Advanced Influencing, Negotiation and Engagement Skills

No matter what your position in medicine, being successful means engaging with, influencing and sometime negotiating with a wide variety of professional colleagues, from those assisting in front line care to those holding the power to re-define services. For healthcare leaders, the importance of influence is crucial, as leaders naturally influence others. This intensive, one-day course is designed to enhance your personal effectiveness, professional impact and credibility by equipping you with advanced skills in influencing, without you having to resort to coercion and manipulation simply to get things done. Furthermore, it provides you with an enhanced ability & strategies to engage people in the issues of today whilst also allowing you to successfully negotiate with all manner of professionals.

Content

• The context of influencing, negotiating and engagement in today’s NHS
• Current dangers of not coming to the table
• Sources of influence and disengagement
• Ethical versus unethical influencing
• Understanding & managing political influencing strategies
• Core principles of the influencing process
• The negotiation process as distinct from influencing
• The clinical to managerial dimension – gaining an equal footing
• Evolving the minds & hearts of others
• THINK, FEEL, DO
• Passing the Tipping Point – overcoming inertia
• The importance & adoption of a win-win philosophy
• Recognising & managing the win-lose mindset
• Revealing underhand moves & manoeuvres
• SPRINT cycle of achieving your outcomes
• Information is influence – core principles in information utilisation
• Planning – adopting a manageable but effective approach
• Use of SWOT analysis
• The importance of ground rules in influencing & negotiations
• Understanding & utilising professional & cultural norms
• Creating the conditions & will for effective engagement or negotiation
• Entering the negotiation phase – know the principles
• Recognising & using start and stop signals
• ABCD - knowing when to Agree, Bargain, Control or Delay
• Re-framing skills to ensure common agendas
• Working at a needs level, not positions
• Identifying needs from positions
• Building win-win agreements in stages
• Identifying and adjusting your BATNA
• Overcoming intransigence
• When others don’t play fairly – what are the options?

Course type and teaching methods

The course consists of an engaging blend of lectures, exercises, discussions & case studies designed to truly embed the principles whilst developing the practical application of them. Course numbers are low to encourage discussion and debate, whilst ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to examine issues pertinent to them.