In longer or extended negotiations, it is not uncommon for parties to find impasses, impasses, and impasses with the opposing side. This is especially true in certain passionate, heated, or emotional negotiations. It can be easy to confuse a dead end with a dead end, and some people even use the terms interchangeably. So I think it’s good to have a working definition of all three to recognize the differences when labeling such an event during a negotiation. I think Roger Dawson did a good job of defining the concepts in the 15th anniversary edition of “Secrets of Negotiating Power: Inside Secrets of a Master Negotiator.” This is how this updated text for the 21st century defines these concepts:
Impasse: You are in complete disagreement on an issue and threaten negotiations.
Deadlock: Both sides are still talking but seem unable to move towards a solution.
Deadlock: The lack of progress has frustrated both sides so much that they no longer see the point in talking to each other.
The importance of understanding the differences, especially between a dead end and a deadlock, is that deadlocks are very rare, and chances are that when you get into a sticky situation where you seem to be stuck, you’ll find that it’s just an impasse and with a little creativity and good negotiation skills, you can break through the impasse and move on to your agreement or resolution.
The key, looking at Dawson’s definitions, is that an impasse is total disagreement on an issue that threatens negotiation. Most, if not all, negotiations involve more than one issue, and with complex negotiations you will find issues within issues and multiple levels of issues throughout the deal. It’s easy to get fixated on a single problem and get so frustrated that you think you’re deadlocked and then abandon the whole negotiation. You must recognize that there are other problems, or else create them. Negotiations with a single issue are easier to see with a winner and a loser, with multiple issues it is much easier to reach win-win agreements that leave both parties more satisfied.
Stagnation is a bit different. The parties are not yet ready to give up, but the negotiations are going in circles with no progress being made by anyone to cement a deal, find a solution, or solve the problem. For deadlocks, effective negotiators have strategies to help get negotiations moving again. In an impasse, both sides are still trying to find a solution. However, neither of them see a way forward. Fear of deadlocks are the frustrations they can cause, leading parties to believe they are at an impasse or, worse, deadlocked.
Once you have defined these terms, it is easier to recognize what is happening during a negotiation. You will then be able to use strategies and tactics to overcome these obstacles and achieve successful deals. First understand the problem, then work both to solve it and to solve it.
