Negotiating in a time of coronavirus

Coronavirus is creating many challenges – and negotiation is high on the list. As business suffers, the need to renegotiate many existing agreements, to resolve issues over force majeure, to agree revised volumes or deadlines means that, if anything, the volume of negotiations will increase and skilled negotiators will be in high demand.

Negotiate – but how?

But hold on! We are also in the midst of large scale travel bans and have many employees working from home. So how will those negotiations be conducted? The answer is that most will be virtual – in this time of social distancing, face-to-face is almost dead. Indeed, if we need more evidence, just consider the announcement that ‘UK and EU negotiators have agreed not to hold face-to-face talks next week on Brexit because of virus concerns’.

The problem with this shift is that very few people have been trained in how best to conduct virtual negotiations and, in recent research, they acknowledge they are not very good at it. So, as part of the IACCM Coronavirus Briefing Series, IACCM is offering two webinars to assist its members in the challenge of planning and managing virtual negotiations. In the first of these, on March 23^rd, we will discuss recent research findings and provide ideas and insights to ensure success, as well as answering your questions or concerns.

Join us for ‘The Truth About Negotiation’ and make sure you are equipped for this new and fast-changing environment.