ABSTRACT
Successful crisis negotiators know that using the right word at the right moment can change the course of a negotiation. This chapter examines words and phrases popular in current training, such as “I’m here to help” and “talk to me” and show how they work in practice. Through an examination of actual cases, we show how offers to ‘help’ are often met with explicit resistance, or disengagement, and we explain why negotiators have trouble explaining what kind of ‘help’ they can offer. This chapter also explains why a person in crisis can easily reject words like ‘talk’, on the basis that talking is not the same as ‘doing’ something. By the end of this chapter, readers will understand the challenges with pursuing ‘help’ and ‘talk’ in crisis negotiations, and have new resources – alternative words to ‘help’ and ‘talk’ – to engage a person in crisis towards productive outcomes.
