Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building and GOLA GV.
Speaker 1: This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host
Speaker 1: Paul fella Aledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the Seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode four ninety five. Did you ever wonder if
Speaker 2: there are leadership lessons in police crisis negotiations? The answer
Speaker 2: is yes, and there's some of the most practical lessons
Speaker 2: you can apply in any business. Think about the role
Speaker 2: of a crisis negotiator. Their job is not to bark orders,
Speaker 2: not to win arguments, but to carefully guide a situation
Speaker 2: from chaos to calm. They deal with fear, anger, confusion,
Speaker 2: and high stakes. Now isn't that exactly what leadership feels like?
Speaker 2: On some days, you may not be negotiating with someone
Speaker 2: on the edge of a bridge, but you're negotiating trust, confidence,
Speaker 2: and outcomes with your employees and your customers every single day.
Speaker 2: So what lessons can we take from the world of
Speaker 2: crisis negotiation and bring into our business world. Lesson number
Speaker 2: one is active listening. Negotiators spend eighty percent of their
Speaker 2: time listening and only twenty percent talking. They know people
Speaker 2: in crisis need to be heard before they'll respond. As leaders,
Speaker 2: the same rules apply. Don't be the boss who fills
Speaker 2: every silence with instructions. Instead, be the one who listens
Speaker 2: long enough to understand what's really being said. Employees will
Speaker 2: tell you what they need if you're willing to actually
Speaker 2: hear them. In Lesson too, empathy is power. Negotiators don't
Speaker 2: argue facts in the heat of the moment when they
Speaker 2: mirror emotions. If someone says no one cares about me,
Speaker 2: the negotiator might respond, it sounds like you're feeling alone
Speaker 2: right now. That connection lowers defenses In business, when an
Speaker 2: employee is frustrated, don't immediately defend your policies. Start with empathy.
Speaker 2: Say I can tell this is important to you. That
Speaker 2: acknowledgment opens the door to problem solving. Lesson number three.
Speaker 2: Time is a tool. Negotiators know that rushing rarely helps.
Speaker 2: Time is leverage. The longer they keep someone talking, the
Speaker 2: more likely they'll reach a safe resolution. Leaders often make
Speaker 2: the mistake of rushing decisions or forcing quick fixes to
Speaker 2: complex problems. Slow down, use time strategically. Sometimes the best
Speaker 2: leadership move is to delay action long enough for cooler
Speaker 2: heads to prevail and better ideas to surface. In lesson
Speaker 2: number four, build small agreements in negotiations. They don't jump
Speaker 2: straight to the end goal. They build small steps. Can
Speaker 2: you put the phone down while we talk? Can we
Speaker 2: agree you'll step outside? Those little yeses lead to the
Speaker 2: big yes. In business, the same applies. Don't expect your
Speaker 2: team to buy into a massive change all at once.
Speaker 2: Break it down, ask for small commitments. Each agreement builds momentum.
Speaker 2: In lesson number five, words matter. Every word a negotiator
Speaker 2: uses is deliberate. They avoid threats, avoid saying no, and
Speaker 2: instead reframe situations in positive terms. Leaders sometimes forget the
Speaker 2: weight of their words. A sarcastic comment in a meeting
Speaker 2: can shut down creativity. A poorly timed joke can fracture trust.
Speaker 2: Be deliberate. Choose words that calm, not escalate, inspire, don't intimidate.
Speaker 2: In less than number six, presence wins over position. Negotiators
Speaker 2: don't flash their authority badge to gain compliance. They gain
Speaker 2: influence by being calm, steady, and human. Leadership works the
Speaker 2: same way. Titles don't earn respect, Presence does. How you
Speaker 2: show up in stressful moments tells your team everything about
Speaker 2: your leadership. So here's the big takeaway. Police crisis negotiators
Speaker 2: operate in life and death situations, and yet the strategies
Speaker 2: they use are rooted in the basics of human connection, listening, empathy, patience,
Speaker 2: building trust, and carefully choosing words. That leadership comes from
Speaker 2: in its rawsed form. If you want to be a
Speaker 2: better leader tomorrow, act like a negotiator today, Ask questions,
Speaker 2: listen longer than you speak, don't rush, and remember that
Speaker 2: small steps build big results. This has been the seven
Speaker 2: Minute Leadership Podcast, and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more, Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.