by Chris Voss in his book ’Never Split the Difference’.
“Voss’s game-changing insight was that nearly every successful hostage release happens only after the chief negotiator establishes an emotional connection with the kidnapper…..traditional negotiations tactics – were focused … to reach a win-win solution through logic and reason”. Voss writes : …”have you ever tried to devise a mutually beneficial win-win solution with a guy who thinks he’s the messiah?”
So what did the CEO do? He kept summarizing what the colleague had told him till he said “ That’s right”. According to Voss, this is when the other party feels that their voice has been heard, acknowledged and understood.
For this approach to work, it entails that one truly opens oneself up, to listening actively and making necessary changes to the discourse.
Link to Andy Raskin’s post : https://bit.ly/2CWzGAh
Link to a Google Talk by Chris Voss : https://bit.ly/29bo3HM and the book : https://amzn.to/2CYkv9W
