Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Managers and Team Leaders, Procurement and Commercial Professionals and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-CS-188

Before you join: Participants should have experience of workplace conversations involving competing priorities, disagreement, service issues, budgets, contracts, projects or people management.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Negotiation and conflict resolution are central to supplier discussions, project priorities, performance concerns, workplace disputes, client agreements and cross-functional decisions. Poorly prepared negotiations can produce unnecessary concessions, delayed decisions, damaged working relationships and agreements that cannot be implemented. Avoiding conflict may allow issues to harden; addressing it badly can create defensiveness, formal complaints or costly escalation. Professionals need a disciplined way to prepare, communicate, bargain and resolve disagreements while protecting both outcomes and relationships.

This course develops practical capability in interest-based negotiation, distributive bargaining, difficult conversations and structured conflict resolution. Participants learn to analyse parties, interests, authority, alternatives and decision criteria; establish BATNAs, reservation points and bargaining ranges; ask diagnostic questions; make and test proposals; manage pressure tactics; and write workable agreements. The course also addresses conflict styles, emotional triggers, de-escalation, mediation stages, multiparty discussions and escalation decisions. Participants practise selecting an appropriate approach when value must be claimed, when value can be created, and when a dispute requires facilitated dialogue or formal referral.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with realistic cases, structured group work, negotiation simulations, conflict scenarios and individual application planning. Cases can be adapted to procurement, banking, public services, NGOs, project delivery, customer relationships or people management. Participants leave with a completed negotiation preparation pack and a 30-day plan for applying the methods to live conversations. The five-day programme provides approximately 32.5 contact hours, delivered in the classroom or live online, and includes a certificate of completion.

What you will be able to do

  • Analyse negotiation interests, authority, alternatives and decision criteria using a preparation canvas
  • Calculate BATNA, reservation value, target outcomes and bargaining ranges for live negotiations
  • Conduct interest-based conversations using calibrated questions, active listening and reframing
  • Use anchoring, package offers and conditional proposals to claim and create value
  • Respond to pressure tactics, false deadlines and positional demands using objective criteria
  • De-escalate difficult conversations using the DESC script, acknowledgement and boundary setting
  • Facilitate structured conflict resolution through assessment, dialogue and agreement design
  • Produce an implementation-ready negotiated agreement and 30-day application plan

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Prepare confidently for salary, supplier, client and internal negotiations
  • Reduce reactive concessions through clear alternatives and reservation points
  • Handle tense conversations without avoiding issues or escalating conflict
  • Build credibility through fair process, clear boundaries and reliable follow-through
  • Apply a repeatable method to live disputes and stakeholder disagreements

For your organisation

  • Improve agreement quality through better preparation and objective decision criteria
  • Reduce avoidable concessions in commercial, procurement and internal negotiations
  • Resolve workplace disputes earlier before grievance, attrition or formal escalation
  • Strengthen cross-functional delivery by addressing priority and resource conflicts directly
  • Create clearer agreements with owners, dates, measures and review points

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can diagnose the type of negotiation or conflict and select an appropriate response approach.

  • Distinguishing positions, interests, needs and constraints in workplace disputes
  • Mapping stakeholders, authority, incentives and decision rights before engagement
  • Thomas-Kilmann conflict modes matched to issue and relationship stakes
  • Separating task conflict from relationship conflict and status threats
  • Conflict escalation signals: attribution, stereotyping, coalition building and public commitment
  • Choosing direct discussion, facilitated dialogue, mediation or formal escalation

Participants can prepare a negotiation strategy with defensible targets, alternatives and concessions.

  • BATNA, reservation value and target price calculated before bargaining
  • ZOPA tested against market data, mandates and practical alternatives
  • Preparation canvas records interests, priorities, risks, assumptions and concessions
  • Objective criteria sourced from benchmarks, policy, precedent and independent standards
  • Agenda, venue, participants and decision authority designed for productive meetings
  • Concession plan links movement to reciprocal value and approval limits

Participants can uncover interests, test assumptions and communicate understanding without premature agreement.

  • Open, probing and calibrated questions reveal interests without premature proposals
  • Active listening uses paraphrasing, summarising, labelling and purposeful silence
  • Nonviolent Communication separates observations, feelings, needs and clear requests
  • Reflecting emotion without agreement reduces defensiveness and preserves rapport
  • Testing assumptions through neutral language and specific behavioural examples
  • Framing issues around shared criteria rather than blame or intent

Participants can manage price, terms and concessions where value must be divided.

  • Distributive bargaining claims value when resources, deadlines or mandates constrain settlement
  • Anchoring opens within credible ranges and protects against reactive concessions
  • Package offers trade across variables instead of bargaining one issue
  • Conditional proposals use if-then terms to test reciprocal movement
  • Bracketing ranges clarifies possible settlement without conceding the target
  • Responding to aggressive tactics with questions, pauses and objective criteria

Participants can develop options that meet differing interests and improve agreement value.

  • Interest-based negotiation expands options before selecting a mutually acceptable agreement
  • Generate multiple equivalent simultaneous offers to identify counterpart priorities
  • Logrolling exchanges lower-priority items for higher-value counterpart interests
  • Contingent agreements manage uncertainty through measurable future triggers
  • Joint fact-finding resolves disputed data before bargaining over conclusions
  • Decision matrices compare packages against weighted interests and implementation risk

Participants can assess power dynamics and respond ethically to pressure and manipulation.

