The extensive development of leadership and character growth is a perpetual process at the U.S. Military Academy. Cadets take many academic and military skills courses to commission as second lieutenants and effectively lead the Nationʼs Soldiers. Among the many skills they can learn is the art, technique and tactics that go into negotiation during the West Point Negotiation Workshop, which took place between March 30-April 1 at Eisenhower Hall.
This year, Maj. Travis Cyphers, director of the West Point Negotiation Project, and members of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership, managed to bring in 42 cadets from a diverse range of Reserve Officers Training Corps commissioning sources and four Air Force cadets from the U.S. Air Force Academy.
“We have cadets coming from Kansas, as far northeast as Boston, and all the way south from North Carolina,ˮ Cyphers said. “These 42 cadets, fundamentally, have a different background and they provide a diversity of experiences that our cadets donʼt have. And so, itʼs not just an opportunity for them all to learn negotiation, but an opportunity to learn from each other.ˮ
During the workshop, Army, Air Force and civilian instructors taught cadets various concepts related to principal negotiations. In addition, the cadets received a diverse mix of negotiation stories from instructors of time spent in Afghanistan, Iraq and training events at military posts and stories from civilians on their business ventures in Boston, or New York at the stock market, Class of 2022 Cadet Zachary Bolen said.
“It all comes down to how much you prepare for it,ˮ Bolen said. “You can either come in, guns blazing during a negotiation, go off the cuff, or you can take your time and research the problem at hand, gather more information on the subject, and reach an amazing solution with your business partner.ˮ
Bolen added, John Hughes and consultants from the Boston company, Vantage Partners, were among the civilian instructors that helped cadets develop a mindset for negotiation that went beyond military conventions.
“They showed us the importance of negotiating as a professional and a human being,ˮ Bolen said. “And they were trying to encourage us to speak to the universal applicability of negotiation skills rather than just pigeonhole ourselves. Weʼre problem solvers, not just officers.ˮ
Class of 2022 Cadet Isaac Hagbergʼs biggest takeaway from the workshop is staying curious and checking your assumptions at the door.
Fundamentally, he added, operating based only on assumptions can negatively affect the outcome of a negotiation, and it can also hinder oneʼs ability to contextualize a concept or communicate effectively.
“As long as you ask questions and remain curious, youʼre able to get a birdʼs eye view of any situation and think strategically, rather than simply executing tasks like a machine,ˮ Hagberg said.
Even so, how do cadets, with all their curiosity and strategy, look at the same information, draw the most essential facts, and then interpret that to mean something based on their life experiences?
As the workshop progressed, Cyphers introduced the “Ladder of Inference,ˮ as the answer, a logic and reasoning technique developed by former Harvard professor Chris Argyris.
Argyris based the method on how people observing the same set of facts can form drastically different conclusions.
“Even on just a small amount of information, we reach conclusions we are very willing to defend,ˮ Cyphers said. “As an Army officer, I look at things very differently because of the training that I have had, the education that I had, and the life experiences that Iʼve had are different from my relatives who still live back home in southern Minnesota. Itʼs not to say one is right or wrong, but those experiences make us view the world differently.ˮ
As the event concluded, cadets gathered at the Robinson Auditorium to listen to keynote speaker Adam Silver, the commissioner of the National Basketball Association.
Silver provided cadets with a diverse set of suggestions on negotiating based on 30 years of his experience working in the league with executives and athletes such as Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Chris Paul and Lebron James.
On that note, Silver addressed the importance of preparation and how no matter how much experience one gains throughout their tenure in any profession, there is always room to improve and better prepare for the future.
“For me, I’m always thinking about how I can better prepare myself,ˮ Silver said. “Part of the issue for anyone who’s running an organization is youʼre doing a lot of things at once ... and I think because Iʼm pulled in so many directions, sometimes when Iʼm in negotiations, I wish I were a little bit better prepared.ˮ
Ultimately, Cyphers said he wants cadets to be aware of how many times in their life theyʼre negotiating.
“If these future leaders need something from somebody else, they can’t force them or coerce them to do it. Therefore, we are negotiating what thatʼs going to be,ˮ Cyphers concluded. “Hopefully, they see that application while theyʼre at school in their cadet organizations, or later on in their personal and professional lives.ˮ
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