Develop a balanced agreement

How can you defend your interests while working towards an agreement that is acceptable to the other party?

1960 € per session, excl. VAT

In short

This 7-hour day, excluding breaks, trains participants to prepare, conduct and conclude a negotiation based on interests rather than positions. Participants alternate between role plays, observation and feedback to explore needs, develop mutually beneficial options and formalise an agreement compatible with their professional constraints.

Why this training?

A negotiation focused solely on stated demands often confines the discussion to haggling. Distinguishing between positions, interests and constraints allows you to explore variables other than price or deadlines, without abandoning your own limits. Seeking common interests does not mean reaching an agreement at any cost or making unilateral concessions. The training focuses on questioning, reciprocal commitments and objective criteria, with feedback on the wording actually used. Ongoing case study: The fictitious organisation Avelune Conditionnement needs to renegotiate a delivery with its supplier: production requires a prompt first delivery, while the supplier wants to consolidate shipments. Participants negotiate volumes, scheduling and reciprocal commitments using separate confidential briefing sheets. Transfer to the workplace: Within fifteen days, prepare a professional negotiation using the framework practised, then conduct a debrief with a peer: interests discovered, conditional concessions, limits respected and commitments secured. Then choose a specific behaviour to work on again during the next discussion.

Objectives of this training

  • Distinguish stated positions from underlying interests.
  • Prepare your priorities, limits, room for manoeuvre and fallback option.
  • Ask questions about the other party’s interests, then restate them.
  • Develop several options with explicit reciprocal commitments.
  • Formalise a verifiable agreement or make a reasoned decision not to reach an agreement.

Who is it for and what are the prerequisites?

Roles and tasks concerned

  • Sales and purchasing managers negotiating reciprocal commitments.
  • Managers and project leaders making trade-offs over resources, deadlines or scope across departments.

Prior skills

  • Have previous experience of discussions involving divergent interests.
  • Know the constraints and decision-making limits within your professional remit.

What you will work on

  1. Observe your negotiation reflexes

    Objective: Identify what closes down or opens up the exploration of interests. Positions, interests, constraints; cooperation and defending your limits.

  2. Prepare your mandate

    Objective: Secure your room for manoeuvre before the discussion. Priorities, walk-away threshold, fallback option and objective criteria.

  3. Uncover needs

    Objective: Verify interests without making assumptions about them. Open questions, listening, restating and distinguishing between facts and interpretations.

  4. Broaden the options

    Objective: Create proposals that benefit both parties. Negotiable variables, package proposals and conditional concessions.

  5. Stand firm under pressure

    Objective: Maintain dialogue without giving ground on a limit. Ultimatums, disagreement, silence, reframing and suspending the discussion.

  6. Conclude and verify

    Objective: Turn converging views into precise commitments. Validation of the mandate, implementation conditions, follow-up and a reasoned decision not to reach an agreement.

What you take away

  • Preparation framework: interests, limits and fallback option.
  • Mapping of interests and mutually beneficial options.
  • Agreement template with commitments, responsible individuals and deadlines.
  • Observation framework and personal practice plan.

Method and assessment

  • Short instructional inputs followed by practical scenarios and role plays based on the ongoing case study.
  • Structured observation and peer feedback using a shared framework.
  • Guided debrief: what worked, what will be adjusted, individual commitment.
  • Preparation: Describe a past negotiation, anonymising people, sensitive amounts and organisations. Identify a concession you regretted and a question that would have helped you better understand the other party.

Observable criteria: The preparation distinguishes between priorities, limits and a credible fallback option. ; Two interests of the other party are restated and validated during the discussion. ; Two options combine several variables and make the reciprocal commitments explicit. ; No concession exceeds the mandate defined in the case study. ; The conclusion specifies the commitments or the reasons for not reaching an agreement..

Frequently asked questions

Does the approach work between departments?

Yes: deadlines, resources and priorities are negotiable variables, even without a commercial transaction.

Must a compromise always be found?

No. A reasoned refusal remains preferable to an agreement that falls below your minimum acceptable limit or is impossible to implement.

Can we work on a real situation?

Yes, after anonymisation. The exercises use fictitious or anonymised cases and only tools authorised by the organisation.

How is progress assessed?

Observers record specific behaviours; the final simulation checks questioning, reciprocal commitments, respect for limits and the conclusion.

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