Negotiation Skills

Negotiation is a deliberative process between two or more actors that seek a solution to a common issue or who are bartering over an item of value. Negotiation skills include the range of negotiation techniques negotiators employ to create value and claim value in their dealmaking business negotiations and beyond. Negotiation skills can help you make deals, solve problems, manage conflicts, and build relationships as well as preserve relationships. Negotiation skills can be learned with conscious effort and should be practiced once learned.

Negotiation training includes the range of activities and exercises negotiators undertake to improve their skills and techniques. Role-play simulations developed from real-world research and negotiation case studies, negotiation training provides benefits for teams and individuals seeking to create and claim more value in their negotiations.

The right skills allow you to maximize the value of your negotiated outcomes by effectively navigating the negotiation process from setup to commitment to implementation.

The Program on Negotiation’s Executive Education negotiation training programs include Negotiation and Leadership: Dealing with Difficult People and Problems, the Harvard Negotiation Master Class, and the Harvard Mediation Intensive.

This training allows negotiators to:

  • Acquire a systematic framework for analyzing and understanding negotiation
  • Assess and heighten awareness of your strengths and weaknesses as a negotiator
  • Learn how to create and maximize value in negotiations
  • Gain problem-solving techniques for distributing value fairly while strengthening relationships
  • Develop skills to deal with difficult negotiators and hard-bargaining tactics
  • Learn how to match the process to the context
  • Discover how effectively to manage and coordinate across and behind-the-table negotiations
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Learning to Manage Climate Change Risks: Three New Multiparty Negotiation Games That Can be Used to Enhance Public Engagement

PON Staff   •  10/05/2010   •  Filed in Daily, Negotiation Skills, Pedagogy at PON, Research Projects

The Clearinghouse now offers three, multi-party role play simulations focused on helping cities manage climate change risks. These were prepared by the Science Impact Collaborative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the direction of Professor Larry Susskind. The purpose of these exercises is to engage the public in a mixture of political and technical … Learn More About This Program

Honor Your Fellow Negotiator

PON Staff   •  10/04/2010   •  Filed in Daily, Negotiation Skills

Adapted from “Negotiators: Guard Against Ethical Lapses,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

During the past couple of years, a number of scandalous stories involving unethical behavior made headlines: Countrywide’s and AIG’s risky business practices, trader Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, and former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich’s alleged attempt to sell a U.S. Senate seat. As instances … Read Honor Your Fellow Negotiator

Don’t Just Do the Math

PON Staff   •  10/04/2010   •  Filed in Daily, Negotiation Skills

Adapted from “Do the Numbers Get in Your Way?” by Brian J. Hall (professor, Harvard Business School) and P. Trent Staats (vice president, Verenium Corp.), first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

Consider the customer support center that sought to increase the number of calls it could process per hour without increasing its capacity. When the call … Read Don’t Just Do the Math

The Curse of Knowledge

PON Staff   •  09/28/2010   •  Filed in Daily, Negotiation Skills

Adapted from “When You Assume Too Much,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

Decision makers often overlook others’ viewpoints. When we do take others’ thinking into account, we tend to assume that they know as much as we do. For this reason, marketing experts are generally worse than nonexpert consumers at predicting the beliefs, values, and … Read The Curse of Knowledge

Negotiate with Your Kids?

PON Staff   •  09/27/2010   •  Filed in Daily, Negotiation Skills

Adapted from “Negotiate Better Relationships with Your Children,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

Getting a good night’s sleep and eating a healthy dinner might seem like obvious goals for parents to have for their young children, but kids won’t always agree. When faced with back talk, tantrums, and tears, most parents vacillate between laying down … Read Negotiate with Your Kids?

Mirror, Mirror

PON Staff   •  09/21/2010   •  Filed in Daily, Negotiation Skills

Adapted from “The View from the Other Side of the Table,” by Adam D. Galinsky (Northwestern University), William W. Maddux (professor, INSEAD), and Gillian Ku (professor, London Business School)first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

Believe it or not, you can become a better negotiator simply by learning how to effectively mirror your opponent. Psychologist Tanya Chartrand … Read Mirror, Mirror

Are Your Talks too Complex?

PON Staff   •  09/20/2010   •  Filed in Daily, Negotiation Skills

Adapted from “When More Is Less,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

It’s an article of faith in negotiation that expanding the pie of value enhances parties’ welfare. When there’s only one issue on the bargaining table, the size of the pie is fixed. If one party gets more, the other party must get less. But … Read Are Your Talks too Complex?

Shakespeare and Negotiation

PON Staff   •  09/14/2010   •  Filed in Daily, Events, Negotiation Skills

“Shakespeare and Negotiation”

with
Leo Smyth

A not-too-serious concoction of Readings and Reflections on some Shakespearean ideas about the handling of disputes.

Date: September 21, 2010

Time: 12:00PM to 1:00PM
Where: Pound Hall, Room 512, Harvard Law School Campus
Bring your lunch. Drinks and dessert will be served.
Click here for a campus map.

Speaker Bio
Leo Smyth obtained his Master’s degree in psychology … Read Shakespeare and Negotiation

Should You Ignore a Threat

PON Staff   •  09/14/2010   •  Filed in Daily, Negotiation Skills

Adapted from “Threat Response at the Bargaining Table,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

Consider how you would respond to threats and ultimatums such as these during a negotiation:
• “If you try to back out, you’ll never work in this industry again.”
• “Give us what we want, or we’ll see you in court.”
• “That’s our final … Read Should You Ignore a Threat

Find Strength in Numbers

PON Staff   •  09/13/2010   •  Filed in Daily, Negotiation Skills

Adapted from “Make Your Weak Position Strong,” by Deepak Malhotra (professor, Harvard Business School), first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

A common complaint among managers and executives who attend negotiation courses and seminars is that they don’t learn enough about negotiating from a position of weakness. What can you do when you have a weak BATNA, … Read Find Strength in Numbers

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