Training – Kennedys Negotiation

The longest-running negotiation skills workshops in the UK, since 1972

Among all business capabilities, one stands above the rest: negotiation.

For over 40 years, Kennedy’s has advised CEOs, boards, and investors on nothing but negotiation.

We partner with leadership teams to institutionalize negotiation as an enterprise lever for value creation, governance, and risk protection.

Our clients measure us not by the quality of our slides, but by the quality of their outcomes

Kennedy Negotiation Scroll Steps – Crossfade Effect (Mobile Font Adjusted)

Legacy to Future

For over five decades, the Kennedy 8-Step / Four-Phase Negotiation Methodology has shaped the strategic thinking of world-class businesses.

Skills That Win Deals

Developed through decades of field observation—not theory—the Kennedy 8-Step / Four-Phase system codifies the high-performance behaviors of effective negotiators—how they think, move, adapt, and escalate when the stakes are real.

In partnership with Edinburgh Business School, it has been refined and taught at top business schools worldwide.

Billions of pounds

The Kennedy 8-Step / Four-Phase approach governs negotiation like capital allocation—disciplined, conditional, and behavior-driven—and it has shaped billions in negotiation outcomes and continues to anchor the negotiation capability of many of the original FTSE 100 companies.

Key Elements of the Kennedy’s Advancing Negotiation Skills Programme

Kennedys Advancing Negotiation Skills (KANS) Programme distills over five decades of behavioral insight into one powerful, field-tested experience.

The programme is built around three core disciplines: Situational awareness, disciplined movement management, and execution under pressure.

Together, these sharpen how negotiators read the room, govern the deal, and deliver outcomes when the stakes are high

Recognise which phase they’re in—and which one you’re in. Negotiation is never linear

Manage the right movement for each phase

Adapt skillfully—balancing flexibility, conditionality, and control

The Kennedy Negotiation Model is the only fully evidence-based negotiation methodology in the market.

To take a deeper dive into the methodology

What Will You Learn?

The Kennedy 8-Step / Four-Phase model and behavioral framework provide everything you need to negotiate effectively in any situation.

You’ll understand the structure behind all negotiations and manage them as a phased process, by identifying where you are, and applying the right behaviors at the right time.

The result: better, more profitable agreements with customers, suppliers, and internal partners, the very negotiations that make or break business success

Protect the surplus before the signature

Most joint ventures fail not on intent, but on trust drift, unclear control rights, and ambiguous escalation

Select a view:

We work inside your negotiation system—shaping structure, role clarity, and conditional logic before optimism turns to exposure.

We align stakeholders on governance type (contractual, equity-based, NewCo) and assign negotiation rights accordingly.
We lead scenario planning for governance deadlock, capital restructuring, and post-deal underperformance.
We shape counterpart response logic, prepare sub-table dynamics (e.g., founder/legal split), and monitor reputational exposure.

We work side-by-side with your JV negotiation leads and executive sponsors to structure, govern, and deliver diamond-grade outcomes.

Structure trust through tradables, conditionality, and escalation-ready fallback
Manage complexity across teams, advisors, boards, and counterpart hierarchies
Govern behavior in live interactions—preventing red drift and blue overconcession
Protect alignment post-agreement through scenario-tested governance and structured expectations

Diagnose exposure — surface misalignment in control, IP, capital, and behavioral trust
Design structure — map governance rights, voting logic, dispute paths, and exit scaffolds
Drive internal alignment — coordinate across legal, tax, co-investors, and functional stakeholders
Govern behavior under pressure — install role clarity, voice control, and counterpart calibration before the first meeting

A Kennedy-based Negotiation Agenda for JV structuring, trust calibration, and fallback logic
Counterparty scenario analysis with escalation and dilution guardrails
First-table and sub-table briefing architecture for founders, GCs, advisors, and investors
Draft proposals and term sheets embedded with conditional logic and behavioral planning
Post-deal alignment tools to reduce implementation drift and governance fatigue

Avoid partner misalignment before it’s framed as “conflict”
Design control rights and veto thresholds into early documentation—not late-stage rescue
Protect trust without assuming it—by structuring behavior through Kennedy’s purple logic
Reduce deal rework by aligning commercial, legal, and political logic early
Sustain the JV post-signature through clear scenario planning and governance rhythm

Boards and Legal Committees
Evaluating risk exposure and governance fragility before or after JV signature.

CEO, CFO, or Strategy Sponsors
Driving new JVs where alignment, control, or equity contribution are asymmetric.

Co-investors, Family Offices, Sovereign Entities
Structuring trust into documentation—not into personalities.

Founders or Executives Representing Local Partners
Needing protection against dilution, exit traps, or power asymmetry in JV design

Confidentiality Note:

All diagnostics, negotiation reviews, and engagement design are conducted under strict client confidentiality. We do not disclose client names, negotiation strategies, or behavioral assessments before, during, or after engagements.