The Book of Real-World Negotiations

24What Does Success Look Like for a Hostage Negotiator?

Based on an interview with Harry Drucker

Success in negotiation in general is an interesting question. Some people will say success is reaching agreement. Others will say success is not just an agreement, but an agreement that stands the test of time. Still others will say success is about meeting their objectives as best as possible. And finally, there are those that will look more at their performance and define success as to whether they did the best they could in a given situation.

With all of those views on success, what happens if we drop that concept into a particular context – namely, hostage negotiation. What does success look like in these situations? Furthermore, how does a hostage negotiator know if they have been successful? How can they judge their own performance? To answer these questions there are two places to look. The first is outcome and the second is process.

When one looks at outcomes there is plenty of data to analyze, as hostage negotiation expert Randall Rogan has done. After assessing the long-term data around hostage negotiations, Rogan claims that 85 to 90% of these kinds of situations are resolved nonviolently through a verbal agreement.¹ It is hard to argue with that statistic!

Conversely, when it comes to process, not only do hostage negotiators work with incomplete information like the rest of us, but they also have very little control over the outcome. These negotiators can take the same ...