Negotiation - a skill for the ages

It was in his 1961 inauguration speech when JFK said, “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.” It was an exhortation to find common ground, even in the most testing of circumstances.

The 60s certainly had more than its fair share of fraught negotiations. Yet, throughout history, for as long as two individuals, organisations or even nation states have needed to find common ground, talented negotiators have been in demand.

It’s a skill that seemingly never goes out of fashion, as valuable in the construction and delivery of public services as it is for dealing with ideologically opposed heads of state.

One organisation that’s heavily involved in helping develop that skill is Practive, leadership development specialists and one of KPMG’s expert learning partners who provide learning services to the Government Campus. Practive is supported in this by Javier Marcos, Professor of Strategic Sales Management and Negotiation. As Prof. Marcos explains, their ambition is to help to mould fully rounded negotiators who are comfortable in any negotiating environment.

“Skilled negotiators can find themselves in a variety of different negotiation settings, ranging from completely adversarial and antagonistic through to highly collaborative,” he says. “Each demands a different set of skills and behaviours. That’s the fascinating thing about a negotiation. Yes, it can be a fight – but it could also be seen as a dance, an interview or even a shared journey, each of which will trigger different emotions, reactions and behaviours from all the players around the table. We want to help people be equally effective in all those situations, to become what you might call a 360-degree negotiator.”

High demand

In the post-Brexit era, negotiating skills have, unsurprisingly, been in high demand across government departments. Practive, for example, was recently commissioned by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) to design and deliver two-day workshops for their trade teams. After several years of delivering more individually focused negotiation training across the Civil Service, Practive created this programme to address the team dimensions of negotiation and to embed these within an effective end-to-end negotiation framework.

As Adam Woodroffe, one of Practive’s directors, explains, “Within most commercial or trade discussions, the process of negotiation doesn’t start at the negotiating table. It starts well in advance, with the negotiating team agreeing on their boundaries and what can and cannot be given away. The better the preparation, the smoother and quicker the subsequent negotiating process will be.”

“To assist with this, negotiators and their teams need to have a common way of thinking and talking about the negotiations they’re involved with. Alongside a shared understanding of what a good negotiation process looks like, this allows them to have open, honest and productive discussions about how their team is faring. They need to be able to honestly critique how a round of talks has just gone, for example, what did they notice, did they give away anything they shouldn’t have done, did they even inadvertently raise the emotional temperature in the room? Being able to reflect on this as a unit, not just as an individual, is hugely valuable.”

Negotiation strategies and behaviours

Practive currently offers both a Foundations of Contract Negotiation programme and an Advanced Commercial Negotiation Skills and Behaviours programme; the latter being a new spin-off from the DBT programme that explores both negotiation strategy and its underpinning behaviours.

Many of the skills that the advanced programme helps participants to develop are crucial skills that can be applied in a complex negotiation context but also in a broader managerial capacity; such as active listening, empathy, self-awareness, patience, creating trust and communicating unambiguously. These are developed by exploring and discussing negotiation practices and frameworks that encourage participants to think critically about their negotiation behaviours. This also helps participants be more aware of their own negotiating preferences and how well suited (or not) they might be to a particular situation.

Adam continues, “Throughout the programme’s workshops, a question we’re always asking participants to consider is what it’s like to be on the receiving end of their negotiating approach. We encourage feedback on how a negotiator ‘shows up’ in the room and how that helps – or hinders – the negotiating process. Ultimately, this is an experiment in establishing what a good negotiating process looks, sounds and feels like.”

“Something I’ve noticed recently is that the more complex a negotiation becomes, and they can become very complicated, the more likely it is that people will get drawn into the technicalities of what they’re discussing. That comes at the expense of these other considerations, such as how do I need to show up, how will I go about building rapport and what will that look like in this setting? Remembering to pay attention to this amidst all the complex, technical detail of a negotiation is really important.”

The final word on the subject comes from Prof. Marcos, outlining his main advice to any new negotiator or negotiating team leader. He says, “Within any negotiation, you have to fully understand the two dimensions of what’s at stake – the outcomes you hope to achieve and the interests and constraints of the other party. But you must also take the time to think about the part that you, or you team, play in the negotiating system. You’re a major factor in that system so you need to be highly aware of everything that’s happening around you as well as your own internal narrative, thinking about how this affects your behaviour and performance.”

To make a booking for the Advanced Programme, click here. For more information on the Foundations of Contract Negotiation programme, click here.