Strategic Negotiation Skills

Course feedback

  • "

    I thoroughly enjoyed the course and found it to be very relevant and useful both within business and in life.

    "

    Clarissa Molteno
    |
    Astron Energy
    |
    Oct 2022
  • "

    An illuminating and self-reflective course that gives you the tools to understand the negotiating environment correctly, how to prepare for and engage in a negotiation and how to understand and get the best of the other side.

    "

    Yasmine Wilson
    |
    Astron Energy
    |
    Oct 2022
  • "

    Great insight.

    "

    Clinton Hamman
    |
    Astron Energy
    |
    Oct 2022
  • "

    A practical approach to problem-solving and negotiations that takes you step-by-step through the process.

    "

    Lizel Oberholzer
    |
    Astron Energy
    |
    Oct 2022
  • "

    Very insightful and practical course.

    "

    Mahachini Govender
    |
    Astron Energy
    |
    Oct 2022

Why Attend?

This course will equip you to negotiate effectively in a variety of contexts, whether it be contract negotiations for managers facing 'scope creep' or settlement negotiations for lawyers facing threats of legal action. The trainers on this course have extensive experience both as negotiators and mediators. They are well versed in modern negotiation skills theory and practice, and the materials that they use are contemporary and highly participative. Participants will also benefit from the on-line style inventories and interesting videos used on the course. This course can be conducted over two or three consecutive days or in a modularized format, to meet clients' needs.

Main Topics

1. The range of possible outcomes in negotiation

2. Approaches for creating and claiming / distributing value in negotiation

3. A strategic negotiation process model

4. Consideration for negotiators in different contexts:

  • contract negotiations for managers
  • settlement negotiations for lawyers

5. Preparation

  • Positions and interests
  • Making choices about where to start the bargaining
  • Reality testing and risk assessment
  • Using decision trees
  • BATNA/WATNA
  • Traps in decision-making
  • The mandating dynamics, principal and agent
  • Teams
  • Preparation exercise

6. Opening and exploring

  • Styles in negotiation - assertiveness and empathy
  • How are you exploring - key communication skills
  • What are you exploring
  • Role-play

7. Bargaining

  • Generating options
  • Making effective offers and proposals, and managing reactive devaluation
  • Why deadlock occurs and what to do about it
  • Managing emotion and difficult behaviours
  • Role-play

8. Trust and ethics in negotiation

9. Concluding