Whatever has happened to your business this year, the need for robust negotiation skills and strategy building has never been stronger.
Some organisations have got ahead of the game, and others have been left behind, but wherever your company is right now it is never too late to make a change.
Negotiation in a crisis – is it different?
How many negotiations are taking place as you read this article? I would suggest hundreds, if not thousands. They will involve, policy, law, money, goods & services and all of the other variables that one would expect in any negotiation. What sets apart negotiation in June 2020 from other times is the fact that many of these negotiations will (literally) involve life and death decisions. Conversations taking place right now in board rooms and presidents’ offices about social distancing, remote working and when to re-open schools and shops will all have an effect on the way this pandemic plays out.
We do a lot of work with Premiership football clubs in conjunction with the Football Association, and this week we delivered a bespoke negotiation program to a select audience of Technical Directors from mainly Premiership clubs, including the Women’s game.
Dan Ashworth was Technical Director at the FA and was responsible for the appointment of Gareth Southgate amongst other things; before that he did the same role at West Bromwich Albion. He is now Technical Director at Brighton and Hove Albion, and so his experience of negotiations in the pressure cooker environment of the transfer world is second to none.
At the end of the program Dan was happy to share with us his thoughts on the day – here is what he had to say:
agent, football, negotiation, recruitment, sport, talentid, transfer
Due to demand, we are coming back to the USA to deliver another Open 2.5 day advanced program. We have a couple of places left, so if you know someone who could benefit, contact us to find out more.
Ever felt like you’ve been played? As though you’ve never really been in control from the start? Maybe you were subjected to some effective pre-conditioning.
As 2019 is just around the corner, it is worth taking a look at 2018 and what has happened at bridge][ability. Here are some of the highlights:
Samworth Brothers is a Leicestershire based food manufacturer, the owner of Cornish Pasty maker Ginsters, and the largest maker of certified Melton Mowbray Pork Pies. It is currently listed at number four in The Times Top Track 250.
As one of the largest food manufacturers in the UK, Samworth Brothers provides for a very interesting case study. As with so many of our clients, their challenges stemmed from changes in the retail environment and pressures within their supply chain. Samworth Brothers sought our support in order that they could generate greater revenue from their commercial interactions and maximise the outcomes of their strategic relationships.
After detailed research, the solution we proposed and subsequently executed, involved a very broad cross section of the business. Thus far we have had the pleasure of working with Samworth Brothers staff who are involved in sales, procurement and the financial side of the business. We have also dealt with a wide range of seniority.
We have delivered a number of 1 and 2.5 day programs to the Samworth Brothers team. The programs have been a mix of in-house and ‘open’ sessions as the business has realised the benefits of both. We are able to deliver a sector specific offering when working in-house, whereas our open programs are available to anyone who wishes to join us; as Samworth Brothers has realised the great benefit of the latter is the chance to experience other delegate’s (and therefore other sector’s) commercial challenges and solutions.
Promar is the UK’s largest agricultural and agri-food consultancy, a division of Genus PLC. Promar works with more than 2000 farmers in the UK and overseas, providing advice to maximise profit and fulfil the strategic objectives of the business. Promar also works with commercial and trade organisations and governments globally to manage projects and provide advice to develop ambitious businesses.
Genus and Promar work very closely with Tesco. They manage Tesco’s Future Farmers Foundation (TFFF). This scheme is designed to take farmers who work within Tesco’s supply chain and give them the required skills to deliver more successful businesses whilst serving Tesco’s needs. Part of this year long development program includes leadership and commercial negotiation.
From a start point of business planning and decision making, bridge][ability’s involvement with the TFFF has grown to include commercial negotiation development. This has presented some almost unique challenges for us. First, the agricultural sector was unfamiliar to us and whilst we know that our expertise is applicable across all industries, we did need to develop an understanding of the challenges presented in modern farming. Second, due to the time pressures in place on the TFFF, bridge][ability has been required to deliver impactful and useful material in an unusually short period of time. Our involvement with the TFFF has required us to be highly disciplined in our delivery and has shown us what can be packed into a few short hours.
Although brief, our interactions with the TFFF delegates have led to many of them taking places on our longer programs. As the pressures grow on the UK farming industry, the ability to negotiate a good deal continues to be extremely important.
influencing, international, negotiation, retail, team development, tesco
bridge][ability is closely involved with Manchester Business School in a number of areas. Over the past 3 years our focus has been delivery of negotiation development training on their Advanced Management Achievement Course (AMAC).
The AMAC:
The Advanced Management Achievement Course is a 3-week highly specialised programme designed for military officers moving into management and executive careers. Through a mix of taught sessions, in-company visits and guest speakers, attendees develop the confidence and management tools to take the next step into a new and unpredictable commercial environment.
Attendance on the programme also includes the award of the Chartered Management Institute Level 8 in strategy and leadership.
Although the AMAC has been running for several years, it has never addressed directly the subject of commercial negotiation. Further, the attendees on the AMAC, whilst senior in their military roles, have not been exposed to the challenges of negotiation in the commercial world. Our remit was to deliver a short and focussed programme within the AMAC, that would equip the attendee with the knowledge to enter a new career and be commercially effective immediately.
The AMAC provided an almost unique challenge. In the vast majority of situations where bridge][ability is presented with ‘new-comers’ to negotiation, they tend to be junior, either in age or time served within their parent organisations; the AMAC delegates are neither of these things. Their lack of knowledge and experience is a product of the environment in which they have worked.
Our knowledge allowed us to craft an impactful day that would give the attendees the ability to influence their negotiations through a thorough understanding of the nature of any negotiation (and environment), the ability to plan any negotiation and an understanding of the impact of their actions on others. Through the use of video feedback we were able to demonstrate to the attendees how they influence, and are influenced by others, in a negotiation situation. Whilst brief, the sessions we deliver on the AMAC expose attendees to transactional and collaborative negotiations – in short, we give them the all the skills they need to by effective in their new roles.
Our relationship with Manchester Business School continues to thrive.
You may not have heard of Ozzie and Daniel Silna, brothers who made their fortune in the textile industry in New York in the 1960s and 70s, but this story of negotiation is a great one, and there are plenty of lessons to take from it.
By 2014 the Silna brothers had earned over $300,000,000 from the NBA despite never having played a game or indeed never having owned an NBA franchise. How they did it is a tale of planning, foresight and resilience to rival the very best commercial negotiations ever.