  • Power analysis distinguishes alternatives, information, legitimacy, relationships and time
  • Reading mandate limits prevents agreements that cannot gain internal approval
  • Ethical influence uses transparency, consent and defensible objective criteria
  • Recognising deception, false deadlines, good-cop-bad-cop and nibbling tactics
  • Countering pressure through reality testing, documentation and planned breaks
  • Escalation protocols preserve authority while keeping workable communication channels open

Participants can address contentious issues directly while managing emotion, behaviour and boundaries.

  • DESC script structures difficult feedback, requests and boundary-setting conversations
  • Reframing accusations into observable facts, impacts, needs and future choices
  • De-escalation uses pace, tone, acknowledgement and regulated breathing
  • Face-saving options protect dignity while addressing unacceptable conduct directly
  • Managing interruptions, hostility and silence without surrendering the agenda
  • Written follow-up records commitments, unresolved issues and escalation thresholds

Participants can structure negotiations involving multiple stakeholders, interests and decision routes.

  • Coalition mapping identifies allies, blockers, influencers and hidden decision makers
  • Process design sets representation, speaking order, confidentiality and decision rules
  • Facilitation separates issue generation, option development, evaluation and commitment
  • Managing caucuses prevents side agreements from undermining group legitimacy
  • Consensus, majority and delegated authority matched to governance requirements
  • Cross-cultural preparation tests communication preferences, hierarchy, time and risk assumptions

Participants can guide a structured resolution process and recognise referral boundaries.

  • Conflict assessment identifies parties, issues, history, power imbalances and safety concerns
  • Mediation stages: opening, perspectives, issue definition, options, agreement and closure
  • Neutral summaries test shared facts and expose unresolved interpretations
  • Private caucus use protects confidentiality without compromising procedural fairness
  • Settlement terms specify actions, owners, dates, measures and review points
  • Formal grievance, HR and legal referral boundaries recognised early

Participants can review negotiation performance, implement agreements and plan targeted workplace application.

  • Negotiation debriefs compare preparation, choices, outcomes and relationship effects
  • Agreement implementation plans assign owners, milestones, dependencies and communication routines
  • Post-negotiation review identifies value created, value claimed and avoidable concessions
  • Personal conflict triggers mapped to replacement responses and pause strategies
  • Stakeholder communication plans explain agreements without reigniting contested issues
  • Thirty-day application plan targets two live negotiations and review measures

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Negotiation preparation canvas
  2. BATNA and bargaining-range worksheet
  3. Concession planning matrix
  4. Difficult conversation DESC script
  5. Conflict assessment checklist
  6. Thirty-day negotiation application plan

Who should attend

  • Managers and Team Leaders — resolve performance, priority and relationship disputes constructively
  • Procurement and Commercial Professionals — negotiate terms, concessions and supplier commitments
  • Project and Programme Managers — align competing stakeholders around scope, resources and deadlines
  • HR and Employee Relations Professionals — handle workplace conflicts before formal escalation
  • Sales and Account Managers — protect client value while sustaining long-term relationships
  • Public Sector, NGO and Policy Professionals — build agreement among parties with competing mandates

Skills and tools covered

Negotiation preparationInterest-based bargainingConflict de-escalationDifficult conversationsMediation processAgreement implementation

Tools and standards

BATNA, ZOPA, Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, Nonviolent Communication

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce methods, followed by case analysis, group exercises, negotiation simulations and facilitated reflection. Participants prepare for realistic bargaining situations, conduct structured conversations, test responses to difficult tactics and assess conflict-resolution options. Simulations examine commercial, stakeholder and workplace scenarios, with feedback focused on preparation, communication choices, agreement quality and relationship effects. Individual application planning connects the methods to current negotiations and conflicts participants expect to handle after the course.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience of workplace conversations involving competing priorities, disagreement, service issues, budgets, contracts, projects or people management. They should be prepared to discuss realistic professional situations and reflect on their own communication habits. No formal negotiation qualification, legal training, psychology background or prior mediation experience is required. The course does not assume responsibility for disciplinary investigations, collective bargaining or legal dispute resolution, although it helps participants recognise when specialist HR, legal or formal mediation support is needed.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should have experience of professional conversations involving competing interests, priorities or disagreement. No prior negotiation course, legal qualification or mediation certification is required.

Bring examples of upcoming negotiations or recurring conflicts, with sensitive details removed where necessary. You will use these situations to build preparation and application plans.

It suits managers, procurement professionals, project leaders, HR practitioners, account managers and professionals who must secure agreement without relying on formal authority. It is particularly useful where relationships matter after the immediate decision.

General communication training focuses mainly on clarity, listening and presentation. This course applies communication to bargaining, competing interests, concessions, conflict escalation, agreement design and difficult stakeholder decisions.

Participants can use the preparation canvas before a supplier meeting, project discussion, client renewal or performance conversation. They can also apply the conflict assessment checklist to decide whether direct discussion, facilitated dialogue or formal referral is appropriate.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided among instructor input, case work, group exercises, simulations, feedback and individual application planning across approximately 32.5 contact hours.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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