The Negotiation Book: Your Definitive Guide To Successful Negotiating

7.2. WE ARE ALL EMPOWERED TO SOME DEGREE

Great negotiators tend to be unsung heroes. Great deals become so over time as the contract delivers the value it was intended to offer, rather than necessarily at the time when the deal was completed. Great negotiators tend to work as part of a team which can involve specialist lawyers, finance directors and others. Because the last person to become involved in the negotiation dealings is the boss, the act of negotiation is usually delegated further down the line, further diluting the transparency of who is actually controlling events. And when the deal is done, the need for confidentiality as well as the need to protect the operations of those companies involved means that the true facts and figures agreed are rarely publicised to the degree to which you can measure the relative performance of the negotiators involved.

Most high-profile negotiators tend to be political figures or trade union leaders, but these individuals neither work by themselves nor are fully empowered to negotiate on all issues. Using the press and media is part of how they build power and being able to demonstrate success is all part of building power for their next negotiation.

One of my personal experiences as a negotiator involved facilitating a highly charged negotiation between a Japanese electronics company and a trade union in the UK. The level of trust between the parties involved, together with the climate of the meeting and the relationship was poor, hence ...