Navigating Commercial Tariffs eBook

Scotwork’s 8-Step Approach

The 8 Step Approach© is unique to Scotwork. It is rooted in the rigorous analysis of over 100,000 hours of real-world negotiations and 50+ years of research and practical application, to develop this proven methodology. By identifying common behaviours across diverse observations, we have distilled the deal-making process into a simple, universal 8-step model.

Prepare – Advanced preparation as standard

Argue – Conducting constructive negotiating dialogue

Signal – Spotting / rewarding / encouraging flexibility

Propose – How to make and receive

Package – Reshaping to close the gap

Bargain – Trading to close the gap

Close – When and how to close

Agree – From agreement to effective implementation

Advancing Negotiation Skills (A.N.S.)

The Advancing Negotiation Skills programme delivered over 2.5 days (4 half days virtually) is a live interactive negotiation programme. Our learning model actively engages participants in turning theory into iterative good practice. Our approach fosters better learner engagement by providing a collaborative, memorable and safe space to practice and develop new skills.

Over 80% of course time is allocated to live case-play exercises where techniques are road-tested within life-like, unscripted negotiation scenarios. Cases are selected to replicate real-life issues and are combined with a series of engaging 45-minute lectures.

Our expert coaches carefully guide participants through five sequences of lecture, preparation, negotiation case-play and follow-up analysis. Each is delivered in the context of their day-to-day working life.

Here’s an example timetable for the A.N.S. course:

The Negotiation Skills
Capability Survey

To understand how your teams currently negotiate we’re asking your team members to complete an online survey which will benchmark overall Negotiation Capability against global best practice. More than 31,000 negotiators have completed our online Negotiating Skills Capability Survey (NSCS) which has allowed us to capture data from more than 1150 world leading companies to build our best practice benchmark model.

The survey inputs will be used to prepare an organisational report on the overall capabilities and development needs in negotiation skill.

The online survey completion will take around 10 minutes for the 50 items in the survey. Please support your team members to set aside that time to complete the survey without interruption. Please encourage your teams to cooperate as fully as they can – the more responses Scotwork have, the better we will be able to provide you with an accurate / statistically significant view of the current capabilities and development needs. *No individual results are identified and no individual is reported on – just the overall group. At the start of the survey they will be asked to complete their name and email, however Scotwork will not share their individual answers. This data is collected to monitor response rates so that we can send reminders to those you haven’t completed in time.

Action Plan

Encouraging your team member to embed the negotiation skills they have learned is crucial to maximising the investment the business has invested in the training.

Agree for them to complete the Scotwork preparation tool for their next negotiations and share & discuss it with you.
Scheduled ongoing reviews of their PDP and how they are progressing in embedding the learning on a regular basis.
After 3 months encourage your team members to complete the consolidation modules found on the Scotwork Toolkit. This will:

Revisit the lessons of ANS
Deepen the understanding of the key negotiating lessons
Help to apply the negotiation skills

Post-course de-brief guidance

Schedule a follow-up meeting with your team member to review what they learned, discuss their Personal Development Plan (PDP) and how they plan to apply it.

This will help reinforce the learning and ensure that they can transfer the skills to their work.

Some of the possible areas of discussion:

Overall view of the course. How appropriate was it for their objectives set before the course?
Were those objectives achieved? Were any unexpected or additional benefits achieved?
How are they going to put the lessons and areas of focus in their PDP into practice?
What measures can be used to assess any change in their performance, behaviour or results?
Review the Scotwork preparation tool and agree on how they plan to utilise this to structure their preparation for future negotiations.

Protect your team from outside distractions during the course

For your team member to get the maximum value from the course, it’s important they can fully focus on their learning and ideally are not distracted by other business priorities.

Some of the ways you can do this:

Set Communication Expectations: Clearly define expectations regarding communication and availability. Review the course timetable to establish specific times for check-ins or updates, allowing them focused learning time while still being available when needed.
Shield from External Interruptions: Where possible please protect them from unnecessary external distractions or demands that may interfere with their learning experience. This includes minimizing non-urgent meetings and assignments during the training.
Foster Ownership: Encourage the team member to take ownership of their learning journey during the intensive training. Let them know you trust their ability to make the most of the experience and apply the knowledge effectively.

