Class Details
Negotiation Skills Course for Professionals
Course summary
This negotiation skills course is designed to help you strengthen your negotiation skills. Learning negotiation skills is a smart career move. Managers, consultants, service providers and salespeople can all benefit from becoming better negotiators.
Explore four principles of win-win negotiation. Learn how to plan and structure a negotiation – whether you’re negotiating individually or as a team. See the tactics professional negotiators use to get positive results from negotiations. Practise using a range of negotiation tools, so you can become a confident and assertive negotiator.
Aims
Becoming a confident negotiator can help you drive business success, resolve conflicts and get more of what you want in life. The techniques covered in this course can be used to:
- prevent other people dominating your negotiations
- keep your negotiations on track, so you get results which work for you
- prevent relationships being damaged by conflicts and disagreements
- build respectful, positive relationships
- eliminate any ‘bad habits’ which undermine your success as a negotiator
- become the most confident and successful negotiator you can be.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
- plan your approach to negotiating in a range of contexts
- use the ‘principle based’ negotiation model to create win-win deals
- map all parties’ needs and concerns during a negotiation
- develop options and outcomes using win/win principles
- handle the ‘people’ side of negotiation
- respond to problematic situations which occur during negotiations.
Content
Introduction to negotiation
Explore the principles of win-win negotiation and how they can be used to create positive negotiation outcomes. Hear how four key principles can be used in everyday negotiation situations. Learn how to decide whether to take a distributive or integrative approach to a specific negotiation.
Planning your approach
Successful negotiations do not happen by chance; they require careful planning and active research. In this session, you will learn how to consider key factors like needs, concerns, walk-away points and desired outcomes to inform your negotiation strategy. You will also discover the meaning of terms such as BATNA and WATNA, and how to use them when planning professional negotiations.
Opening and framing the discussion
Master the art of opening and framing a negotiation, so you can set the scene for success. Learn how to set the tone for discussions, clearly articulate the purpose of your negotiation, and build rapport with your counterpart. Then learn how to use conversational framing skills to transition between the stages of the negotiation, and to wrap up the discussion with a clear deal or plan of action.
Identifying interests and concerns
Learn why understanding interests and concerns is a key step in any negotiation. See two key skills– questioning and active listening- being used by professional negotiators. Try out these techniques for yourself. Use a questioning template to lead a conversation about needs and concerns.
Exploring options
Discuss how creating win-win options increases your influence as a negotiator. Learn how to use five consensus-building tools to collaborate and 'expand the pie' when options seem hard to find. Tools you will cover include classic brainstorming, advanced brainstorming, what-if scenario building, expanding the pie, reframing and the 'rule of three' technique.
Mapping your strategy
A well-thought-out strategy allows you to negotiate with confidence and purpose. In this module, you will use a simple template to structure and sequence your offers. You will also learn how to prepare for counter-tactics and reframe objections as opportunities. By the end of this session, you will have the tools to control the pace of a negotiation and steer the conversation towards win-win solutions with ease.
How to put your learning to use
The practical focus of this course means that you use what you learn immediately. Negotiation skills can be used in business to agree on terms of employment (including your salary), sort out team conflicts, develop commercial contracts and set the price for goods and services. In your personal life, you can use the skills learned in this negotiation skills course to make major purchases, find fair solutions to family conflicts and handle neighbourhood disputes.
Prerequisites
None
Who this course is for
Suitable for all managers, team leaders, supervisors and individuals wishing to enhance their negotiation skills.
Delivery modes
- Face-to-face, presenter-taught workshop
- Online workshop via the platform Zoom
Delivery style
Delivered as an interactive workshop. It covers the why, what and how of negotiating in professional contexts and will be delivered through a variety of methods including:
- small group discussions
- role-plays or simulations
- written exercises in which you will apply key concepts
- Q&A sessions with the trainer.
You will get the most from this course if you are:
- willing to contribute to group discussions
- confident communicating verbally in small groups
- comfortable participating in role-play style activities.
Materials
Course notes are provided electronically using Dropbox.
Sessions
Location
Face-to-face (CCE Building, Sydney)
Public transport
As bus and train timetables regularly change, we suggest you visit the Transport for NSW trip planner before you set out.
The nearest train stations are Newtown Station and Macdonaldtown Station. Macdonaldtown Station is closer by distance than Newtown Station, however trains do not stop as frequently as at Newtown Station.
Other information
Parking
Nearby parking is available at Wilson Parking - RPA Medical Centre Car Park (entry via Elizabeth Street off Carillon Avenue).
A Flexi Saver Rate is available but must be booked in advance online and includes the booking fee. Bookings can be made via the Wilson website or by downloading the Wilson Parking App. Otherwise, hourly parking rates will apply, as advertised on the Wilson Parking website.
Meet the facilitators
Eleanor Shakiba
Eleanor Shakiba is an expert in positive psychology. She has taught over 50,000 people to think and speak in ways which build success.
Eleanor started her career as a writer. Next, she discovered a passion for adult education and moved into a training role at the University of Sydney. Today, she works as a training consultant and corporate coach. She specialises in the areas of communication skills, applied psychology and business applications of positive psychology.
The focus of Eleanor’s work is teaching technically savvy professionals to create, relate and communicate. She delivers a range of services to the corporate world, including positive psychology courses; leadership training and coaching; team building and strategic planning sessions; communication and conflict resolution workshops.
Eleanor is the author of Difficult People Made Easy and is currently writing her second book, 6 Habits of Savvy Female Negotiators. She has also created over ninety training programs and a range of online learning courses.
Eleanor is qualified in Social Anthropology, Adult Education, Counselling and Positive Psychology. She delights in helping professionals learn skills for success in the real world, using experiential (interactive) learning techniques. Her students describe Eleanor as ‘a lively and enthusiastic presenter who can keep you engaged for hours.’
