What Small Business MUST Learn from the NBA Labor Mess
Basketball fans like me are sad today. We're worried that we're going to lose an entire NBA season to the labor dispute between millionaire players and billionaire owners.
The issues between the groups are real and contentious, but the players need the season far more than the owners do (the owners still get paid television money, even if there are no games). So most observers figured the players would eventually cave in to the owners demands and accept the best deal they could get.
That's arguably what the players should have done. And that's what almost happened.
But when the owners saw they held an advantage, a group of hard-liners pushed for even more player concessions. The players ultimately balked, choosing the "nuclear winter" option of de-certifying their union and suing the NBA owners for anti-trust violations.
The most likely immediate result: no 2011-2012 NBA season.
That's not what the players wanted -- unlike the owners, this is actually how they make their living. And most observers doubt the courtroom moves will ultimately get the players a better deal.
But in tense labor negotiations, emotions sometimes overwhelm rational self-interest. That's what I think happened here, and that's what you want to avoid when negotiating labor disputes -- or anything else, really -- for your small business.
Sure you want to win and get the best possible deal. But it almost never pays to push for every last inch of concessions from the other side. (That's what the NBA owners tried to do, mostly because they thought they could.) The scorched-earth approach may win you a few extra bucks, but it can also make the other side dig in its heels and not take what may be their best offer.
Instead, try to give them something that they can hold up as a victory -- even (especially?) if it's largely symbolic.
Ironically, the more power you have, and the worse the deal you're handing out, the more important it is to offer something for the other side to cling to.
You may think you're going to win anyway, so why bother? But you probably need to keep working with the other side, and it usually pays to try and maintain as good a working relationship as possible, even after bitter negotiations. So why not take the opportunity to at least appear magnanimous?
The NBA owners didn't do that. So now there's not going to be any pro hoops this winter.
Like I said, I'm sad. But these are millionaires and billionaires, and they'll be fine. But small businesses that misjudge the emotions of their workers -- and others they negotiate with -- may face more serious consequences.
