I had hit a brick wall and didn’t know what to do.  As a military person, I had never dealt with unions before.  We had a ton of changes to make within my security department but every time I tried to make a change, the union shop steward would be in my office telling me I couldn’t do it because of the contract.  I’m a reasonable guy (even if I do say so myself) and am willing to negotiate just about anything but he would never budge.  I also think that reasonable people can come to reasonable results and keep it amicable.   I didn’t understand why he couldn’t see that the organizational changes we were making benefited everyone concerned.  In many ways, I think he was a little power drunk and just liked to wield the contract sword but, like I said, I needed to get things done and wasn’t making any progress.  Most of the things weren’t even contract issues but I needed his support to get all on board.  So, I called my Dad to ask his advice.  I grew up in a union family and he (better than anyone) would know what to do.  His advice was simple.  He said,

“Chip, you both have things to get done.  If they are going to hold you to the letter of the law on the contract, do the same in return.”

That was it?  So I decided to try it.  A few days later, the union rep was in my office telling me the things that we should do….new police badges, new uniform styles, and a host of other things.  At the end I said, “Those are all really good ideas and could really make a difference for our people, their morale, and create a much more professional force.  Unfortunately, the contract states…”  I went on to tell him how much I appreciated his efforts in the care of our people and how, when the contract was open for negotiation, we’d take another gander at his ideas but, for now, we’d have to table all of them.

Maybe I shouldn’t have but, after he left, I did the “Happy Dance” that I had won a battle with this man.  Words can’t express what a pain in my ass he had been and the frustration he had caused.   A few days later, he came to my office and was much more open to negotiation to my changes and asked how we could work together to get some of these things done (without contractual changes).   I, in turn, asked how we could work together to get some of the things done that he wanted.

I learned something about negotiating through this process.  I learned that when you both have something to lose, you work harder to get results.  I needed this guy to get things done and he needed me for the same.  We both needed to show results.   We both wanted to make things better for the people in the department.   I also learned that an ego can get in the way of moving a relationship forward.   It took a line in the sand to get us to both lose our egos and start talking about possibilities.  Together, we were able to work together to get some great things done for our team and the organization.

We all have to negotiate with someone.  Be up front on what you have to offer, what you have to lose and then lose the ego.  If that fails, call your dad…he knows best.  It takes ALL of us to get the job done.