AEES Executive Certificate in Negotiation and influence

The capabilities the assessment attests if you pass.

• Hold a mandate
• Judge a concession
• Close without giving the store away
• Give against something
• Know who, in the other room, actually decides
• Write what is held

This is the European Commission’s classification of skills, competences, qualifications and occupations. This certificate is linked to it through the skills below. Each link opens the official record.

• moderate in negotiations http://data.europa.eu/esco/skill/59a8086b-59b3-4e88-9341-21d7fb693b89
• negotiate supplier arrangements http://data.europa.eu/esco/skill/c842be42-81b3-40f2-904c-ea8790ac88bd
• conflict management http://data.europa.eu/esco/skill/afd49651-9119-4327-91fc-844a6dda1254

1. Module 1: Mandate In every serious negotiation, two silent forces shape the outcome. The first is what the law and your ethics permit. The second is what your organization will actually accept. Your mandate sits at the intersection of both. It tells you what you may give, what you must ask in return, and where you must stop. Without a mandate, even skilled negotiators drift into promises they cannot keep, concessions they cannot afford, or discussions they should not have. With a mandate, you know your authority, your non-negotiables, your give-get conditions, and your escalation path. You can move quickly when the other side pressures you, because you already know what is allowed and what is forbidden.
2. Map: From Positions to Interests Negotiations move when you stop reacting to the words on the surface and start reading the reasons underneath. Positions are the explicit asks. Interests are the needs, fears, incentives, and constraints that make those asks rational for the other party. This module gives you a practical way to surface, test, and organize those interests into a usable map. You will build a picture of who matters, what they value, what blocks them, and how decisions actually get made behind the visible table. Mapping is not a theoretical exercise. It is a working tool that reduces blind spots and prevents you from giving away value. When you see the full set of interests in play, you can trade what costs you little for what they value a lot, time your moves to their decision calendar, and avoid concessions that do not buy anything important. You also spot hidden veto players early and design routes around them or through them.
3. AEES Executive Certificate in Negotiation and Influence · Module 3: Sequence Sequencing is the discipline of deciding what goes on the table and when. It is not decoration. The order you choose will tilt expectations, draw attention to the value you create, and prevent your counterpart from locking you into a narrow, price-only exchange. In complex talks, the agenda is your first move in influence. You cannot control everything. Stakeholders change, time pressure ebbs and flows, and new data arrives midstream. What you can control is your preparation, your opening frame, your first package of issues, and how you release information. A good sequence protects your mandate, keeps high-value issues alive long enough to trade them well, and times concessions to get paid for them.
4. AEES Executive Certificate in Negotiation and Influence: Module 4, Concession Concessions are the currency of movement in a negotiation. They are not gifts and they are not gestures to please a mood. A concession is a deliberate exchange. You give something the other side values, and you receive something you value at least as much. This module frames concessions as designed trades, not reactions. It links every move to your mandate, your alternatives, and the structure of the deal. The guiding rule is simple: give against something, never for the mood. Concessions work when they are planned on multiple issues, priced in relative value, and made conditional. The other party must experience real progress when they reciprocate. If you give unconditionally, you teach the other side that value comes free, you weaken your position, and you often set a precedent that follows you to the next negotiation. If you trade, you build an arc toward agreement while holding the line on core economics and risk. The skill is to see small, low-cost moves on your side that are high perceived value for them, then exchange those for items you need.
5. Coalition Deals are won or lost in rooms you do not enter. Slides, numbers, and rapport matter, but a coalition inside the counterpart’s organization decides whether your proposal moves, stalls, or dies. In practice, authority and influence rarely sit in one chair. A visible point of contact hosts you. A different person frames the recommendation. Another can veto on risk. A budget holder can pause for timing. Your job is to see this system clearly and work it deliberately. Coalition work is not politics for its own sake. It is disciplined analysis and ethical engagement with the people who carry real risks, costs, and accountability. You learn who matters for which decision, what each person needs to be comfortable, and how to sequence your moves so support accumulates instead of colliding. You pre-wire, you test assumptions, and you document what is held at each step.
6. Module 6: Agreement, Write What Is Held In negotiation, what is not written is often not remembered the same way by both sides. Late-stage discussions are dynamic, small concessions accumulate, and useful ambiguity can creep in. Before you shake hands, you need a record that states what is truly agreed, what remains open, and on what conditions the agreement will become binding. This module gives you a concrete way to transform the deal you have built into a clear written instrument. Writing is not clerical. It is a negotiation act. The moment you set terms on paper, you test mutual understanding, flush out hidden disagreements, and lock the trade-offs you made. If you write poorly, you re-open the bargaining or over-commit. If you write well, you protect value, avoid surprises in the formal contract, and close without giving away what you did not intend to trade.