If you have been considering making an investment in yourself attending negotiation skills training, then Harvard negotiation training should definitely be on your short list of negotiation classes to consider. After all, the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School did produce what is arguably the most influential book on negotiations ever: Getting to Yes.

Getting to Yes urges negotiators to avoid hardball negotiation tactics and instead look for more potential win-win scenarios that would give the greatest benefit to all of the parties. While Getting to Yes has been very popular, it has also drawn some criticism for being a bit academic in its assumptions that most people can be made to “play nicely” and not use high pressure negotiation tactics. Nonetheless, the book is an excellent foundation to build on, and serves as the basis for the basic negotiation course at the Harvard Program on Negotiation.

For those who are already familiar with this material, you should consider an advanced negotiations seminar from the  Harvard Program on Negotiation (HPON).  We recommend the week-long seminar based on the Difficult Conversations book.  Difficult Conversations moves past some of the more naive notions of Getting to Yes and recognizes that often times “the people are the problem”, and helps you understand how to deal with people/personality issues in negotiations.

While not quite as “nuts and bolts” as some contract negotiation training or sale negotiation training courses out there, the negotiation classes at the Harvard Program on Negotiation provide excellent and practical negotiations training that can be immediately put to use getting better deals for your business.  So, if you are looking for a negotiating seminar with useful, high quality training, you should definitely check the Harvard Program on Negotiation web site for full details on the negotiation seminar that interests you.

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