The Subtle Arts of Persuasion and Negotiation

Whatever your position, the ability to communicate, connect, and influence others to achieve your desired outcomes is essential to being successful.

Nick Coburn-Palo, a member of the Taipei American School faculty and Consulting Trainer at UNITAR, held a workshop at the Chamber’s Lincoln Room, entitled “The Subtle Arts of Persuasion and Negotiation” on March 8. The program was aimed at helping individuals develop core skills necessary to persuade and negotiate across a wide variety of potentially contentious situations.

During the session, Coburn-Palo shared with AmCham members and guests the techniques leaders use, in speaking and writing, to influence and persuade others for win-win outcomes. Through different case studies from the worlds of politics, business, and family life, he gave participants a chance to understand human behaviors, how people process information, and when and why negotiations may breakdown.

The session concluded with three key takeaways:

• Embrace soft variables:  pay attention to personality traits, characteristics, physical space, and time
• Maintain flexibility: the desired outcome may not be the most advantageous; win-win outcomes sometimes mean getting 50%
• Remember your audience: negotiations and debates have different audiences – make sure the approach taken is based the audience and context.

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