Negotiation Skills for Tough Situations: Tools and Techniques That Deliver Results

What is this course about?

In both professional and personal situations, many of our interactions with others include a series of negotiations. This course helps you to develop strong skills in the art and science of negotiation.You will learn to apply these skills to project and programme environments, complex organisational issues and individual needs.

The principal objective of this course is to develop the skills necessary to execute successful negotiations confidently. You learn how to conduct principled negotiations that result in wise agreements, incorporate a process approach into your negotiation skill set, apply principled communications strategies and styles to deflect hardball tactics, optimise interpersonal diversity for positive negotiation outcomes and enhance your negotiation skills through real world simulations.

Who will benefit from this course?

We all negotiate for position, power and resources in daily life. On the job we negotiate for salary, title, facilities, equipment and staff resources. At home we negotiate with retail salespeople, contractors, family members and community leaders. Anyone can benefit from enhancing negotiation skills. The strategies you develop throughout this course will positively affect your everyday interactions with others.

This course is for managers and professionals at all levels of organisations, especially those who are engaged in programme and project management and resource matrix structures. Taking this course will increase the ability to collaborate effectively with customers, sponsors, key stakeholders, peers, team members and contractors.

What background do I need?

No special background is required for this course. Personnel from all types of organisations-technical and non-technical, private and public, military and civilian, small and large-will greatly benefit from this course.

How is this course structured?

This course is structured around a dynamic style of learning created by Learning Tree called RealityPlus^TM -- an immersive experience that engages you in authentic tasks within a simulated real-world context. Through media-rich case studies, role playing, and video/computer-based activities, you are immersed throughout the course in an evolving scenario where the decisions you make affect the outcome of the simulation. The RealityPlus learning method is presented in a safe environment where you gain new skills and practise the most effective techniques to bring back to your job. At the end of your course, you are prepared to immediately and successfully apply these new skills within your organisation!

Why is negotiation important?

Negotiation skills are used every day for personal as well as organisational benefit. As the need for collaboration and partnerships constantly increases, being able to negotiate successfully is an incredibly important skill to possess. The key elements of negotiating skills form the basis for such relationships.

Can I really "learn" how to negotiate?

Yes! Everyone negotiates at some level every day. You can learn to be more effective in producing the best possible terms of an agreement. It takes hard work and practise to strengthen and improve your negotiating skills. This course provides opportunities for participants to plan and practise negotiations using a proven process model. Guided by expert instructors, participants apply practical tools and techniques to a variety of challenging situations encountered through video simulations and live interactions.

This course provides both immediate and longer-term benefits. You leave the course with a greater understanding of what makes people effective in negotiating and why. You will be able to apply your new skills right away on your return to work.

Does this course teach a particular negotiation method?

This course focuses on best practices taken from a range of proven and practical approaches. You develop best practices into a personalised toolkit by applying these skills in workshops, exercises and negotiation simulations.

I'd like to sharpen my skills in negotiating new contracts and modifying existing contracts. Will this course help me?

Yes, absolutely! Many courses that cover contract negotiation focus on processes and procedures for creating a negotiated agreement. This course complements that type of training and focuses on the specific skills needed to communicate with negotiating partners before, during and after formal negotiating sessions.

How much time is spent on each topic?

How much time is devoted to course activities?

Workshops and simulations form the backbone of this course. The majority of class time, almost 70%, is spent practising negotiating or exchanging feedback in a variety of individual, pair and group activities. Workshops include:

• Recognising, analysing and responding to a variety of real world scenarios using SWOT and Johari Window techniques
• Hardball Theatre: Developing principled responses to hardball negotiators
• Revealing and addressing hidden agendas
• Timing the start and close of negotiations
• Effectively handling scenarios involving moves and turns
• Applying Emotional Intelligence (E.I) and Multiple Intelligence (M.I) knowledge to evaluate the leverage and position of the negotiating parties
• Real world negotiations involving one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many that simulate the dynamics of resource allocation in an organisational matrix setting

How can negotiation skills help me to deliver better project results?

Enhancing your negotiation skills will help you to handle tough decisions in a collaborative manner. You will learn how to focus on real issues and outcomes instead of personalities. You will also learn to reduce costs, adding value to projects. The skills you acquire will enable you to create long-lasting relationships and to reduce conflicts.

Is this course applicable toward a Project Management Institute (PMI) certification?

Yes. Though this course is not designed as preparation for an exam, it is beneficial to anyone working toward, or maintaining, a PMI certification. Most PMI certifications require a specific number of PDUs in order to obtain and maintain the credential. Completion of this course provides 17 professional development units (PDUs).

Learning Tree offers several courses that help you prepare for PMI certifications, including Course 276, Preparing for the Project Management Professional (PMP)^® Exam, which prepares you for PMI's most popular certification. For more details on these courses and PMI certifications, please see the Learning Tree PMI Registered Education Provider Q&A.

How does this course relate to other Learning Tree courses?

This course is one of many Learning Tree courses that offer management skills. You may also find these courses of interest:

• 288, Achieving APMG Change Management Practitioner Certification offers the principal objective of helping you develop the ability to successfully design, implement, and participate in a managing change process
• 287, Complex Project Management provides the advanced knowledge and skills you need to successfully implement projects and programmes throughout their lifecycles
• 315, Developing User Requirements: The Key to Project Success provides a coherent and complete road map for defining the business and user requirements that get projects started on the road to success
• 294, Influence Skills: Getting Results without Direct Authority offers the skills to develop your ability to influence situations effectively without wielding the authority vested in you by your position or title
• 905, Facilitation Skills offers the skills to facilitate goal-oriented results through planning, collaboration and consensus
• 296, Project Management: Skills for Success provides the skills needed to plan, organise, implement and deliver successful projects
• 290, Management Skills teaches you the skills you need to successfully manage people
• 910, Achieving Excellence in Customer Service offers the tools and techniques to ensure you build and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with your customers

UK Dates