Introduction

This seminar brings together the key strategic leadership skills of strategic planning, negotiation, and conflict management required to succeed in today’s complex and challenging business environment.

'Strategy' is often referred to as "the art of war"—complex, yet, when understood, very simple. Those with a successful strategy are in control of upcoming events. The implementation of strategies often requires the ability to exert influence and negotiate effectively. Negotiation is not litigation, nor is it war. It’s not about achieving total victory, as this often leads to short-lived success. Negotiation and conflict management are key strategic leadership skills, and probably the most commonly used in business today.

This seminar will enable you to:

• Challenge your preconceptions about strategic planning, negotiation, and conflict management.
• Understand the content of strategy—unraveled, demystified, and translated into everyday language.
• Learn how to implement the strategic planning process and derive real value from it.
• Learn how to analyze the often-misunderstood concept of win-win negotiation.
• Gain essential tools and practical skills for planning and managing the negotiation and conflict process to develop the ability to negotiate value-creating solutions.

Objectives

By the end of this program, participants will be able to:

• Learn the key stages in the entire strategic planning process, providing a takeaway toolkit for each key stage.
• Apply management issues, option generation, opportunity cost, choice, and implementation phases of strategy.
• Understand the process of change, planning, organizational strategy, and change management.
• Identify the sources of conflict in the professional environment.
• Gain awareness of your own style in approaching conflict and negotiation.
• Learn how to achieve true win-win results and expand your range of negotiating skills.
• Use a three-step planning guide to analyze and prepare for a negotiation.

Target Audience

• Senior Executives and Directors
• Middle and Senior Managers
• HR and Organizational Development Professionals
• Business Consultants and Strategy Professionals
• Project Managers and Program Directors
• Aspiring Leaders and High-Potential Employees
   

5-Day Training Outline

Module 1: Strategy and Strategic Planning

Day 1: Strategic Thinking and Business Analysis

• What are strategy and strategic planning?
• Why are strategy and strategic planning important?
• Main conceptual frameworks in strategic planning
• External analysis: Understanding business attractiveness (macroenvironmental factors, growth drivers, competitive forces, market dynamics)
• Benchmarking your own strategic position and competitor analysis
• Analyzing customers: Thinking backward from the customer
• Mini-case on the importance of external analysis

Day 2: Internal Analysis and Fusion of Analyses into Strategic Options

• The interface of external and internal analysis
• Internal analysis: financial and non-financial
• The concept and practicalities of the “balanced scorecard”
• Diagnosing strategic problems and opportunities
• SWOT analysis and strategy matrix
• Case examples of strategic choice
• Mini-case on the importance of internal analysis

Day 3: Strategic Plans and the Relevance of Alliances and Joint Ventures

• Review of the tools used so far
• The content of a strategy: Avoiding "paralysis by analysis"
• Putting a strategic plan together: The 5-page framework
• Real-life examples of business strategy and strategic plans
• Strategies for alliances and joint ventures
• Best practice in alliances and joint ventures
• Group work on the main case study

Day 4: Global Strategy, Team Building, and Internal Communication

• The essence of globalization and global strategy
• Globalization – strategic, organizational, and human dimensions
• How to build and manage a strategic planning team
• Communicating strategy through the organization
• Gaining team commitment and buy-in to the strategy
• Second-phase group work on the main case study

Day 5: Strategic Implementation and Getting the Value out of Strategy

• Final-phase work on the main case study
• Group presentations of the main case study
• Effective execution: Converting strategic analysis into action
• Linking strategy with operational objectives
• Implementing strategy: Practical steps
• Strategic planning for your career
• Creating tomorrow’s organization out of today’s organization
• Conclusion: The corporate and individual value of strategic thinking

Module 2: Negotiation and Conflict Management in Organizations

Day 6: Negotiation and Conflict Management

• Negotiation theory and practice – defining negotiation
• Power and society: The rise of negotiation and conflict management
• The sources of conflict in organizations
• Conflict escalation and steps to prevent it
• Conflict management strategies
• Two distinct approaches to negotiation
• Understanding your own negotiation style
• Negotiation as a mixed-motive process

Day 7: Practical Negotiation Strategies

• Strategic and tactical negotiation approaches
• Value-claiming (distributive negotiation strategies)
• BATNA, reserve point, and target point
• Opening offers, anchors, and concessions
• Value-creating (integrative negotiation strategies)
• Sharing information, diagnostic questions, unbundling issues
• Package deals, multiple offers, and post-settlement settlements
• The four possible outcomes of a negotiation

Day 8: Negotiation Planning, Preparation, and Power

• Wants and needs: Distinguishing between interests and positions
• A three-step model for negotiation preparation
• Your position, their position, and the situation assessment
• Understanding the sources of negotiating power
• Altering the balance of power
• The power of body language
• Dealing with confrontational negotiators

Day 9: Mediation Skills – A Powerful Negotiation Tool

• Communication and questioning in negotiation
• Active listening in negotiation
• ADR processes: Negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and litigation
• Mediation as facilitated negotiation
• Techniques of the mediator: Practical mediation skills
• Working in negotiation teams
• Mediation in practice: Mediation exercise

Day 10: International and Cross-Cultural Negotiations

• International and cross-cultural negotiations
• Cultural values and negotiation norms
• Advice for cross-cultural negotiators
• Putting together a deal in international settings
• Team international negotiation exercise
• Applying learning to organizational situations
• Summary session and questions