Effective Negotiation Skills with Trade Unions

Overview

Excellent Industrial Relations are vital to help organisations improve performance and ultimately support the achievement of business objectives.  Effective Negotiation Skills with local and national representives of Trade Unions are not learnt overnight however we will provide you with the skills and knowledge to enable you to raise your game.   The training course will be led by an experienced specialist in workplace conflict resolution and people management. 

Who Should Attend?

This course is ideal for anyone who is responsible for communicating and negotiating with Trade Unions and groups of staff in the workplace.

Benefits To You & Your Organisation

By the end of the course you will have more confidence in:

• Understanding when the negotiation process should begin
• Recognising the skills that are required for successful negotiation
• Having a structure for the negotiation process
• Recognising the importance of thorough preparation
• Researching constants and variables
• Recognising shared interests
• Asking the right questions and using the power of silence
• Presenting in terms of benefits
• Being open to exchanging information
• Being aware of both own and other party's body language in the process
• Recognise that Unions do not usually seek the downfall of the employer and their business
• Gaining commitment and understanding the Unions Mandate
• Awareness of your limitations in the Negotiation process
• Importance of regular reviews before confirming agreement(s)

In the training we will also be including: 

• What training have line managers received so far in negotiation skills?
• What is the composition of the management team for negotiating purposes?
• What is the composition of the union team - does it include full time officers and if so at what level?
• How are union representatives selected/elected?
• What level of experience does the staff side have?
• What is the strength of the union rep's mandate - are they truly representative?
• What is the strength of influence of the unions over their members?
• What is the subject of negotiation and is this outside of the remit of the routine consultative framework?
  • Pay and conditions of service
  • Rotas/working patterns
  • Cost efficiencies
  • Staffing levels
• What is the flavour of the employee relations environment?
  • Harmonious
  • Adversarial
  • Partnership
  • Propose - oppose
• What are the time scales?
• How amenable is the management to compromise?
• Is there a firmly established fallback position?

 

Please contact us through our website, email us at info@ripleytraining.co.uk or call us on 01423 861122 to discuss your requirements in more detail.