Conceding is the preferred way to deal with conflict situations for about 8.7% of the benchmark group of over 2500 international middle and senior managers.

When conceding unilaterally, one party is putting the needs of the other side before their own.  Examples include selfless generosity, yielding to pressure or demands, accepting another's point of view or obeying directions one would prefer not to.  However, giving is not necessarily a ‘loss’ to one side.  Conceding in return for value elsewhere (trading, negotiating) is a powerful way to achieve superior outcomes.  Sharing information is also a positive behaviour.  Good negotiators are generous and open with information, using it skilfully to their advantage.  Information sharing provides clarity of purpose, allows effective projection of power and builds trust and rapport.

 Conceding and accommodating the other side’s needs can be useful when:

• The outcome is less important than the relationship

• You need to resolve the conflict quickly

• ·You want to reward cooperative behaviour

• There is little or no danger of setting a precedent

• You have caused the other party a genuine grievance and the relationship is important to you

• You have to, because you genuinely have no negotiation power and your alternative is even worse (This is very rare.  Skilled negotiators don’t underestimate their power and work to improve their alternatives).

 Upsides of Conceding:

• Ends conflict quickly and requires little skill

• Can sometimes result in genuine goodwill

• Important for dealing effectively with legitimate grievances.

 However, conceding also has a range of significant downsides…

Downsides:

• Can produce win-lose outcomes

• Often creates greed, rather than the intended goodwill or gratitude

• Can establish undesirable precedents

• Creates unequal relationships.

 Negotiators often concede when they feel that that the power balance is not in their favour or they are under pressure to close.  In most negotiations, both parties under-estimate the power they have and then fail to utilise that power to its full potential.  Discovering, projecting and exercising power is a key negotiation skill that will prevent negotiators from making costly concessions.