Chris Voss-Negotiation is a Team Sport
Chris Voss has an impressive resume. At the top of the list, he states experience as the Lead International Kidnapping Negotiator for the FBI. He was appointed as an expert in kidnapping, worked with the bureau for 24 years, and has been trained at Scotland Yard, along with some time spent at Harvard Law School.
The Importance of Teamwork
From a young age, Chris wanted to get into the SWAT team, but he never knew he’d end up where he is today, “One turn after another, you know?”
He did enter the SWAT team where he worked as part of the crisis response unit. He trained as both an assaulter and a sniper, working with the Navy Seals for some time. But, despite his own impressive record, Chris continuously reminds others that it’s not a one-man job.
“A good team will outperform a great individual. Negotiation is very much a team sport. We’ll have a team of at least five people working collectively. If I have a really tough negotiation at hand, I will always have a partner in the negotiation with me as a listener.”
The Right Approach to Business Negotiation
Today, Chris uses the skills he learned to help others — mostly entrepreneurs and businesses. He draws many parallels between hostage negotiations and business negotiations. As he explained, “The main difference is that a hostage negotiation is usually calmer.”
The reason for that, Chris points out, is that hostage negotiators are specifically trained to use that late night radio DJ voice. “It hits your mirror neurons. It causes an involuntary response in your brain and it actually slows your brain down. That’s the default voice for hostage negotiators. That’s why when we get on the phone from the very beginning, we talk like that.”
Knowing When A Deal Is Going Downhill
When he coaches people on negotiations, he also provides them with a host of other critical information and techniques that he covers in his book. For instance, he can teach a salesman about all the signs that show a person is losing interest. “If our conversations get shorter, if there are few responses, if you use fewer words, then they’re starting to put barriers up and we’re in a bad place.”
“In a business deal, the very best way to know that you have lost the other person is when they look at you and say you’re right, because that’s what we say to people to get them to shut up and stop talking. Technically, if someone says you’re right, you think it’s an agreement, that you’re both on the same page, but it’s actually a conversation killer.”
But, not only does Chris teach people how to recognize those “conversation killers” so they know when they’re getting pushed away, he’s also able to teach his clients how to keep the conversation going and take it in a successful direction.
“What the other person is telling you is that they feel like they’re not being heard. They’re like, I feel so not heard by you that I just want you to shut up. So what you gotta do is go back in. I go back to Stephen Covey’s old advice: Seek first to understand, then be understood. I really think it should be refined to show how you understand and show what you understand. Once you do that, the other side will open up.”
To hear more from Chris Voss
Website: The Blackswan Group
Book: Never Split the Difference
To listen to this podcast: Chris Voss on Negotiation
To subscribe to Steve Sims, “The Art of Making Things Happen – Podcast”
