Negotiation Essentials: Building Relationships for Success

Date:  9 & 10 June 2026

Modality:  In-person

Duration:  2 days

Price:  $2,409.00

We negotiate every day. Whether you are responsible for “capital N” negotiations around a table or “lower case n” casual negotiations in the hallway or at home, you are likely to be constantly negotiating for the terms, resources, deadlines or cooperation you need. To confidently get what you need while also nurturing relationships with your counterparts requires some understanding of how people make the decision to comply with you and some frameworks to help you prepare effectively for these important conversations.

This course will equip you with the most useful techniques to manage a negotiation and to persuade and influence others to be open to your ideas. You will engage in role-play to trial these new techniques, and reflective discussions to discover your negotiation style and which persuasion methods work for you.

The course takes a relationship-focused approach, so that while you are ensuring you get what you want, you will also be focused on building trust and maximising gain for the other party. You will be challenged to uncover new value with creative solutions, explore for best case outcomes and learn how to read the other party. We will explore research-based best practices for pre-negotiation groundwork and planning, negotiation management and post negotiation reflection.

Be prepared to challenge what you know about negotiation and persuasion, to share your experience, have a laugh and gain a real confidence boost.

Short course structure and topics covered: 

Day One:

• Persuasion approaches: what persuades and in what circumstances?
• Decision making: How are people motivated? Under what conditions will they agree with me?
• Learning to read the other party.
• Setting negotiation goals: What do I need and what do I want?
• The Sheer Negotiation model: A 3-phase model to structure your conversation.
• Maximising value and creative solution-finding.
• Role play simulations.

Day Two:

• The narrative: How does the other party see me?
• Designing a new narrative.
• Influential language: Framing.
• Persuasion tactics.
• Fast tracking trust.
• Rapport building for optimal negotiation.
• Role play simulations.

Learning outcomes: 

You will:

• Be empowered to negotiate with certainty, clarity and confidence.
• Have a negotiation planning template to use in all future negotiations.
• Understand what is driving your counterparts, be able to apply techniques to understand them and create common understanding.
• Know how to set goals for your negotiations and how to measure your negotiation success.
• Be able to model and coach others to prepare for important conversations with frameworks from the course.
• Have the tools to steer a conversation towards optimal outcomes for both parties.

Your organisation will:

• Improve the negotiation culture with an alternative, relationship-focused, method of resolving conflict and making agreements.
• Improve relationships with external stakeholders – clients, subcontractors, partners, councils or shareholders.
• Improve relationships and communication standards internally – between departments, between team members, between levels of seniority.
• Increase the likelihood that people will share ideas, voice concerns, ask for what they need to do their work to the best of their ability.
• Empower staff to deal with issues on their own rather than escalating the issue to a higher level.

Who should attend? Any entry requirements? 

• Individuals who want to be able to communicate effectively, and engage in challenging conversations when needed, whilst maintaining relationships.
• Professionals managing relationships with clients, suppliers, internal and external stakeholders, and government bodies, aiming to steer negotiations towards creative solutions.
• Individuals who want to become the go-to person for negotiations, confidently identify goals and interests, and guide negotiation planning and strategy.
• People aiming to advance their careers by negotiating with superiors, identifying creative opportunities, and being persuasive and strategic in their communications.
• Those who benefit from frameworks and templates for important conversations to ensure their ideas are well-received in meetings.

Previous participant reviews:

“Excellent course. Very helpful & informative. Exceptional facilitator. Recommend to all.”

Nikhil Zaveri, Tamaki Health

Payment for short courses is normally by credit card. If you need to pay by invoice or require assistance, please email shortcourses@auckland.ac.nz. Please note the University does not issue individual invoices for amounts less than $500 New Zealand dollars.

By enrolling in a Short Course at the University of Auckland you agree to the Short Course Terms and Conditions