The Art of Negotiation

Becoming a master of negotiation is crucial for busy executives who need to control complex situations every day, whether it’s getting the salary you want or a deal you need.

Negotiations are seen as a contest of wills in which power determines the outcome; each party fights it out until there’s a winner and a loser. However this approach produces short-term results and leaves both sides exhausted, resentful and dissatisfied.

Win/Win is an attitude not an outcome

This highly intensive training course will provide you with an effective, efficient and principled negotiation style that will produce agreements to meet the needs of both parties and ensure we all win.

Key Learning Points

• Recognise the different types of negotiations.
• Recognise the wide range of personal skills and attributes required to negotiate effectively and how to develop and enhance these.
• Prepare appropriate negotiation strategies, implement and adapt them as appropriate.
• Deal with relationship issues, including considering each party’s perception; seeking to make negotiation proposals consistent with the other parties’ interests; making emotions explicit and legitimate; matching, pacing, leading and active listening.
• Create sufficient capacity to effectively represent your interests in negotiation-power management.
• Deal with difficult and competitive negotiators.
• Use a structured approach to the negotiation process.

Course Content

The Characteristics and Skills

• Personal inventory of attitudes, skills and abilities in effective negotiation.
• How to enhance skills.

Persuasion and Negotiation

• Recognising the relationship between the two processes.
• Determining the negotiating approach and type.
• The nature of negotiation compared with persuasion the need to change techniques.

The Nature of Power

• The dynamics of power at individual and organisational levels.
• Identifying decision processes and influencing factors.
• Creating capacity to effectively represent your interests.

Planning to Negotiate

• The key stages of thorough preparation; establishing objectives, determining strategy; determining variables, the roles of the negotiating participants.
• Using planning tools, key tasks, simulation and practice.

Using questions and questioning techniques

• Planning question pathways for control; recognising the purpose of questions and using different types of questions.
• Matching pacing, leading and active listening skills.

Bargaining Styles and Strategies

• The strategy and tactics for effective collaborative, competitive bargaining.
• Dealing with difficult negotiators.

Putting together and Putting across

• Effective negotiation communication through planning and understanding the other party’s personality, styles and decision making approach.

Training Methods

The programme is designed to enhance learning through group and individual cases and exercises. There are a number of opportunities to simulate negotiation and bargaining situations, practice techniques and evaluate skill levels. In addition the course leader’s specialist knowledge and guidance are available in all sessions.

The programme will be supported with handouts and post course references. The design of each course will provide for each delegate’s preferred learning style and optimise experiential learning processes.

Tutor inputs will be aimed at giving direction and guidance to ensure effective learning, skill enhancement and attitudes to move with the times. The presentation of each programme will use the most modern technique, materials and equipment.