You don’t get what you deserve

I don’t know whether you are aware that in the UK state-employed workers are in open revolt against the government? They are saying that the rise in the cost of living over recent years, combined with historically low salary increases, has meant their pay has declined in real terms. Teachers, ambulance workers, nurses, public transport employees, border control officers, and civil servants are all protesting about the way their pay has regressed. Many are leaving their jobs to work abroad or changing their professions completely.?

The British Medical Association (BMA) is the professional body that represents doctors. They have demanded a 30% pay increase and put forward an argument which demonstrates how this is justified and deserved, given how price rises over the last 14 years have meant they are now substantially worse off than they were in 2009.?

I am not here to argue whether this wage demand is justified or not, or whether the government should find the public finances to fund the wage increase demands from doctors, nurses, teachers, and all the other state employees.?

All I will do is draw a lesson from this dispute that other negotiators will do well to remember. Chester Karrass is a renowned expert in negotiation and has been writing on the subject for more than 40 years. He once famously said, “You don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.” That may sound harsh on those doctors and nurses who did so much for us all during the pandemic and continue to save lives every day. but there is more than a grain of truth in the quotation. Just because you can demonstrate that you are entitled to something doesn’t mean that you automatically get it.?

The real lesson that negotiators should draw from this episode is what were the BMA doing over 14 years in allowing the pay of the people they represent to fall so far behind? Why were they not negotiating with the government every year to secure better pay awards for their members? They now face an uphill battle to secure a pay award which, to outside observers, will seem exorbitant on first inspection.?

To those of you who negotiate commercial terms with customers or suppliers, or negotiate compensation packages and working conditions – in fact, to those of you who are involved in ongoing commercial relationship which stretch over years - learn this lesson. Don’t forget to keep your commercial terms up to date. Make sure you are negotiating regular incremental improvements to your contracts.?

If you neglect these and then seek to redress perceived historical inequities which stretch back over years or even decades, you will make life very hard for yourself. Negotiation is not a matter of rectifying the “mistakes” of the past. Leave that to the diplomats and social historians. Negotiation happens in the present and should be about securing the future success of the organization you represent. You will find that the people you negotiate with have little to no appetite for redressing the perceived wrongs of the past.?