Negotiation (People 9) describes how to reach results that are both in the interest of the project, programme or portfolio and acceptable to other parties; The Negotiation (People 9) competence element enable the individual to reach satisfactory agreements with others by using negotiation techniques.

Everything you have, you are given by someone else. The budget for your project is not your money. The people you manage are not your people, and the materials you buy in are the supplier’s. Nothing belongs to you; you have it all on loan and it is expected that you will be careful how you handle it all. This goes even further, because also all the power and authority that you have, has been received from someone else. All important decisions are taken by someone else, such as the go-no go at the end of a phase, the releasing of funds for the project/programme, and the acceptance of the delivered results. The means that you have to negotiate over everything, including the budget, for which you usually receive less than you in the first instance believed necessary, and the duration, which is nearly always tighter than you would like it to be. The people on your project come from other departments or external suppliers, with whom you also have to negotiate on the delivery price. The sponsor often has a different idea about the way in which you have to execute the project/programme, and this is again something you have to reach an agreement on. When you consider all of the above, you can see that negotiation is a very important competence element, and one for which the project/programme manager has to educate and train himself.

Instructional Objectives 

• Identify and analyse the interests of all parties involved in the negotiation 
• Develop and evaluate options and alternatives with the potential to meet the needs of all parties 
• Define a negotiation strategy in line with own objectives that is acceptable to all parties involved 
• Reach negotiated agreements with other parties that are in line with own objectives 
• Detect and exploit additional selling and acquisition possibilities 

45min.