Negotiation Skills Training

The purpose of this workshop is to help leaders elevate their negotiation skills so they can have more influence and achieve better outcomes. Negotiation techniques are essential for team leaders to achieve win-win outcomes with internal and external stakeholders, and strong negotiation skills help with problem solving, decision-making, and conflict resolution. When leaders understand the negotiation process, they can sharpen their communication skills and manage tough situations for greater business success.

Working with organisations across Australia, we know that communication is the #1 skill sought after by leaders and teams. Here are some reasons why communication, like successful negotiation skills, is essential in modern workplaces:

1. Complex world of work: Living in a ‘VUCA’ (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) environment means that leaders will need sophisticated leadership skills to provide clarity to their direct reports. Negotiation techniques help leaders work collaboratively with their teams to figure out what priorities are important to achieve outcomes. 
2. Task assignment: Because the lines are more blurred in modern workplaces, employees will continually need clarity on work scope and help with defining goals and tasks. Negotiation training gives leaders an edge in finding the win-win with team members, so outcomes can be achieved – on time and on budget. 
3. Rise of ‘human skills’: More and more, organisations are helping employees develop a range of soft skills. Leaders need to be able to see multiple points of view and apply effective negotiation techniques – to bring perspectives together and present a well-rounded case. Negotiation skills will help leaders manage collaboration successfully and find different solutions to meet the needs of all stakeholders. 
4. Technology and rise of AI: Advancements in technology and the way we work will automate more manual work, changing job roles and what organisations consider valuable. Employees with highly-developed negotiation skills, who can positively influence others to achieve outcomes, will become increasingly desirable. 
5. Increased stakeholder engagement: Leaders are managing more complex networks than ever before in this highly connected, digitised world. Leaders will need to negotiate things like contracts, project scope, budgets, timelines, and resource requests. Flexing across these large stakeholder networks is made easier with strong negotiation techniques.

Overall, negotiation techniques can help leaders navigate a range of workplace and stakeholder challenges. With Negotiation Training, coaching sessions, and support from peers, leaders can develop negotiation fundamentals and put across their point of view more confidently.

With the help of Negotiation Training, skills that leaders can put in place to enhance performance include:

1. Self-confidence: Different work situations, projects and stakeholders call for healthy negotiation techniques from leaders. They are better equipped to work collaboratively with others when they have strong interpersonal skills, can articulate problems clearly, and identify solutions. Leaders who are negotiators can make a big difference to the self-confidence of their direct reports as well.
2. Communication: Leaders who are skilled negotiators are better able to manage a range of communication styles in internal and external stakeholders. Leaders understand different behaviours and how to positively impact the situation to achieve win-win outcomes.
3. Relationship management: This involves the ability to regulate one’s own emotions in negotiation situations to maintain positive relationships with others through the negotiation process. Leaders can improve this by engaging in constructive body language and making eye contact, while they communicate their needs and expectations clearly.
4. Perspective taking: Conflict can arise when there are different perspectives in the workplace, but leaders who are skilled negotiators can navigate this. Leaders who stay calm and objective in situations and look for the ‘win-win’ have a greater impact on workplace culture and get results.
5. Decision making: When leaders communicate decisions in a positive way while considering the rights of others, they get better buy-in. Leaders can build this this capability by weighing up both positive and negative impacts of a decision and by using a range of negotiation styles with different stakeholders to get results.

By developing competencies in negotiation planning and negotiation styles, leaders can grow their interpersonal skills and manage situations and stakeholders with greater ease.

What is in this Negotiation Training Course?

Our Negotiation Training is specifically designed for leaders to take their negotiation skills to the next level. It aims to provide participants with the negotiation strategies, tools and resources to apply their learning and lead with greater confidence. Our experienced facilitators have worked with many Australian leaders on a range of communication skills and will share case studies, hands-on negotiation simulations and stories to help your leaders.

Why should my organisation offer Negotiation Training?

Being part of Negotiation Training can help leaders become more confident, leading to greater job satisfaction. Learners can break through barriers that might otherwise hold them back from stepping into negotiation situations and tough conversations. The workshop experience is designed to help leaders learn from each other and see how they might support each other to grow negotiation skills.

Who can attend Negotiation Training?

Our Negotiation Training Programs are designed for leaders. Negotiation skills encourage clear and straightforward communication that help leaders present a case to stakeholders. However, this training can be easily customised for team members and middle to upper management as well.

Is Negotiation Training only available in person?

We deliver a lot of face-to-face workshops across Melbourne and Sydney but Negotiation Training can be delivered in an in-person, virtual or hybrid format; depending on the organisation’s set-up. It is typically made up of strategies, discussions and a series of activities to support on the job application.

The training can be complemented with coaching sessions with a Thinka coach. Coaching plays an important role in challenging old behaviours and building fresh confidence and capability in each of the participants. Organisations might also opt for a blended program that makes use of an online course and other forms of media as well.

Human Skills Program with Pepperstone

1. What was the objective?

Pepperstone wanted to deliver a human skills program to their organisation to uplift capabilities in their leadership team. The program had to offer a range of skills, delivery modes, and timezones to accommodate the diverse needs of the organisation and its leaders.

2. How did we do it?

By establishing a series of APAC and EMEA deliveries, alongside an in-person offering, Thinka delivered on seven different human skills; coaching, feedback, communication, negotiation, delegation and presentations.

In the negotiation training part of the program, Pepperstone leaders workshopped how to prepare and execute negotiation techniques with their peers. This role-play exercise helped to build ‘muscle memory’ around negotiation skills and enabled leaders to get real-time feedback on their delivery.

The final skill was captured in a specialised ‘Leading Hybrid’ workshop that supported the capability development of leaders working in a hybrid environment.

3. How was it integrated and what were the results?

A range of activities, discussions and contemporary models supported the learning and left participants with skills they could transfer into their role as leaders in a hybrid-working environment.