Negotiation for Kids – Learning to Persuade, Convince, and Settle from a Young Age

We commonly associate the skill set of negotiation with adults, given that it is a core skill that is utilised at work (and sometimes at home!). However, negotiation is fast gaining traction as a unique, stand-out skill for our young communicators to explore. For these young learners, public speaking goes beyond the stage setting to cover intimate, small-scale (but still high-stakes) communication settings like a negotiation.

However, when it comes to negotiation, there are many schools of thought – some see it as a strategy game, while others think the goal is to get one over the other party. Instead, negotiation, when done with a collaborative spirit, can show our young communicators the power of active listening, open communication, and persuasion. These skills can be developed from a young age as they become versatile communicators themselves.

With that, we will share three main aspects that your child can explore in negotiation!

Listen First

A key aspect of collaborative negotiation is the reminder to adopt active listening toward the other party. The aim is to unpack and digest the perspectives from the other side. This helps to invite the negotiating party to the table and make them feel heard and appreciated. As such, collaborative negotiators avoid jumping in reactively and try to maintain control by understanding the positions and interests of the other side.

For our young negotiators, the same skill sets can be a reminder for them to take a pause and listen first. One technique in this regard is open-ended questions (e.g., Who, What, When, Where, Why, How). This ensures that your child does not jump into a communication setting without first understanding the context of the setting. This can be supplemented by other techniques, such as summarising (to show understanding).

Find the Bridge

Once your child starts practising the active listening aspect of negotiation, the next step is to guide them on managing the information they take in. With active listening, a negotiator is better placed to develop various options to resolve the disagreement or bridge the gap. The same can apply to our young communicators – they can explore how best to build that bridge of agreement, no matter the setting!

Our young negotiators can start by prioritising the information they receive from active listening. The prompt for this is asking what is the most important interest or concern of the other party? Doing so encourages your child to exercise empathy – a pathway to creativity in problem-solving. They are no longer limited to just one solution or idea (which is usually their idea) but other collaborative options that can bridge the gap.

Remember to Summarise

In typical speech-crafting settings, the conclusion is often one of the more challenging aspects young communicators grapple with. The difficulty is to ensure that the topic, sharing, or speech ends on a strong note while having the key message resonating with the audience. In a negotiation, the same can be achieved by ensuring that the grounds of the agreement are finalised and confirmed, resulting in a long-term commitment.

For our young negotiators, the aim is to ensure that there is little room for misunderstanding in the final stages of a discussion/negotiation. This can be achieved by concluding with a summary, running through each agreed-upon point or conclusion in the negotiation setting. Your child may even explore other modes of recording the agreement (e.g., writing it down, sending an email) – to ensure that the parties are committed to the agreed outcome.

Negotiate to Success

Negotiation is not a skill set reserved for adults – as a young communicator, your child can benefit from exploring this specialised communication tool. Whether it is a group discussion or team sports, your child can try out the techniques above to master their communication setting and negotiate their way to success.

WATCH: (For the delivery) – “How To Be Charismatic Without Sounding Fake & Unnatural | Public Speaking Tip”

If you are keen to take your public speaking skills & presentation skills (either business/corporate presentation / kids in-class presentation) to the next level so that you may communicate and deliver speeches with greater flair and charisma, feel free to check out our public speaking/ presentation skills course for adults and public speaking course for children below!

We want to help you bring out the best in your team, organization, and company. Public speaking and communication skills for the workplace, such as persuasion, remain a priority for most corporate training out there. We believe in staying ahead of the curve in sharing the contemporary communication skills to help you and your team remain relevant, competitive and nimble. Through our customized corporate training programmes, your team will benefit from an in-depth, hands-on, and potential-maximising public speaking & presentation skills training programme!

Feel free to reach out to us to curate your own public speaking corporate training programme for your team, company, or organization! Let us help you develop them into highly effective public speakers at work, empowered with effective presentation skills & storytelling skills – them giving speeches with charisma, influence and impact is something you can look forward to!