Complex Negotiating Skills in the Energy Sector

Course length: 2 days 

Course description

This Complex Negotiation course is designed to provide professionals involved in complex, high-risk negotiations with the unique behavioral skills and insights needed to secure success in all of their negotiations. The three-day programme focuses on equipping delegates with the framework and tactics needed to always negotiate from an optimal position, leading the discussion towards the desired outcome. Specifically, the interactive course uses practical exercises and a number of negotiation simulations to enable delegates to:

• Familiarise themselves with best practice negotiation tools
• Understand how to open, lead and close a negotiation
• Apply the concepts of levers and bargaining
• Use the key behaviours of effective negotiators
• Keep a positive climate, overcome deadlock and handle ‘dirty tricks’

The skills gained will enable delegates to collaborate more effectively with their colleagues and ultimately negotiate more profitable deals and increased value. In addition, they will receive the feedback needed to create a solid Action Plan for the continued development of their skills after the course.

 Who should Attend

• Government officials and all those individuals that negotiate as part of a team or as principal negotiators, both buyer and seller-side
• Employees negotiating externally as well as those involved in intra-company negotiation

Course Outline

Preparing for the Negotiation

• Setting objectives
• Evaluating fall-back positions
• The hierarchy of tradable issues and trade-offs
• Best, target and worst trading limits
• Calculating the cost of concessions
• Anticipating ‘their’ position and tactics

Planning the Negotiation

• Evaluating strengths, weaknesses and the power balance
• Creative leveraged trades
• ‘Diminishing return’ concession strategy
• Common ground, long-term versus short-term issues