Shiho Blog #11 - Why Leaders Should Study Hostage Negotiation Strategies
Why Leaders Should Study Hostage Negotiation Strategies
Imagine you are shopping the isles of Trader Joe's—my favorite grocery store—when you hear gunshots and realize you are being held hostage with an active shooter. This is exactly the scenario roughly thirty people experienced on a Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles, when a suspect who had just killed his grandmother walked into a Trader Joe's and would hold everyone there captive for three hours. If it was not for Marylinda Moss, a mother of a high school student in the area who was able to negotiate with the shooter, there is a good chance there would have been more lives lost that day.
Hostage situations are extremely frightening because one person holds so much power over innocent civilians that even SWAT teams with mass weaponry are fearful to act. When I think of abused power, power struggles, and even the power of language and communication, these hostage situations are what come to my mind. According to Justin Borowsky in a scientific article, "one of the defining characteristics of hostage situations is the "struggle for control that occurs during the negotiation process," where "both parties attempt to exert power in order to influence the actions of the other party."
While I do not plan on being held captive in a hostage situation in my life, ever, my paranoid self randomly decided it would be a good idea to learn the negotiation techniques used in hostage situations and by Marylinda Moss. What surprised me; however, was the fact that many of the negotiation techniques used by professional hostage negotiators were the same techniques presented by Dale Carnegie in his book, "How to Win Friends and Influence People." Skills such as being "genuinely interested in what drives the other side," building "trust-based influence through the use of tactful empathy," "active listening," and "patience" are the key points in both scenarios.
I realized a lot of politicians and leaders try to gain their power through making false promises and accusing the other side of their errors, which probably makes them less effective than they would be applying some of these skills agreed upon by both hostage negotiators and Dale Carnegie. While this information is of no use to myself, who has no interest in becoming a politician or person in power, it may be of use for those who are to study hostage negotiation situations to become more effective leaders. Could studying hostage negotiation be the key to good leadership for those in power?
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| http://www.crisisnegotiatorblog.com/2014/04/crisis-hostage-negotiator-skills-sheet.html |
Sources:
https://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671027034
The people things do in this world is honestly very frightening. To think a common man who has gone through trauma or has an incident which turns them into someone who holds people hostage or hurts other people is an utter abuse of power. What kind of world do we even live in is a fair question at this point. It's not right for a common man to hold so much power just because he killed someone. That shouldn't be how this world works and there should most certainly be a way to stop these types of people. But why isn't there? The police force don't put enough effort into situations like this even when they are supposed to be "protecting" this nations citizens.
ReplyDeleteHey Shiho, I think it is beneficial for people to learn about hostage situations regardless of whether there are a person in power because it can help calm down those who are endangering themselves or others. For example, it’s important to know what to say to a friend who is angered by someone or something, in order to limit the potential damage they can cause. I have often dealt with situations where someone is ranting at me, and learned not to reply with “chill” or “it is not a big deal.” In those situations, I feel the best response is to listen and let them know you understand their feelings
ReplyDeleteHi Shiho,
ReplyDeleteIf someone is insane enough to bring a gun into a store and threaten people with it, then I fear they would not have the patience to lose control. Already they can be charged and sentenced to prison, so I would not risk people's life trying to negotiate. I also fear that initiating conversation with an active shooter would create more tension and therefore increase the chance of the shooter using death threats. Essentially, without proper hostage negotiation training, I would not let myself or others even make eye contact with a captor. The way one converses with such an unstable aggressor would certainly be useful while managing unpredictable people and circumstances. When meeting new people, it is important for a leader to be able to communicate clearly and instill trust in them. Any amount of doubt can restrict the efficiency of the team and make it extremely more difficult to achieve the final goal.
Hi Shiho, hostage situations, like the one you described in Trader Joes, happen really spontaneously and it is impossible to predict them. Like a school fire, it is important to know how to react as much as it important to know how to prevent them. People with military or martial arts backgrounds generally are more equipped to handle these situations, but if the general public was also prepared, people would be much more confident in today's environment. In a world where shooters in schools are not anything new, being preparing is the best thing people can do to ensure everyone's safety.
ReplyDeleteHey Shiho, I love how you related the general skills that a good leader in power should have to hostage negotiation strategies used in an actual shooting. This made me kind of interested in researching how these strategies specifically work and how they could be utilized for a leader. You bring up some really good points about how a necessity for a good negotiation is indelibly empathy and truly comprehending and showing understanding for the perspective of the other person, regardless of how challenging it may be. I think that this can be utilized by a person who has to interact with others though, not just leaders. The great majority of arguments and issues with others can be solved, or at least greatly aided, by sympathizing with the other person and trying to compromise.
ReplyDeleteHi Shiho! I also love Trader Joe's, but being held hostage there definitely does not sound ideal. Learning techniques to avoid and deal with such situations does seem useful. These power struggles sound frightening, but perhaps using the power of psychology and befriending the perpetrator, escaping could be possible. Peace and negotiation are often viable solutions.
ReplyDeleteHi Shiho! The incident you mention is so sad, and the fact that Marylinda Moss was there trained in hostage negotiations benefited the community. It makes me imagine this on a larger scale the benefits of hostage negotiation knowledge in the general public. With school shootings being more and more threatening to the daily citizen, it makes perfect sense for the public to have some knowledge on negotiations for hostage situations. Furthermore, I agree with you in that these negotiation skills would be useful in politics. Politicians always seem to see only their own side and accuse the opposite party of something or the other. If they could possibly work together and either show their side or see the other, there would be benefits for the general public as well.
ReplyDeleteHi Shiho! Reading your blog reminded me of Stockholm Syndrome. It originated from when bank robbers held a group of people hostage in the bank for six days and even the police were unable to do anything. However after the six days, the victims grew quite fond of the bank robbers. The mother of the high school student you mentioned reminded me of the victims at that bank. Though it would be quite frightening to be held hostage.
ReplyDeleteHi Shiho, you definitely point out some interesting ideas that we should explore further. Our elected officials may have lost this art of negotiation and what was at the heart of it: reaching a middle ground or compromise. In global affairs of hostage standoffs, the U.S. and other governments have, it seems, a policy to not negotiate because it could make it seem like the U.S. compromises with criminals and terrorists. There was a famous hostage crisis in the U.S. Embassy in Iran during President Carter’s administration. I think Carter tried negotiating at first but finally used military action, but even the military action didn’t help. In the end, the U.S. had to unfreeze $8 million in Iran’s assets in order to free the hostages.
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