Before coming to the Negotiation Technology course, I thought that I knew quite a lot about negotiations. And about relationships in life in general. – I was wrong! I realized that I knew a lot less than I thought.

Yes, the focus was negotiation skills. But the real value came to me at the end of the course: I realized that every situation in life, work, family etc – reflects my own inner balance. Surprisingly often we think we know, but actually do not know what we want: what is important and why.  Success in negotiations is not how well we bargain with the other party, but rather – how well we know what we really want, and why.

I have visited many of Europe’s leading management schools.

The Estonian Euromanagement Institute is certainly one of the most creative and innovative.

Its Director, Dr. Marju Unt, has introduced many outstanding programmes. She is an inspirational leader, with visionary ideas.

The essence of all successful entrepreneurial business development lies in ‘know who’ and the successful development of ‘trust based’ relationships. This demands a constant process of learning and education of all key stakeholders and external decision makers. The skills needed for this process are at the centre of this programme.

An essential element in success is selecting who to deal with and who to learn from. The Estonian Euromanagement Institute is itself an examplar of successful development of key relationships over more than two decades.

I like Steve Jobs’ quote: The journey is the reward.
To keep the journey moving with great energy, I daily use the Negotiation Technology lesson how to “wrap” a negative opinion or feedback into positive so that the other party would not freeze into defense. If you barely bring out the negative, then others will withdraw and sit in trenches… and there will be no journey!

My second daily habit from NT is strategic planning. If you have skills and courage to think clearly: what is the worst that might happen as an alternative to your plan A? – then further decision-making is much easier. Both, in professional and private life.

Women are not as self-confident as men – at least in business settings. We would like to do things in the right way. I have to confess, I was rather skeptical before the course. But the masterclass surprised me pleasantly: all of us, experienced leaders and managers, came out of our comfort zones.  At the Negotiation Technology course I really learned how to “read” my partners. This is a necessary precondition for the result – we both feel like winners when we raise from the negotiations’ table and shake hands.

When working as General Manager in Enics Eesti, the company’s output, sales and personnel were growing fast. There was a lot of new persons as well as new international customers.

We decided to train our managers, engineers, specialists and team leaders. In Euroman we had programs of co-operation, negotiation, problem-solving, teamwork etc. We had many interesting discussions with Marju before and during the trainings. She was always most inspiring giving us visionary ideas. Her approach to training was energetic and full of development capacity. She kept participants very well in action. I do recommend the innovative and creative training programs of Euroman and Marju!

Negotiation Technology has sharpened my eyes about seeing the possibilities in situations where you normally would not dare to go. It has been particularly valuable when something has not gone the predicted way – like it sometimes happens even in the best-planned big projects! Fixing the errors, keeping relationships, not going into crisis… these are the real benefits, which have tremendous value.

What often happens: after the course is over, emotions fade and the course folder lies unopened in the drawer. This did not happen after Negotiations’ Technology!  I started using NT right away, and have done it daily – with growing joy.
Business is relationships (Peter Drucker). With NT we have grown our company in different ways.
First: in the market: from competition to collaboration.  If you are partnering – instead of competing and fighting for survival – both parties can grow from their strengths, become more prosperous. This frees time for thinking.
Second: inside the company: form dictatorship to diplomacy. Third: inside the family: I found surprisingly that parenting the teenager the NT skills came very handy.

From the Negotiation Technology I use planning daily – and effectively.
Before every negotiation I determine our minimum and maximum outcome. What is the absolute minimum, below which the cooperation will not make sense for us, and the maximum beyond which it would not make sense for the other party.

Negotiations may take an unexpected turn. We use our own sign system in our negotiations team: when the lead negotiator decides to change direction, then the other members do not get confused, but understand instantly and go along with the ride.

Peace – the most important outcome of this course. Peace of mind both before and after negotiations, backed by the system, the calm view to the negotiations – whatever the result.

Negotition Technology has constructively freed my mind from hesitations and worries (which have taken up a lot of energy, and ultimately, time) – now I can use this time for something more pleasant.