Over at the Ambassador Partnership we are busy developing our corporate diplomacy Technique portfolio. The broad offering is now something like this:
Impact and Influencing
• Key Principles of Impact and Influencing
• Active Networking
• Active Influencing
Presentation Skills
• Core Presentation Skills
• Public Speaking with Impact
• Speechwriting with Impact
• PowerPoint and Presenting with Impact
Drafting Skills
• Core Drafting Skills
• Policy Work with Impact
• Speaking Notes with Impact
• Press Releases with Impact
Negotiation Skills
• Core Negotiation Skills
• Mediation Skills with Impact
• Active Listening
• Actively Framing Issues
• Chairing and Controlling Meetings
• Leading Difficult Conversations
Impact and Influence under Pressure
• Crisis Management
• Conflict Mapping
• Coping under Stress
• Diplomatic Change management
Impact and Influence in Thematic Areas
• Multilateral Work
• EU Negotiations
• Influencing EU Outcomes
• United Nations and International Organisations
• NATO and OSCE
• Conflict Prevention
• Energy Security
Region/Country-Specific Masterclasses on influencing and negotiation, with first-hand case studies of what worked or didn’t work in such cases as:
• India
• Russia
• China
• Brazil
• Saudi Arabia
• Afghanistan
• Balkans
• Greece
• Portugal
• Singapore
• Republic of Korea
The focus in the personal communication suites of masterclass is squarely on achieving operational impact, above all by looking at psychological and 'cultural' factors rather than dwelling on (say) the usual business school negotiation acronyms (ZOPA, BATNA, WATNA and all that). We give enough theory to set the tone, then drill down into vivid examples, case-studies and role-plays. We find that core elements of the professional mediation skill-set go a long way in helping get strong results in many other areas.
The other day I ran a masterclass on Negotiation Skills. The participants were divided into groups of four for a roleplay negotiation. It was striking to see how such simple factors as the way people sat at the table had a major influence on how far the different participants managed (or not) to get and maintain 'control' of the discussion and thereby advance their own negotiation goals.
This idea of controlling the process to help deliver the best outcome is central in many areas (negotiation, public speaking, drafting, chairing meetings, speechwriting and so on). Yet so many conventional courses ignore it or seem to be unaware that it exists or don't know how precisely to help people improve the way they exert control.
One really easy Whitehall trick that startles many of our foreign masterclass participants is the old ploy of being the first person to table draft conclusions for a meeting. The smart Chair of any meeting appears at the gathering armed with draft conclusions of it, and gets the draft in front of people fairly early on. That document frames the discussion both operationally and psychologically. Plus if someone violently disagrees with something it is better to find out sooner rather than later. But, of course, you don't need to be the Chair to produce draft conclusions; if you fear that you are going to be outgunned at a meeting, having something like this pre-prepared is a good way to improve your chances somewhat, if only by muddying the waters.
We also go into just why and how people are 'difficult' in eg negotiations. My favorite scheme to be difficult: be utterly charming, sympathetic, reasonable-sounding, apparently open-minded - and be 100% inflexible on substance. Gets impressive results(!).
Anyway, any Diplomatic Academies, Communist Parties, oligarchs or senior private or public sector C-suite people out there wanting some of this expert, fascinating and performance-transforming Technique work only need to contact me and it will be delivered.
Fast. And well. And memorably.
