Career Readiness · Soft Skills · Lesson Plan

Negotiating Skills

A free lesson plan on effective workplace negotiation — the principle that the most effective skills are the ones that leave both parties feeling satisfied with the outcome. Students learn the six-step negotiation framework and practice it on real-world scenarios. Free to read and reproduce.

HS Business Ed · Adult Ed · College
Lesson + Pair Activity
60 min
Free Lesson

What Students Learn

Learning objectives

Why we all need negotiating skills — in private life and in the workplace
The most important principle: effective negotiation produces outcomes both parties feel satisfied with, not one winner and one loser
The difference between focusing on positions vs. focusing on underlying interests — the same desire can have multiple solutions
How to build rapport so all parties feel relaxed and comfortable enough to negotiate honestly
How to set objective standards for a fair agreement before getting into specifics
How to brainstorm as many options as possible to find mutually acceptable solutions

The six-step negotiation framework:

Build rapport so all parties feel relaxed and comfortable
Identify interests
Focus on interests, not on positions
Set objective standards for a fair agreement
Find as many options as possible
Look for mutually acceptable solutions

For Teachers

How to use this lesson

Method: Open by explaining that we all need negotiating skills in private and corporate life, but that the most effective skills are those that allow both parties to a negotiation to feel satisfied with the outcome. Have students read the passage. Give them Activity 1 and check that they have the six-step order correct.

Pair activity: have students work in pairs to discuss Activity 2 part A, then walk through Situation B together. Debrief by collecting some of their mutually-acceptable solution ideas on the whiteboard. The class will usually generate more creative options than any individual would alone, which is the lesson’s quiet point.

Related lesson: Principles of Effective Communication. Negotiation is the applied form of good communication, so the two pair naturally. Negotiating Skills is best taught in high-school business education, adult ed, or college — it requires students to have enough life experience to recognize when they’re in a negotiation (which is more often than they realize).

Free Lesson