As you can imagine of a 78-year-old, Joe Biden has been round the block a few times. Amazingly he first held political office in 1970, whilst the Vietnam War and the Apollo space program were both still underway. Since then he has had a varied and very busy political career leading up to taking the oath of office as President earlier this year. Following the recent return to fighting in the Middle east, Biden is now wrestling with a long term issue of how to try to help bring peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and history says the odds are stacked against anyone trying to resolve the 70 year old dispute. But Biden, should he choose to be involved, may have a better chance than others, not least as he and his team have previous experience of the challenges from their years within the Obama administration. From what I have read, one of Biden’s key strengths is his willingness to reach bipartisan agreements, which may be due to his long period in the Senate. In the US, the constitution means there is rarely the same party in charge of both Houses, so passing legislation is often about doing deals, and persuading the other side’s representatives to vote for your bill.
That’s in stark contrast to the UK where its elected chamber has primacy over the unelected House, and therefore one party tends to have a working majority to help get its legislation through. The surprising thing that struck me about someone who is used to doing deals is just how much of a talker Joe Biden is famed to be. Barack Obama said of him in his memoir “In a town filled with people who like to hear themselves talk, he had no peer“ and was “a man without inhibition, happy to share whatever popped into his head” Mitch McConnell, long time adversary, said of Biden’s ability to talk “if you ask [Biden] what time it is, he’ll tell you how to make a watch”. But McConnell soon realised that Biden didn’t only talk; he also listened - the true strength of a negotiator and someone looking to do a deal. McConnell says that Biden would avoid beginning by explaining why everyone else was wrong and instead he would accept and respect negotiating counterparts deeply held convictions. And he had first hand experience. When Biden was vice president, he and McConnell struck a deal in 2010 on tax that had evaded a solution for months. An another example is given by William Ury and it shows the true extent of Biden’s negotiating genius. In one of Ury’s seminal books “Getting Past No: Negotiating with Difficult People” Ury describes an example in 1979 featuring what Ury refers to as a “young US senator Joseph R. Biden Jr.” negotiating with his Russian counterpart in the SALT2 talks, aimed at limiting the manufacture of strategic nuclear weapons. Biden faced two challenges. The first was that he needed changes made to the potential deal in order to get the necessary two thirds Senate support, the second was that the junior senator was up against an extremely determined and very experienced Russian counterpart, Andrei Gromyko. What Biden did to break that intractable deadlock is a masterclass in negotiation. After listening for more than an hour to the Russian diplomat, Biden explained the issues which he faced. Rather than trying to put his point across, or trying to argue with the Russian, it’s reported that Biden said to his counterpart “You have more experience in arms control matters than anyone else alive. How would you advise me to respond to my colleagues concerns?” Gromyko could not refuse the temptation to offer advice to the inexperienced young American. One by one they went through the arguments that Biden would face and Gromyko tried to deal with them. Ultimately Gromyko appreciated the task facing Biden and went on to consent to the requested amendment. What Biden did was not only flatter and appeal to the Russian, Biden reframed the conversation into a constructive discussion on how to meet the Senator’s concerns. It changed from each pushing their own positions into how to help to satisfy each side’s interests. With genius like that maybe Biden does stand a better chance than others of making progress in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Only time will tell. However Biden’s ability to reframe a conversation is not just reserved to international negotiations. Next time you're faced with what seems to be an intractable negotiation, think about how you might reframe the conversation, to make it into a problem solving discussion. To help with this, ask open ended, problem solving questions. Finally, it is also worth noting that as well as being so useful within negotiations, reframing is a key skill for a mediator; in every mediation there is always a point where the mediator will ask questions that reframe the situation, in order to help move the parties from talking about their positions to looking for a settlement that will satisfy their interests. Richard Marshall Accredited Civil and Commercial Mediator May 2021 Let me know if you have any comments, rsjm@strivingtosettle.co.uk or visit www.strivingtosettle.co.uk for more articles and observations on the worlds of mediation and negotiation. Comments are closed.
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AuthorRichard Marshall is an Accredited Civil and Commercial Mediator with over 25 years experience as a Litigation Solicitor, as well as being a qualified Solicitor-Advocate. He is the founder of Striving to Settle, through which he works as a mediator and provides negotiation training. www.strivingtosettle.co.uk Archives
August 2022
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