Negotiation and Influencing Skills
Prepare, influence and develop workable options more deliberately in workplace negotiations. Participants practice interests, questioning, value framing, concessions and agreement through realistic business scenarios and a full role-play.
- Prepare interests, objectives, alternatives and boundaries.
- Map stakeholders and choose evidence-based influence approaches.
- Use questioning/listening to surface interests and constraints.
- Frame value and proposals for the other party.
Negotiation and Influencing Skills is a practical course for roles that need to prepare, influence and negotiate around workplace objectives. Participants define interests, objectives, alternatives and boundaries before the conversation, then map stakeholders using evidence-based influence approaches rather than personality labels.
The day develops questioning and listening to uncover interests and constraints, value framing, option development, challenge, concessions and impasse handling. Participants finish by running a full negotiation role-play and recording the resulting agreement and next steps.
Right for your team if…
This course is designed for sales, procurement, account management, project management and business analysis roles with negotiation or influencing responsibility. It is a good fit when participants need stronger preparation, questioning, value framing, option development and concession handling within normal business-skills boundaries.
Choose this when roles need practical preparation, stakeholder influence and value-focused negotiation without legal or regulated negotiation advice.
What participants will be able to do
- Develop options rather than positional bargaining.
- Handle challenge, concessions and impasse.
- Close with explicit agreements and next steps.
A tangible outcome they take back to work
A Negotiation Preparation and Agreement Record. The completed record makes boundaries explicit, captures the interests explored, the options developed and the agreement/next steps reached. Successful completion requires those elements to meet the criteria.
What we cover
Prepare objectives, interests, alternatives and boundaries before entering the negotiation so the participant knows what can and cannot move.
Complete a negotiation-preparation sheet covering objectives, interests, alternatives and boundaries.
Map stakeholders and select evidence-based influence approaches without using personality labels or psychometric diagnosis.
Build an evidence-based stakeholder influence map without personality labels.
Use questioning and listening to uncover underlying interests and constraints rather than arguing only from stated positions.
Run a questioning and listening exercise and record the interests and constraints surfaced.
Frame value from the other party’s perspective and develop workable options instead of treating the negotiation as positional bargaining.
Develop several workable options and present their value from the other party’s perspective.
Handle challenge, concessions and impasse deliberately, keeping boundaries and value visible as options change.
Run a concession and impasse exercise while keeping boundaries and value visible.
Conduct a full role-play, close with explicit agreements and next steps, and record the outcome in the Negotiation Preparation and Agreement Record.
Conduct a full negotiation role-play and complete the agreement and next-steps record.
How it runs
Live virtual private training for one organization over one day with substantial practice, feedback and a full negotiation role-play. Before delivery, we use a brief diagnostic to understand participant roles, negotiation contexts, current experience and accessibility needs.
Standard video meeting access and a camera/microphone are required for practice; a shared document or whiteboard is helpful. We can adapt suitable business scenarios, provided they do not require contract interpretation, regulated advice or psychometric assessment.
Scope and progression
What this course focuses on
Preparation; interests; influence; questioning/listening; value; options; concessions; agreement.
Reserved for other courses
- Legal/contractual advice
- procurement/competition-law instruction
- regulated negotiation
- psychometric diagnosis.
Progression
Communication Skills Essentials provides the broader communication foundation. Advanced Presentation Skills and Business Storytelling is a useful adjacent course where influencing also depends on formal presentations, while Difficult Conversations and Feedback develops structured challenge and feedback.
Courses in this progression
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Communication Skills Essentials
Give your team a practical foundation for clearer conversations and messages. Participants practise listening, questioning, message structure and audience adaptation, then apply the techniques to a real workplace situation.
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Advanced Presentation Skills and Business Storytelling
Turn analysis and recommendations into a clear, decision-ready story. Experienced presenters practise audience and decision framing, narrative structure, evidence selection, slide hierarchy, delivery and Q&A.
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Difficult Conversations and Feedback
Prepare for challenging workplace conversations with a clearer structure for facts, feedback, listening and follow-up. Participants rehearse realistic conversations, give specific feedback and leave with a practical plan for the conversations they need to handle.
Common questions
What preparation is covered?
Participants define objectives, interests, alternatives and boundaries before moving into stakeholder influence, questioning, value, options and concessions.
Will participants practice a full negotiation?
The capstone is a full role-play followed by an explicit record of agreement and next steps.
How is this different from Difficult Conversations and Feedback?
Negotiation and Influencing Skills focuses on interests, options, value, concessions and agreement. Difficult Conversations and Feedback is the better route when the main need is structured challenge, factual feedback, listening and follow-up.
How are legal or contractual issues handled?
The course develops business-skills preparation, interests, questioning, value, options, concessions and agreement. Legal or contractual advice, regulated negotiation and procurement or competition-law instruction require the appropriate specialist route.
Does the course use personality tests or negotiation types?
Stakeholder mapping is evidence-based and does not use psychometric diagnosis or personality labels.
Can scenarios reflect our negotiation contexts?
We can adapt suitable business scenarios to participant roles and negotiation contexts, provided the practice remains within business-skills negotiation and influence rather than regulated or legal advice.
Plan a cohort for your team
Tell us about the kinds of workplace negotiations or influence situations your team handles, and we’ll recommend suitable business scenarios for the cohort.