Negotiations: tricky conversations

Introduction

All managers sometimes have to have difficult conversations with people working under them. What is the best way to give negative feedback?

Think

Imagine you are unhappy with the behaviour of a member of your team. You have decided to raise the issue with this person and tell him or her that you would like to see an improvement. What words or phrases might be useful in this tricky conversation?

Listen

Now listen to a tricky conversation at work between a manager and an employee. Michelle has come to Sean complaining that she did not get a job recently. How does Sean react? As you listen, try to hear the phrases above.

Check understanding

Check your understanding by reading the script below:

Sean:	Okay, well, I’m not going to get into a discussion about who deserved to get the job. Clearly, the person who was appointed was the right person for the job. What you need to do is look at your work and what you’re doing and where that’s taking you in your career. But bearing in mind that you are still employed to do a job and I expect you to do that job with a certain attitude. You’re meeting members of the public quite regularly - it’s important that you aren’t unhappy, or at least that you don’t show it. This meeting is really just to let you know I’m not happy with the effort that you’ve made...
Michelle:	Okay …
Sean:	… and I really want to see some improvement. I know it’s difficult. I know that it’s depressing not to get a job, but you’ve got to snap out of it, you’ve got to get on with the job that you’re doing now.

EU's new deal with Russia

Britain and Sweden have backed the resumption of talks between the European Union and Moscow on a new wide-ranging agreement, which were put on ice in September after Russia's war in Georgia. Oana Lungescu reports from Brussels:

Ten weeks after the EU made clear its concern over Georgia by delaying talks on a new deal with Russia, most countries in the bloc seem ready to go back to the negotiating table. Britain and Sweden, two of Moscow's most vocal critics, argued this didn't amount to turning the page on the conflict in Georgia. The British foreign secretary David Miliband said the issues covered by the new agreement - including energy, trade and human rights - would be in the EU's interests as well as Russia's.

MILIBAND:
I think that in the context of the global economic crisis, which has demonstrated Russia's vulnerabilities rather than its strengths, there is a new possibility of ensuring that EU unity is able to engage properly with Russia and engage in a way that respects our interests and our principles and values. I think that's the right way of going about it because in the end isolating Russia is not a good option for us. Far better to engage, but in a systematic and hard-headed way.

That's not the view of Lithuania, backed by Poland. They insist that Russia has failed to keep its commitments and shouldn't be rewarded. But under EU rules, they don't have a veto on talks that were simply postponed, not suspended. If the foreign ministers give a green light today, talks on the new agreement could resume in time for the EU-Russia summit in Nice later this week. For despite the shadow cast by the conflict in Georgia, Russia remains the EU's biggest energy supplier and its third largest trading partner, while the EU is the biggest investor in Russia.

Oana Lungescu, BBC News, Brussels

to go back to the negotiating table
to resume talks

most vocal critics
here, countries that were the most outspoken in their disapproval of Russia's behaviour towards Georgia

turning the page on
forgetting about

to engage properly with
to interest and keep interested in a way that is real and useful for both sides

going about it
dealing with/treating the situation

hard-headed
logical, unsentimental and determined

the view of Lithuania
how Lithuania sees and would prefer to deal with the situation

a veto on
the right to stop/cancel

give a green light
here, allow talks to go ahead (a more common expression is 'give the green light')

the shadow cast
the negative effect made