Negotiations and Trust

Mediators typically hope that the negotiations they facilitate will be “win-win.”  This means that each party, while not perhaps getting everything they want, will get something of value or importance – something that they would not necessarily have gained through a different kind of dispute resolution process.  Mediators are encouraged to think broadly and help parties create value.  To use a robust cliché, we try to help the parties think about how to make the pie bigger before we help them portion it out.

So I was saddened to read (in the February 2, 2012 issue of The New Yorker) of negotiations that could be described only as “lose-lose,” with the parties ending up worse off than they were before.  Ian Frazier’s article, “Out of the Bronx:  Private equity and the cookie factory” tells the story of what happened when Brynwood Partners bought the Stella D’oro cookie factory.  A quick summary:  The new owners announced that they would reduce salaries and benefits.  Workers went on strike.  Eleven months later, Brynwood partners was ordered to reinstate the strikers.  They complied, but soon after sold the factory to another company which closed it down and moved production to Ohio.  The strikers lost their jobs; Brynwood Partners reports losing “upward of seven or eight million dollars”; and the community lost the benefits that come with hosting a profitable business (not to mention, a nearby reliable source of yummy cookies).

Frazier’s article does not say much about the negotiation process between workers and the new owners, and I do not know whether mediators were involved, and if so, what style of mediation they favoured.  But one detail from his account stood out:  The strikers distrusted the new owners and did not believe that they were telling the truth about the company’s financial situation.  And without an accurate idea of the company’s profitability, they had no way to judge if the salaries they were offered were reasonable or exploitative.  (The merchandise mart that took over the factory building will pay lower wages than Brynwood had proposed in the rejected contract.)

Lack of mutual trust is often a factor by the time parties come to mediation.  How can mediators get parties to trust one another?  The answer may surprise you:  They cannot and should not try.  Personal trust has to be earned over time.  Mistrust can be a protective response, and people sometimes have very good reasons for not trusting one another.  A mediator risks losing credibility if she encourages people who are mistrustful of one another to ignore these feelings.

But thinking of “trust” as a personal attribute is only one way to think about it. There will always be specific individuals whom you may not trust, and others who may not trust you.  In many disputes, trust can be “out-sourced.”  That is, both parties can agree to put their confidence in a neutral evaluator.  For example, in a strike situation where parties have different views of the organization’s financial prospects, a mediator might suggest bringing in an independent accountant or valuation expert.  Family members whose disagreements over the value of an estate are complicated by personal mistrust might agree to seek out several assessments and work on the basis of their average.
When people mistrust one another – and even when that mistrust is entirely appropriate – they can often continue to work together and negotiate effectively. When disagreement over some factual matter is driving a dispute, parties who can out-source trust might be able to come to a “win-win” agreement after all.

Is Your Workplace “Flourishing”?

There are a number of different words that could be used to describe a happy, productive workplace.  I chose “flourishing” because I want to emphasize the links between well-adjusted employees, dynamic teams, and organizational success.  (And yes, if you know about my philosophy background, you will probably have picked up on the nod to Aristotle!)

Flourishing workplaces share a number of features, whether the work environment is industrial or white-collar, academic or professional, generation-Y casual or established and staid.

These are some of the differences between flourishing and non-flourishing (withering?) workplaces:

In a flourishing workplace people feel free to speak their minds.  They share reservations about plans and projects.  They ask hard questions without fear of reprisal.  In a non-flourishing workplace, people feel they have to “tiptoe” around others and they keep their concerns about workplace issues to themselves.  The whole organization is weaker as a result.

In a flourishing workplace meetings are lively.  Everyone is engaged.  Employees understand that if they speak up, their concerns will be acknowledged, even if decisions do not always go their way. In a non-flourishing workplace, meetings are painful.  They may be boring, with “surface harmony” masking a lack of engagement.  They may be acrimonious and hostile, indicating a lack of mutual respect.  Or meetings may seem continually to cover the same ground, because a consensus about basic issues has never been achieved.

In a flourishing workplace “water-cooler talk” is social.  Employees do not engage in negative gossip about one another or about the organization.  When casual conversation is work-related, it is constructive and in a spirit of problem-solving.  In a non-flourishing workplace, casual conversation is fueled by rumours, back-stabbing, and fear of possible change.

In a flourishing workplace people deal with one another (and with other divisions) directly.  If a conflict arises, people try to solve it face-to-face rather than by e-mail or by phone.  (I’ve written previously about the dangers of email communication.)  They understand how to raise concerns in a respectful manner.  In a non-flourishing workplace, employees may turn to elaborate back-channel strategies rather than confront one another directly, wasting effort and time that could be spent more productively.



Most important of all, in a flourishing workplace employees are engaged by their work and motivated to do their best.  They feel that what they are doing is important and that their contribution matters.  In a non-flourishing workplace, morale is low.  Employees do not feel connected to one another or to the work that they do.  This may be evident in higher-than-average rates of sick leave, unexplained absenteeism or low employee retention rates.

Which better describes your workplace, flourishing or non-flourishing?

Note:  I formulated these ideas with the help of Dr. Pamela Hudak.  Pam and I work together as Principled Dispute Resolution and Consulting.  Contact us if you’d like to learn more about how to make your workplace flourish.