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.

Negotiation training courses include Negotiation and Leadership: Dealing with Difficult People and Problems, the Advanced Negotiation Master Class, Harvard Negotiation Institute programs, and the PON graduate seminars.

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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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

Getting to No

PON Staff   •  08/31/2010   •  Filed in Daily, Negotiation Skills

Adapted from “When You Mean No, Say So!” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

Too often, we say yes when we shouldn’t. Wanting to be team players at work, we postpone a family vacation. Or we pitch in on a community project when we have no time for it. In the short term, we please whoever … Read Getting to No

Trusting from Square One

PON Staff   •  08/30/2010   •  Filed in Daily, Negotiation Skills

Adapted from “How Much Should You Trust?” by Iris Bohnet (professor, Harvard Kennedy School) and Stephan Meier (professor, Columbia Business School), first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

What’s the best way to cope with a fellow negotiator who has betrayed your trust? Ignoring the problem is rarely the best solution.

When you distrust someone, you’re forced to … Read Trusting from Square One

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