A negotiating technique I use is incremental escalation, this is an effective strategy when used in negotiations with a management structure out of their depth. I have learned this technique whilst employed in the state government, the problem is they have been promoted to a position beyond their capability, if they don’t take a strategic view, you are in a position to exploit this lack of critical thinking.

You start with the smaller issues to gauge the preparedness of the management to negotiate in good faith. You stand your ground, but you don’t care if this issue doesn’t go anywhere, if you cave in during the negotiation then they will attempt to steamroll you for every other issue. So you can’t back down, easy to say, but how do you pull it off?

You use an agenda, you never begin with the major issue, you use diversion to steer them away from your ultimate outcome. Based on my observations, they are not that quick, they engage in groupthink with no original ideas – I am frequently amazed they can make it to meetings on time.

They hide behind their positions, they use their positional power to intimidate you. So, you need to plan ahead, outthink them, use strategy and apply tactical factors to create the negotiation equivalent of maneuver to best predict their next move, as you have predicted a counter move for their response, you then apply your counter move.

Fortunately, they are pretty predictable, so I don’t need to apply a full game theory mathematical model, instead I use a flowchart scenario type planning process to plot their responses. When a management is unwilling to even compromise on a single point, no matter how minor, you know you are in for an intense negotiation. That is fine, once you get used to this unwillingness to compromise, you devise a series of tactics to counter these moves – now this is where we are.