'Persuasion & Negotiation Training' – Instructor John Kim / KOICA

Today in Pangyo, I ran a full-day negotiation simulation with KOICA division managers. Teams ran live role-plays on four cases that overseas ODA project managers actually face: Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Labor, Egypt, India, and Uganda. The countries and counterparts were all different, but one common pattern emerged as we worked through them.

In 3 of the 4 cases, the person across the table was not the final decision-maker. The counterpart at the table is often just a proxy. The real decision happens one level up, with the minister or the head of the division. Yet we tend to focus on persuading only the person in front of us, and that is where negotiations drag on and go off track. Here are the five sentences we wrapped up with today. Question who the decision-maker is. Read the hidden needs. Respect cultural codes. Work around the red lines. Design the long-term relationship. Another week has flown by. Have a great weekend!