Is Negotiation the New Kung-Fu?

As a young Engineering student I relished rock climbing and riding fast motorbikes and considered myself pretty robust. But when I briefly acquired a love-lorn stalker (!), I decided to add self-defence to my skillset.

I began learning Kung Fu and practiced my stance, punches, blocks and nifty moves. Doubtless, had I studied and trained hard for many years I would have been well equipped to counter any real-life adversary. But going to one class a week and practising sporadically in between, the only opponent I was ever going to beat was the one who moved slowly and telegraphed their moves well in advance. I’d developed enough skill to deal with a limited set of scenarios, but in a real-life situation I knew that my theoretical expertise would evaporate, and my best defence would be to run away!

So where does negotiation come in? Well it strikes me that much negotiation training available these days appeals to the King Fu student in all of us. It suggests that, with a day or two of training, we can learn new techniques that will render us invincible at the negotiating table. In reality, when we first encounter a client who doesn't "follow the script", we find ourselves high and dry.

Should we forget training? Absolutely not! But we should consider learning events that are biased towards rapid skills transfer and practical application, and followed up with focussed feedback and encouragement. Either that, or learn to run away, very fast!