As part of an introduction to management course for new managers (managing one or two other persons) I have been asked to include something on negotiation skills. Internet searches have thrown up a vast amount of info. but I haven't come across any really useful guidelines to help them to plan for and negotiate with others in the work setting - much of it seems to focus on striking deals with suppliers / clients and I would really like to focus on them getting a win/win deal with the people that report to them - eg how do you negotiate with somebody to stay late to finish an important project instead of leaving the office at 5.30pm. Does anyone have any references / guidelines / info that they can share with me? Thanks.
Emma Newman
3 Responses
Resources
Emma
Not sure whether you have tried TrainerBase but there are some resources on negotiating on http://www.trainerbase.co.uk. Best place to access them is via the Search TrainerBase link. You do need to join to be able to view/download the resources posted by other trainers.
Resources
Emma,
With your background, you may already be familiar with some of these titles, but I’ve found the following resources useful in helping people to develop negotiation skills within the context you’ve described:
*Principle Centered Leadership (Covey)
*Getting to Yes (Fisher, Ury & Patton)
*Catalytic Coaching (Markle)
As for activities, one approach is a simple but effective variation on an activity from The Self-Management Workshop (Weiss).
A mini-presentation introduces key negotiation concepts.
Pose situations like those you described in your post (or get the group to suggest some).
Ask people to consider first reactions to each situation (from both points of view) and the consequences of these.
Small groups (triads or fishbowls) develop consensus strategies for the negotiator to try in each situation.
Skill partners are coached simply to react as they normally would (or have done) under similar conditions.
Observers record feedback for group debrief.
Repeat until everyone has an opportunity to experience each role.
A number of variations may be applied to add interest and relevance to the activity.
Under pressure, some negotiators may lose focus on mutual interests or revert to position or power strategies. The impact of this on work relationships and performance can then be discussed during debrief.
Hope this is useful.
Regards,
Scott G. Welch
You may want to offer influencing skills as they are all about g
Influencing is about helping people get what they want that also gives you what you want. Unlike win-lose methods, coercion, manipulation etc., effective influencing make the relationship stronger.
I teach influencing skills using a model that goes from Building Rapport, Understanding the Person and Situation, Floating a Proposal, to Tying up the Loose Ends and Moving On. We also do lots of client designed role play and feedback. There is much more detail on my site http://homepage.ntlworld.com/nick.heap/Influencingskills.htm
It is possible to learn these skills in a group or in one to one coaching, even over the phone, and quite quickly.
If you want more, please email nick.heap@ntlworld.com or call 01707 886553
Best wishes
Nick Heap