The Phone and Other Tools


As a general rule, hostage negotiators use a telephone to do their job. It’s the preferred method of communication with a guy with a gun for obvious reasons; or to put it another way, face-to-face BS’ing with an armed psychopath is vastly overrated. As a general negotiating tool, I think the phone is fantastic. Most Americans are pretty comfortable with it, and it offers certain advantages when you’re dealing with difficult points. For one thing, the other side can’t see the notes that your coach negotiator is shoving in your face—or if you’re a one-man negotiator, the notes outlining your research and the flow you want the discussion to take. And unless you have a telephone with a video setup, they can’t study the emotional reactions on your face, which for most people tend to be harder to control.

Of course, that also means you can’t use the power of personal, immediate contact. A disembodied voice on a telephone can remain just that—a disembodied voice. If you’re looking to establish rapport early on in a negotiation, or maybe jump-start a situation that’s gotten a little static, a face-to-face may help move things along. Just make sure the other guy doesn’t have a gun.

E-mail and instant messaging are other technologies in the negotiator’s toolbox, and I think we’ll be seeing them used more and more in the future. In many ways these are similar to the telephone, though even more limiting in communicating emotion—at least in theory.




Negotiate and Win. Proven Strategies from the NYPD's Top Hostage Negotiator
Negotiate and Win: Proven Strategies from the NYPDs Top Hostage Negotiator
ISBN: 0071737774
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 180

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net