Negotiation Is the Most Underdeveloped Skill in Claims. Here's What It's Costing Carriers.

‍A look at Krista Glenn's December 2025 Carrier Management piece, and why rebuilding negotiation talent is a leadership decision, not a training one.

In Rebuilding Negotiation Talent: Why This Skill Is Missing and How to Fix It, published by Carrier Management on December 10, 2025, Krista Glenn (EVP and Chief Claims Officer at Westfield Specialty) makes an argument that few executives in the industry have stated this plainly: negotiation determines the outcome of nearly every litigated claim, yet remains one of the least systematically developed skills inside claims and defense organizations.

After 30+ years in claims leadership, Glenn isn't speculating. She's diagnosing.

The capability gap hiding in plain sight

98 to 99% of litigated matters resolve through negotiation, not trial. That single statistic should reshape how every carrier views litigation work. Yet, as Glenn points out, negotiation receives less training, less structure, and less leadership attention than nearly any other component of the claim lifecycle.

Coverage evaluation, reserving, trial strategy: all systematically taught. Negotiation: largely self-taught. Professionals rely on instincts, individual style, or whatever experience they accumulate over years of handling files.

The result is predictable: wide variability, inconsistent quality, and missed opportunities.

The economics are striking

Glenn's most powerful contribution is the math. A typical claim professional manages roughly $5 million in negotiated indemnity annually. Even modest underperformance compounds quickly:

• 5% excess payout = $250,000 per adjuster, per year.
• 10% excess payout = $500,000 per adjuster, per year.

Now multiply across an entire claims organization. These aren't abstract figures. They're real dollars leaving the system because defense negotiation capability hasn't kept pace with the plaintiff bar's evolution.

What's revenue-generating for plaintiffs is expense-magnifying for insurers. The asymmetry grows every year.

Why experience alone isn't enough

The defense ecosystem was never built to develop negotiation competency at scale. Law schools don't teach it meaningfully. Claims onboarding rarely goes beyond basics. The traditional apprenticeship model has eroded under the weight of growing caseloads.

Meanwhile, the negotiation environment itself has gotten more complex. Mediators expect structured written framing. Plaintiff counsel bring narrative cohesion, psychological anchoring, and sophisticated analytics. Opening demands often resemble fully articulated trial themes.

Glenn's leadership blueprint

Rebuilding negotiation capability isn't a personal improvement project. It's a leadership responsibility. Glenn outlines five priorities:

1. Define ownership. Claims and defense counsel co-lead negotiation strategy, never delegate it.
2. Build a layered skill-development model. Core skills modules, simulations, pre-mediation strategy sessions, post-negotiation debriefs, continuous coaching.
3. Standardize tools and written frameworks. Offer packages, comparative data summaries, mediator-ready narratives, AI-assisted evidence framings.
4. Install negotiation metrics. Timing of first offers, written vs. verbal mix, movement relative to anchors, authority variance.
5. Use technology as a capability multiplier. AI accelerates evidence review, surfaces attorney patterns, and produces consistent risk framing.

Technology, Glenn emphasizes, is not a replacement for negotiation skill. It is an amplifier.

Where SigmaSight fits in

Glenn's blueprint maps directly onto what SigmaSight was built to deliver: the infrastructure layer that makes structured, measurable, evidence-based negotiation possible at scale.

Our platform supports the cultural shift Glenn describes by giving claims organizations the tools to standardize quality across every file, not just the ones handled by the most experienced professionals. Three products, one ecosystem:

• Analyzer. Surfaces attorney patterns, venue intelligence, and consistent valuation anchors that turn individual instinct into institutional knowledge.
• Synthesizer. Generates standardized, evidence-backed offer packages and mediator-ready narratives that elevate the floor of negotiation quality across teams.
• Negotiator. Operationalizes the metrics, written frameworks, and disciplined posture Glenn calls for, so negotiation becomes a measurable competency, not an improvisational act.

The plaintiff bar treats negotiation as a revenue engine. Carriers that rebuild it as a core competency, supported by the right AI infrastructure, are the ones who close the gap.

Read the full article on Carrier Management: Rebuilding Negotiation Talent: Why This Skill Is Missing and How to Fix It

Ready to turn negotiation into a measurable competency across your organization? Request a demo of Negotiator.

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