Conflict resolution skills – Negotiation skills training
Stage of the project
Aims
- Participants negotiate with each other with the aim of obtaining a win-win outcome
Settings
- group of at least 4 people
- time: approx. 30 minutes
- material:
- separate worksheets with the task for partner A and partner B
- one pen for each participant
Learning Outcome
- finding arguments to support one’s goal
- anticipating the opponent’s arguments
- communicate one’s arguments convincingly
Activities
Preparation
Step 1: Trainer prepares a worksheet for partner A saying: ‘I want to do a language course in another country’ and a worksheet for partner B saying, ‘I want to do a language course in the country that I live in’.
Step 2: Trainer divides the group into pairs.
Step 3: Make sure every participant has a pen. If not, distribute pens to the participants.
Implementation
Step 1: Trainer explains the activity as follows:
- participants will receive a worksheet with a task
- each participant gets 5 minutes to gather arguments to support his/her goal
- when time is up participants discuss with their partner for 10 minutes trying to reach an agreement
Step 2: Trainer gives the task: “You want to do a language course together. You just need to decide where.”
Step 3: Trainer announces the beginning of the first five minutes to find arguments in favour of one’s goal. Each participant gathers their arguments individually.
Step 4: Trainer announces the end of the first 5 minutes and the beginning of the discussion phase. Partner A and B exchange their arguments.
Step 5: After 10 minutes, the trainer announces the end of the discussion phase.
Reflection
After the activity the trainer facilitates a reflection exercise about the activity. Questions for discussion could be:
- Have the participants reached an outcome? If so, which outcome?
- Which arguments did they use?
- How did they reach a win-win outcome?
- Were they both happy with the outcome?
- How did they both ‘win’?
- What did each participant appreciate about the other’s approach?
Comments
- If needed and if time is available, more time could be given to gather arguments to support one’s goal.
- The topic to be discussed and the roles of the partners could be changed to better suit the needs and interests of the participants.
- When forming the pairs, make sure to team-up participants who usually don’t work together as this usually makes the discussion more efficient.