Welcome to Negotiation Skills
Discover why negotiation is a learnable skill, how AI transforms preparation, and what you will master across all eight lessons.
Premium Course Content
This lesson is part of a premium course. Upgrade to Pro to unlock all premium courses and content.
- Access all premium courses
- 1000+ AI skills included
- New content added weekly
The Raise You Didn’t Get
Sarah deserved a raise. Her performance reviews were stellar. She’d taken on extra projects. Everyone knew she was underpaid. So she walked into her manager’s office and said, “I think I deserve a raise.”
Her manager said, “Budgets are tight this year.” Sarah said, “Oh, okay.” And that was it. No preparation. No alternative plan. No understanding of what her manager actually needed to hear.
Six months later, a colleague with similar performance asked for the same raise—and got it. The difference wasn’t talent or deservingness. It was preparation and technique.
Negotiation is a skill. Like any skill, it can be learned, practiced, and improved. And AI makes practice easier than ever.
What You’ll Learn
By the end of this course, you’ll be able to:
- Apply interest-based negotiation to reach win-win outcomes
- Design preparation frameworks that identify leverage before any negotiation
- Use active listening and questioning techniques to uncover the other party’s real needs
- Build creative solutions that expand value instead of splitting it
- Practice salary and contract negotiations with AI-simulated counterparts
- Evaluate negotiation outcomes against objective criteria and BATNA
What to Expect
This course has 8 lessons that build progressively from mindset to mastery. Each lesson includes frameworks, real-world examples, AI practice prompts, and quizzes.
| Lesson | Topic | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Welcome (you are here) | 10 min |
| 2 | Preparation: The Foundation of Every Negotiation | 12 min |
| 3 | Opening Positions and Anchoring | 15 min |
| 4 | Active Listening and Strategic Questions | 15 min |
| 5 | Creating Value and Expanding the Pie | 15 min |
| 6 | Salary and Compensation Negotiation | 15 min |
| 7 | Difficult Conversations and Conflict Resolution | 15 min |
| 8 | Capstone: Negotiate a Complete Scenario | 20 min |
The Two Approaches to Negotiation
Most people default to one of two approaches, and both have serious limitations.
Positional Bargaining (The Tug-of-War)
“I want $80,000.” “We can offer $65,000.” “How about $75,000?” “Best we can do is $70,000.”
This is a tug-of-war over a single number. One side wins, the other loses. Relationships get damaged. Creative solutions never emerge.
Interest-Based Negotiation (Expanding the Pie)
“What matters most to you in this role?” “I want financial security and career growth.” “What if we started at $72,000 with a guaranteed review in 6 months and a professional development budget?”
This approach asks WHY each party wants what they want. The answer often reveals options that satisfy everyone better than either original position.
This course teaches interest-based negotiation—the approach used by the world’s most effective negotiators, from diplomats to business leaders.
The AI Advantage in Negotiation
AI transforms negotiation preparation in ways that weren’t possible five years ago:
| Stage | Without AI | With AI |
|---|---|---|
| Research | Hours of googling | Rapid analysis of market data, comparable deals, and precedents |
| Strategy | Writing notes alone | AI challenges your plan and identifies blind spots |
| Practice | Asking a friend to role-play | Unlimited realistic simulations with tough counterparts |
| Analysis | Gut feeling about the outcome | Structured evaluation against objective criteria |
| Recovery | Replaying what went wrong in your head | Systematic debrief with improvement plans |
Your First Quick Win
Think of a negotiation you have coming up—or one you recently experienced. Paste this into your AI assistant:
I need to negotiate [situation].
The other party is [who].
I want [your goal].
They probably want [your guess].
Help me:
1. Identify my interests (WHY I want this, not just WHAT)
2. Guess their interests (WHY they want what they want)
3. Suggest 3 creative options that could satisfy both sides
4. Identify my BATNA (what I'll do if this fails)
Read the result. You now have more preparation than most people bring to any negotiation.
The Negotiation Mindset
Before we dive into tactics, let’s establish the right mental framework:
It’s not about winning. The best negotiations end with both parties feeling they got a good deal. A “win” that destroys a relationship is a loss.
Preparation is 90% of the outcome. The negotiation itself is where you execute a plan you’ve already built. Walking in unprepared is like taking an exam without studying.
Emotions are data, not decisions. You’ll feel anxious, frustrated, or excited during negotiations. Notice those feelings. Don’t let them drive your choices.
Silence is a strategy. After making an offer or asking a question, stop talking. Let the other person respond. Most people fill silence with concessions.
Key Takeaways
- Negotiation is a learnable skill that applies to salary, contracts, relationships, and everyday decisions
- Interest-based negotiation creates better outcomes than positional bargaining by asking WHY, not just WHAT
- Your BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) determines your real negotiating power
- AI gives you unlimited practice opportunities and strategic preparation tools
- Preparation accounts for 90% of negotiation outcomes
Up Next
In Lesson 2: Preparation: The Foundation of Every Negotiation, we’ll build a complete preparation framework that you can use before any negotiation—from salary talks to vendor contracts.
Knowledge Check
Complete the quiz above first
Lesson completed!