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NEGOTIATIONP O L Y K A L A T R A I N I N G

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OUR APPROACH: COMMUNICATION SKILLS

P O L Y K A L A T R A I N I N G

Communication, at its core, is the practice of conveying information and persuading people. The message or idea needs to ‘reach’ people where they are. Effective communicators blend left brain and right brain sensibilities by reaching people's’ hearts and minds. The best communicators are storytellers who transform data, ideas and policy into language and feeling that is understandable and relatable.

We draw on our experience in T.V, theatre and education and teach communication skills with a strong emphasis on body language, vocal awareness and storytelling. We are particularly interested in communication where there is disagreement or where the situation calls for difficult conversations. Our communication skills training suite: teaches the fundamental architecture of presentations, help participants leverage their personality and communicate across disputes with sensitivity and intelligence.

Communication skills are a mixture of art and science underpinned by storytelling. Effective communication builds connections, understanding and resolve. It is a key facet of exercising leadership that mobilises people to tackle tough challenges and thrive.

“The team at Polykala are truly interested in the organisations that they work with and adapt their training to suit our needs and culture.”Jody Kelly – People and Culture Business Partner, Oxfam Australia

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Polykala’s Negotiation training blends the structure of Fisher and Ury’s ‘Getting to Yes’ work with insights from the Adaptive Leadership framework. We believe the best negotiators are able to speak to core interests, values, identity and culture. They are alert people’s emotional needs as well as positions. The ability to negotiate across factional and organisational lines is a core leadership skill. The ability to be be respectfully influential is a precursor to progress.

Polykala’s negotiation training encourages participants to learn by doing. We distill the conceptual frameworks and offer participants multiple opportunities to practice, persevere and build competence.

We believe a person’s leadership effectiveness is tied directly to their reflective skill. Negotiators need robust self-awareness and the ability to form working rapport with other parties. The practical component of the workshop is designed to elicit predictable ‘automatic’ behaviours so that participants can observe themselves and generate options for more effective negotiation and leadership action.

We encourage participants to bring existing or recent case-studies of negotiations or dispute. Our team of highly experienced lawyers, academics, artists and leadership facilitators will help you develop insights to become an ethical, courageous and adaptive negotiator.

NEGOTIATION

P O L Y K A L A T R A I N I N G

NEGOTIATION

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1. Learn the ‘Getting to Yes’ and Adaptive Leadership

frameworks

2. Develop competence at analysing conflicts through

‘interests’ instead of positions

3. Practice simulated negotiations with peers and trained

actors to refine skill

4. Deepen working relationships within teams

KEY OUTCOMES DETAILS

● Workshop length

○ Half day (3-4 hours)

○ Full day (4-6 hours)

● 2 expert facilitators

● 10-25 participants

● Participant evaluation

NEGOTIATION: PROGRAM INFORMATION

P O L Y K A L A

TOPICS COVERED

● Your ‘default’ negotiation style

● Identifying positions and interests

● Generating creative solutions

● Adaptive negotiation practice

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OUR EXPERIENCEP O L Y K A L A T R A I N I N G

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ANANTH GOPAL TOM HENDERSONCHYONNE

KRELTSZHEIM RACHEL DUBOIS

Ananth is a Harvard-trained facilitator, actor and geographer. He’s an associate artist with Melbourne Playback Theatre Company and teaches cultural geography at the Universities of Melbourne and Wollongong. He is a doctoral student at the Australian Centre of Cultural Environmental Research (Wollongong).

He combines theatrical flair and scholarly insight in his training and facilitation.

Chyonne is a facilitator, coach and qualified lawyer with over 16 years’ experience working with organisations across Australasia. She is an expert negotiator having completed training at Harvard’s Negotiation Institute (Harvard Law School). Her facilitation is attentive and artful, weaving together conceptual frameworks to help clients get a handle on their challenges and make a difference.

Tom is a Harvard-trained facilitator and graduate of the Groupwork Institute’s Advanced Diploma of Group Facilitation. He combines a decade of professional experience in media associations, politics and community organisations and is committed to bringing the best ideas and practice to where they are needed most.

