Nicole Davidson

5 things you already know about your next negotiation


At CMA, we spend a lot of time with people assisting them to prepare for their negotiations.  A frequent refrain is, “But I never have enough time to prepare.” This may be true, and there are certainly going to be times when you don’t have as much time as you would like to prepare for […]

What’s the role of role plays?


This article looks at the role of role plays in teaching essential communication skills. Are they a ‘necessary evil’ or a waste of participants’ time? And, if they are necessary, would participants get more value from using scenarios that are factually similar or factually different to their real world context and challenges?

The Role of Role Plays


Download The Role of Role Plays article by Nicole Davidson. This article originally appeared in Training & Development magazine August 2016 Vol 43 No 4, published by the Australian Institute of Training and Development. You can also read the article online here.

How a cup of tea can improve your negotiations


Wouldn’t it be great if we could improve the way someone is feeling toward us before a negotiation, without them even knowing that we’re doing anything? It turns out that there is something we can do, and it could be as simple as offering a cup of tea. It may sound like an old fashioned way of solving […]

Speckled frogs and the need to be right


If you’ve ever come across someone who cannot seem to give up on an argument without being ‘right’, there’s a reason for that.  And, in fact, the chances are that you may have done this yourself, even if it wasn’t intentional. Being right may be great, but if we are too focussed on being right, […]

“Win-Win” in negotiation – myth or misunderstood?


I recently attended a professional development session on workplace conflict. One of the presenters – let’s call him Mark – delivered a 15-minute presentation about his experiences as a junior union representative of a major union. During this presentation, Mark referred on several occasions to the concept of “win-win” negotiations. And when he did so, […]

The power of Tim Tams


Australian Retailers Association published Nicole Davidson’s blog post on the Coles’ Tim Tams price rise stand off in their quarterly magazine The Retailer.  Click the image above to read: ‘The power of Tim Tams’ in The Retailer – February 2016.

Negotiation: learn from the small stuff


Do you find yourself regularly dealing with minor day to day frustrations?  Or perhaps you have people bringing you endless small problems to solve.  These things certainly seem to crop up a lot for me.  And although I no longer work regularly on major negotiations, I certainly still get a lot of negotiation practice. As I […]