Advanced Negotiating for Negotiators

2011-10-10T08:02:00.000Z

Negotiating and Risk Poor Negotiating creates Dangerous Risk - You Pay in the End! A key objective (and responsibility) of a good negotiator is to reduce and manage risk. The professional negotiator see these as fundamental responsibilities. To protect the security and safety of the organisation. To make sure that in doing a deal with other parties, those parties will not put at risk

England and the World Cup Bid

2010-12-09T15:01:00.006Z

A real live Case Study with many basic negotiating lessons to learn, understand and then relearn and practise. The recent failure of England to get beyond the first round of FIFA voting and secure only two votes is an object lesson in how not to influence an agreement / decision. The rather sad behaviour which followed indicated a level of naivety, a lack of knowledge of the process and some

Negotiating Lessons from Westminster

2010-05-12T15:27:00.001Z

It is always interesting to watch and listen to negotiations. The events at Westminster have been very much behind closed doors for most of the time, with a very high volume of journalistic speculation going on outside. However it is possible to make some comments about what has been good negotiating behaviour. Lesson One: It was good to see an example of how a negotiator who knows what he

Who will be The Quiet Negotiator?

2010-05-07T09:48:00.001Z

I am asked every week what is one characteristic of a good negotiator that I admire. My answer is always the same – the quiet negotiator.Let me explain further. The best negotiators I meet are those who know what they want - absolutely and without fear or doubt. To achieve this they are able to go into calm objective

Negotiating Lessons from The Past

2010-03-29T16:10:00.002Z

It is an interesting time to be working as an Industrial relations specialist and negotiating expert. The pendulum is swinging back towards another period of unrest as relations between “Management” and “Union” become increasingly strained. There is a fear that we might be returning to the 70’s. This is most unlikely, as today’s economic situation is very different. However, what we are

Auditing Negotiating Trainers

2010-03-24T17:21:00.000Z

Some of my assignments over the past years have included audits of Negotiating Skills Training Courses and Trainers for clients. These have been to check that the quality of a client’s courses meet a standard that allows clients to have confidence that a training event delivered in the UK will be as good as one delivered in the USA or China. Also I have assessed trainers and potential trainers as

Negotiators – The Special Agents

2010-02-16T16:04:00.000Z

Many of the more competitive personalities that I meet during my negotiating events around the world find it difficult to see the conflict between “self” and “the organisation” or between winning the deal and the delivery of the deal. It is this blindness which can lead to personal goals endangering the organisational requirement. Either one needs negotiators who are aware of the problem or

Managing Deadlock – The Lessons from Copenhagen.

2010-01-11T08:53:00.005Z

The Global Climate Conference in Copenhagen offered us illustrations of some of the most basic lessons one can learn when starting out to develop as a negotiator. It was telling that so many were outsmarted so easily. But then, we are not privy to how each government has honestly compared the results with their real objectives. So here are some of the lessons? Use of Deadlock – There appeared to

Don't Just Complain _ Where was your Proposal!

2009-01-29T21:09:00.002Z

Whilst the world seems to have been impressed about the letter to Richard Branson complaining about an Indian meal served on a Virgin flight - the sad thing is that complaining by itself is rather weak - it's a winge. A shorter letter and a clear proposal of the compensation that was required would have been better. Something well within reason and easy for Virgin. Cheap for the airline to do and

Cut the Crap - Get Organised - Get Ready for Action

2009-01-20T10:02:00.001Z

As we go into the dark days of the winter and this recession, we batten down the hatches to weather the storm and take stock about who and what really matters.This is a good time to look around, contemplate strengths and weaknesses, and prepare for the challenge ahead and to evaluate one’s resources to take advantage. This is the time when you will find out whether you really have leaders within

Business is about People – Remember?

2008-10-29T11:15:00.002Z

The turmoil we witness in the markets every day raises the question: What is it we are trying to achieve through all this chaotic behaviour? Is there an intended destination to all this or are we caught on an endless M25, ever going faster chasing our tails into destruction. It appears that we have forgotten what our objectives are: as individuals, families, communities, businesses, corporations,

The Power of Proposal

2008-10-14T12:32:00.000Z

The Power of ProposalGordon Brown is benefitting from being the proposer of the bail out solution which has become the framework for others to follow. It is a very good example of how a realistic proposal will dominate, especially in a multi lateral environment when a solution is needed very quickly.The problem with the idea behind the initial US option was that the White House had not proposed a

You can only Spend it Once (WIGIG)

2008-10-10T13:55:00.003Z

One of the fundamental rules of negotiating is to ensure that you know the real value of your concession before offering it conditionally. So before making a proposal, it is wise to know all the values in play, know all the priorities that need to be addressed, and sensitive to those of one's partners. Additionally, know the level of risk. If it can go wrong it will! If you are going to make a

Now is the Time to Learn How to Negotiate

2008-10-08T08:51:00.002Z

Never has there been a greater need to be able to Negotiate - ProperlyIn many ways the current global economic crisis has been down to very poor and undisciplined deal making. The closing of a deal has been more important than the value of the deal when fully implemented (if indeed it has been). Incentives have been targeted at the wrong end of a deal – the beginning, not the end (when the whole

Strategy defeats Objective.

2008-10-07T08:35:00.003Z

“We will do whatever is necessary?”The objective of these words is probably to calm the worries of all of us with deposits in banks. It is also to be heard as a sign that someone is on the case - appearing to be in action. The reality of the phrase is to signal that there is not a clear idea of what needs to be done at this point in time. Blanket phrases often deliver the opposite message to the

2008-05-12T15:12:00.003Z

Hello and welcome to the Blog for the alumni of the Scott Roberts & Associates negotiating experience.The intention of this site is for us to be able to exchange views and ideas amongst our growing community of negotiators. It is also a good medium through which to update members about developments and events.As a group of interested practitioners, we will also comment about some of the more