Pre-course objective setting with participant

Before your team member participates in the course, please arrange a meeting to discuss their expectations and goals for attending the training.

This will help you understand what they hope to achieve and how you can support them.

Some of the things you may want to discuss include:

Consider your corporate goals/strategic objectives
Why were they chosen to attend the ANS course?
What has prompted this training need?
Review their Scotwork Personal Negotiation Profiler report, to understand their current perceived confidence levels when negotiating.
What objectives are they aiming to achieve as a result of the course?
Encourage them to take notes and ask questions during the training. This will help them retain information and clarify any confusion they may have.

Personal Development Plan

Each participant will have a 1-to-1 session with a Scotwork consultant on the ANS course.

They will collaboratively discuss their personal profiler, their key learning takeaways from the training, and their initial areas of negotiation development focus, that they will work on straight away after the course.

We ask them to capture their learning takeaways and initial focus areas within the Scotwork PDP section of the Scotwork Digital Toolbox.

This PDP section, provides a live working document for your team members to work on implementing and embedding the learnings from the course.

3 Month ROI Survey

Ensure your team members complete the 3-month ROI survey which will be sent to them 12 weeks post-completion of the course.

The aim is to gather some feedback about their recollection of the course, the relevance of the skills and how they have applied these over the last few months. We also question about any measurable benefits gained in time or money as a result of their attendance on the course, to help calculate Return on Investment.

The Scotwork Toolbox

On completion of the course, your team member(s) will join the Scotwork Alumni, which offers membership access to a free suite of digital tools on the Scotwork Toolbox platform to support the application of best practice:

Preparation Tool: Our powerful and intuitive preparation tool guides dealmakers and their teams through best practice preparation
Scotwork App: App with Negotiation Diagnostic Tool
Resource Library: Downloadable course materials, eBooks, whitepapers and refresher videos
eLearning Modules: 8 Steps Consolidation Modules – revisit the lessons of A.N.S.
Personal Development Plan: Embed the learning from the course and continue to develop as a skilled negotiator with our Personal Development Plan

Actions for your team member on the course

Capture Personal Learnings

Document their personal learnings and insights throughout the Scotwork negotiation program.
Prepare to share these learnings during their 1-on-1 discussion with the Scotwork consultant on the program.
The personal learnings will be a key part of the Professional Development Plan (PDP) discussion with your after the program.

Develop Confidence in the Prep Tool

Gain sufficient confidence in using the Scotwork prep tool during the program.
Be able to demonstrate the application of the prep tool to you, their manager, during your first negotiation after the program.
Leverage the prep tool after the program, to enhance their negotiation skills and prepare effectively for future negotiations.

The Negotiating Profile

Personalised Learning

We start your negotiators on the path of personalised learning and self-improvement by firstly asking them to complete their individual Negotiating profiler.

Results from their online questionnaire will give your team members an instant, individual snapshot report of how confident they are in their negotiating abilities against each of the 8 steps.

We’ll use this report with them on the course.

Here’s what the report they will receive looks like:

Joining Instructions

Your team members who are participating on the course will be sent joining instructions by Scotwork in advance of the start of the course.

It will include information about the course:

Dates, timings, timetable
Names of Consultant(s) running the course
Informing them that they need to bring a Tablet or Laptop to use on the course

It will also set out the pre-work that they need to do before attending the course:

1. Activate their Scotwork Toolbox Account:

They’ll receive a separate email (from alumni@scotwork.com) inviting them to the Scotwork Toolbox.

2. Complete their Negotiating Profile on the Scotwork Toolbox:

Once they have activated their account, they will be asked to complete the Scotwork Negotiating Profile Questionnaire, which they must complete before attending the course.

The questionnaire is multiple-choice and should take around 20 minutes to complete.

3. Complete the GDPR Form to enable us to communicate with your team members by email.

The Negotiation Skills
Capability Survey

The survey inputs will be used to prepare an organisational report on the overall capabilities and development needs in negotiation skill.