Tom has a passion for working with people in an open and engaged environment.

Rachael has 14 years experience working across Australia and New Zealand as an actor, director, facilitator and teaching artist. She applies the tools of improvisation, acting technique, storytelling and play to encourage people to connect to themselves and their community authentically.

Rachael is the current Artistic Director of the Melbourne Playback Theatre Company.

POLYKALA TEAM

P O L Y K A L A T R A I N I N G

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MacDonnell Regional Council engaged Polykala to

develop an adaptive leadership practice within the

Community Services team. We worked with

Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff to address

long-standing challenges and develop a shared

language around workplace culture, initiative,

communication styles and accountability.

Organisational dynamics have now shifted toward

greater effectiveness and inclusivity of all voices.

MACDONNELL REGIONAL COUNCIL

Polykala designs and delivers the leadership

development and facilitation training components of

the University of Newcastle’s Ma & Morley

Scholarship program. This intensive session

introduces participants to the work of ethical

leadership trains participants in the art of facilitation

for leadership development and personal insights.

This training has been delivered to both staff from

the university as well as the scholars of the Ma &

Morley Scholarship program.

UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE

Polykala has designed range of leadership

development programs for the Australian Rural

Leadership Foundation, from multi-year adaptive

leadership development programs to short-form

interventions into existing programs. In particular,

Polykala delivered a program to the forestry industry

to assist them to collaborate more effectively across

organisations and regions. Our approach to ‘loss

aversion’ and change management ensured that

people were better equipped to have tough

conversations in an industry facing tough challenges.

AUSTRALIAN RURAL LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION

CASE STUDIES

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TRACK RECORDP O L Y K A L A

For the past eight years, Polykala has designed and delivered Leadership Development training for the local government, not-for-profit and education sectors.

Our work includes commissioned collaborations with City of Melbourne (Cultural Awareness for Frontline Staff), Cities of Ballarat and Hobsons Bay (Respect. It Starts with Me), Darebin City Council (Say No to Racism training) and Yarra City Council (Working with Pride). Our interactive and experiential training has been lauded and supported by the Victorian local government sector culminating in Polykala (along with the City of Yarra) being awarded the 2017 LG PRO Award for Excellence in the ‘Diversity & Inclusion’ category. In 2019, Polykala became the preferred training provider Whittlesea City Council and the City of Melbourne for their organisation-wide Diversity & Inclusion and Cultural Awareness training programs.

Polykala is also a preferred collaborating partner with leading national leadership training providers, including Leadership Victoria, Australian Rural Leadership Foundation and the Australia Council for the Arts.. Together we have delivered large, complex leadership development programs for a range of government, NFP and education sector clients.

We have ongoing relationships with key clients including:

● Local Government—Cities of Melbourne, Yarra, Moreland, Darebin, Hobsons Bay, Maribyrnong, Monash, Whittlesea, Port Phillip, Brimbank, Knox, Ballarat, Mornington Peninsula and Mitchell Shires and MacDonnell Regional Council (NT).

● State & Federal Government—South Australian Human Rights Commission, the Victorian & Commonwealth governments (Joint Engagement for the Victorian Regional Forest Agreements), Victoria Police and the Country Fire Authority.

● Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA)—South Australian and Victorian branches.

● Universities—University of Newcastle, Sydney University, Monash University, University of Wollongong & La Trobe University.

● International NGOs —Oxfam Australia and Plan International & IWDA.

● Australian Rural Leadership Foundation—Experiential leadership development in remote and regional areas.

● Creative Arts Institutions—We lead facilitators for the Australia Council for the Arts and have ongoing relationships with Melbourne Theatre Company and Melbourne Playback Theatre Company.

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Polykala specialise in working with the government, education, for-purpose and not-for-profit sectors.

Some of our clients include:

OUR CLIENTSP O L Y K A L A T R A I N I N G

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“It is better to fail in originality than to

succeed in imitation.”

Herman Melville

WANT TO WORK WITH US?

Get in touch

info@polykala.com

polykala.com