Cartoon by Diplofoundation (Concept Diplosor, Illustration: Veljasevic)
Category: Diplomacy (Page 4 of 5)
Persuading is a key communication skill that helps you to achieve influence with others. The ability to persuade can be developed and improved in order to become a better negotiator.
The article is meant to help you find the best negotiation approach to use on the base of your level of intuition and your influencing capabilities. The psychologist Kenneth Berrien elaborated the so called Persuasion Tolls Model.
In his studies of applied psychology in the 1940s, Berrien linked negotiation and persuasion style to emotional intelligence (EI).
According to the model, four negotiation approaches exist:
– emotion
– logic
– bargaining
– compromise.
Find out what your Right Negotiation Style is: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCS_80.htm
Image source: Diplofoundation
Diplomacy is like jazz: endless variations on a theme. – Richard Holbrooke
Image – Flickr – The Queen’s Hall
Public diplomacy is increasingly challenged by the transformative power of technology and the swift pace of digital progress: an effective online communication needs a careful and creative use of social medias. The UN foundation and the Digital Diplomacy Coalition have dealt with this subject at the end of October by hosting a half-day conference attended by people from all over the world, connected through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Livestream. Eight key – pieces of advice emerged throughout the conversation:
1) Meet people where they are, using multiple platforms to reach different audiences.
2) Listen: don’t just put out your messages, involve your audience.
3) Build a network of networks: a stronger community means a better exchange.
4) Tell stories: data are important but reaching the emotional level is crucial.
5) Tell your stories visually, images make words more powerful.
6) Be authentic, be accurate: being credible is even more important then being fast.
7) Engage your leadership to be active on line, thus helping to shape a social-media–friendly organization.
8) Spur action: specific and relevant reaction means your communication has been really effective.
Read more on: http://bit.ly/IsTayB
Image source: Flickr – Paul Shanks
Diplomacy is more than saying or doing the right things at the right time, it is avoiding saying or doing the wrong things at any time –
Bo Bennett
Image: Flickr by hebedesign
The spread of social media has affected the way in which public institutions communicate with the public. Nowadays, governments have understood that social media have some benefits when used to be connected with citizens in a more transparent and accountable way, by communicating 1-to many rather than repeatedly 1-to-1. Social media are one of the few ways a government can directly and instantly receive feedback on its policies and decisions.
However, civil servants should be particularly careful when using social media, especially in their own time. In social media the boundaries between professional and personal can sometimes be blurred, and commenting on some issues could carry some risks, such as disclosing official information without authority or compromising the impartial service to the government.
For this reason, in UK Government Digital Service and Home Office have established social media guidelines for civil servants. The guidelines include these ten tips for using social media:
1. Have a clear idea of your objectives in using social media (behaviour change/service delivery/consultation/communication);
2. Learn the rules of each social media space before engaging;
3. Abide by the Civil Service Code and ask for advice if you are not sure;
4. Remember an official account belongs to the Department not the individual;
5. Communicate where your citizens are;
6. Build relationships with your stakeholders on and offline – social media is just one of many communication channels;
7. Try not to channel shift citizens backwards (move from email to telephone for example);
8. Do not open a channel of communication you cannot maintain;
9. Understand when a conversation should be taken offline;
10. Do not engage with users who are aggressive/abusive;
Read more on: http://bit.ly/KClufb
Image source: http://bit.ly/168Odoj
In his TEDx talk, Stefano Baldi explains how being a diplomat today is a mix of tradition and innovation. In the era of web 2.0, currently characterized by Social Media, diplomats are challenged by constantly evolving ways of communication. He argues why an adequate and continuous training will empower the diplomat of the XXI century, the Diplomat 2.0, to be still an essential and irreplaceable resource for the country he/she represents.
Stefano Baldi is an Italian career diplomat with a lifelong commitment to innovation and creativity applied to diplomatic activities. Now that he is the head of the Training structure of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he is particularly engaged in emphasizing and experimenting with shaping the role of the XXI century diplomat.
In their book “Getting to Yes”, Roger Fisher and William Ury develop four principles of negotiation, which can be used effectively on almost any type of dispute.
The four principles are:
1) separate the people from the problem;
2) focus on interests rather than positions;
3) generate a variety of options before settling on an agreement;
4) insist that the agreement be based on objective criteria.
Read more on http://www.negotiations.com/book-reviews/getting-to-yes/ or http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/example/fish7513.htm
Photo By Joe Shlabotnik (Flickr)
Last week, it was stressed the importance of getting ready before starting a negotiation (link al post precedente). A specific tool, the Four Quadrants, was introduced in order to help negotiators think systematically and collect the right information beforehand. Today, a second tool, the Seven Elements, is introduced. For more information on these tools please check the book Beyond Machiavelli of Fisher, Kopelman, and Kupfer Schneider .
According to the authors, most of the Seven Elements “were originally introduced as a way of explaining the different components of negotiation, but subsequent experience has proven their usefulness as a preparation tool in any situation where persuasiveness may be demanded.” Therefore, before sitting at the negotiating table try and fill out as carefully as possible each of the items in the chart below.
| SEVEN ELEMENTS OF A CONFLICT SITUATION | |
| Interests |
Have the parties explicitly understood their own interests? |
| Options |
Are sufficient options being generated? |
| Legitimacy |
Have relevant precedents and other outside standards of fairness been considered? |
| Relationship |
What is the ability of the parties to work together? |
| Communication |
Is the way the parties communicate helping or interfering with their ability to deal constructively with the conflict? |
| Commitment |
Are potential commitments well-crafted? |
| Alternatives |
Does each side understand its Best Alternative to Negotiated Agreement – its BATNA? |
It is often said that a good negotiator is the one who is capable of turning a win-lose situation into a win-win situation. The only way to do so is generating fresh ideas and options which could at least partially satisfy the interests of the parties. However, reaching this goal is extremely difficult, for negotiations are usually characterized by objective (e.g., time constraints, difficult procedures) and subjective (e.g., strong feelings and emotions, misperceptions) obstacles. In order to overcome these obstacles, it is of the utmost importance to get ready for the negotiation. In this post, and in another one that will be online next week/tomorrow, two tools are introduced. They are taken from a great book, Beyond Machiavelli, written by Roger Fisher (founder of the Harvard Negotiation Project and co-author of Getting to Yes), Elizabeth Kopelman, and Andrea Kupfer Schneider. Check it out on Amazon to have more information on the negotiation tools, on how to use them, and on many other interesting ideas they put forth.
The first tool is the Four Quadrants. Before sitting at the negotiating table, try and think analytically and go through with the four categories shown in the chart below. According to the authors of Beyond Machiavelli, “a Four-Quadrant Analysis encourages systematic yet creative problem-solving.”
| A four-quadrant analysis for problem-solving | |||
| Quadrant I | Quadrant II | Quadrant III | Quadrant IV |
| What is wrong?
Perceptions of: |
General Diagnoses
Possible reasons why the problem hasn’t been resolved or the conflict settled. Possible causes (about which somebody could do something) of the gap in Quadrant I. |
General Approaches
Possible strategies for overcoming the identified diagnoses. |
Action Ideas
Ideas about who might do what tomorrow to put a general approach into action. |
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