Analysis of ongoing train strike

The attached headline from Sveriges Radio is one of many in various news outlets with regards to the strike local train drivers in the Stockholm region initiated recently. The strike was the result of a decision to remove the train hosts which would leave the train drivers alone on the trains, something that would cause a serious security risk according to the train drivers.

Now this post is not about who is right or wrong in this situation but what we all can learn from a negotiation and conflict management point of view. The headline has a quote from one of the leading politicians responsible for the public transportation and states “we will not meet the demands being put forward in this strike”.

While I have no problem understanding why such a comment was made it is however very detrimental for any continued negotiations as it effectively makes it more or less impossible for the person to now give in to any of the demands without losing both face and political credibility. When negotiating, and especially in a conflict situation, you are generally much better off to avoid wording that closes doors and allow for some humbleness in the way you negotiate and communicate as you never know what details might come up forcing you to reconsider your stand point. In addition, wording like that will just typically aggravate your counterpart even more, making it even more difficult to find a solution to the conflict.

Consider instead if the headline had stated something along the lines of “I struggle to see that any of these demands will be met”. The same point would be made but you leave a small opening for that unknown x-factor that might pop up so that you actually CAN agree to some concessions without the risk of looking foolish. A good negotiator always strive to keep all doors open for as long as possible.