Influencing and Persuading Skills for Lawyers

Course overview

Today all professional business lawyers should be equipped with powerful influencing, persuading and negotiating skills. Technical knowledge needs to be married to personal skills if you want to negotiate the best arrangement from a commercial agreement, build trust with internal or external clients or simply ensure your opinion is heard and respected.

This two-day personal development workshop has been specifically developed for lawyers. It offers a unique opportunity to focus on developing advanced influencing, persuading and negotiation skills to enhance your ability to make an impact, improve visibility and influence both clients and colleagues to achieve business goals.

The key reasons for attending this programme

This intensive two-day workshop tailored specifically to address situations faced by international lawyers, will:

• USE experiential learning to enhance and build your skills to effectively influence a situation to deliver your desired outcome
• ENHANCE your competency and confidence in negotiation with clients and colleagues
• IMPROVE your ability to manage conflict and dispute to a successful outcome
• PROVIDE a tool-kit of leading and influencing strategies and techniques that you can use to overcome day-to-day challenges
• IDENTIFY and recognise different influence and negotiation styles in yourself and others
• DELIVER one-to-one coaching to identify your strengths and weaknesses
• LEARN what it means to be an effective international negotiator and how this can benefit your organisation
• MASTER the skills necessary for managing negotiation impasses successfully

Who should attend?

This programme has been specifically designed for all in-house and private practice lawyers who would like to improve their performance through enhanced influencing, persuading and negotiation skills.

The key skills developed:

• Leadership
• Negotiation
• Influence and impact
• Persuasion

The delivery style

Using a mixture of visual aids, simulations, interactive sessions and paired and group work, the workshop presenter who is a recognised and sought-after trainer by many international corporates, will provide participants with strategies and a toolbox for future crossborder negotiations.

Programme - Day 1

DAY ONE

Definitions and styles of influencing and persuasion with colleagues and clients

• Basic strategies
• Personal impact and effectiveness when influencing
• Testing your antennae
• Review of self-assessment

Impactful tools for effective influencers and negotiators

• Behaviours that help to reach agreement
• Behaviours that lead to breakdown
• Asking
• Telling
• Probing
• Listening
• Use of silence
• Simulation and feedback

Determining and building trust for results

• Different types of trust
• Creating and sustaining trust
• Identifying your criteria for trust and the other people's
• Testing your criteria and others for trust

Influence and persuasion to lead, manage and negotiate across cultures and organisations

• Hierarchy
• 'I' v 'We'
• Perception of status
• Dealing with certainty
• Attitudes to time
• Relationship v task
• Intercultural communication styles

Influencing, creating and managing teams that deliver

• Teams v groups
• Team dynamics
• Team building
• Coaching teams
• Evaluating teams
• Remote and virtual teams

Time management and meeting strategies for fast-track lawyers

• Extinguishing time bandits
• Strategies to maximise influence in meetings
• Do's and Don'ts
• Seating for persuasion and influence
• Handling difficult conversations

Programme - Day 2

DAY TWO

Successful advanced negotiations – Objectives and strategy negotiations – internal and external

• Proven tools and techniques
• Objectives – Slicing the pie or expanding the pie
• The myth of 'win/win'
• Creating value – long and short term
• Identifying your objectives and strategy
• Strategy variables – BATNA and ZOPA

Identifying your natural negotiating style and widening your range of styles for success

• Practical exercise
• Recognising your preference and others
• Impact of different styles
• When to apply different styles

Pre-negotiation tools for effective time saving preparation

• Frames for a gain
• The Issue Map – Managing complex negotiations
• Offers

Finding and using negotiating power when you have no authority

• Definition of power
• Sources of power
• Interests
• Positions

Coaching for performance

• Benefits of coaching
• When to coach
• The GROW model
• Goal setting

Immediate action

• Key learnings
• Defining personal objectives
• Enhancing strengths and meeting challenges
• Where you are going to be – short, medium and long term
• Action plan