Q & A Table of Contents
Convincing My Boss My Company Needs Training
From: Ola, London, England
Question: How do I tell my line manager the importance of training in negotiation skills for managers and supervisors in my company?
Response: Everyone negotiates in both professional and private life -- and the success of those negotiations can have a profound impact on everything from personal satisfaction to corporate profitability.
Your question does not spell out the reasons you think negotiation skills training would be valuable for your company. Before trying to convince anyone of anything, it is crucial to examine what they — or their organization — could gain by accepting your ideas. For example, there are several possible reasons enhancing negotiation skills could help your company; but you need to present these reasons as questions rather than as definite conclusions that you have concluded are incontrovertible facts. A list of those questions could include the following:
What is are the best ways for the company to deal with internal conflicts among ‘tribes’ within the company that interfere with the decision-making process?
What changes would aid the company’s bottom line in terms of increased sales, better procurement policies, more effective use of such company assets as human resources, machinery, or processes?
How would things improve if the company utilized a collaborative decision-making process?
What interests would be better served if more of the company’s stakeholders were satisfied with the way the company reaches agreements with elements of its staff, clients, suppliers, lenders, landlords, owners, etc.?
You should note that these questions don’t ask for simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers; they are designed to dig out information so that you can develop a clearer understanding of what drives the decisions of the people you are asking. As you learn about what they think is important, you should be able to express reasons for initiating the kinds of training programs that will yield the results your colleagues (line manager and other decision-makers) would like to gain for your company.
Good luck with the process,
Steve
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