Negotiation prowess is an integral skill for any HR leader – and now, it’s more important than ever
Senior HR professionals are being urged to rethink how they approach difficult conversations, from pay talks to performance management, by treating negotiation as a technical capability that can be systematised and trained across the organisation – not just a “soft skill” some people naturally have.
Negotiations expert and founder of Sheer Negotiations, Noa Sheer, said HR teams are “negotiating for a living”, yet many organisations still rely on individual personality and charisma rather than a consistent, teachable method.
Speaking with HRD, Sheer argued that negotiation and cultural intelligence should now be seen as core commercial capabilities for HR, particularly in tight labour markets and amid fast‑evolving employee expectations.
From “good communicators” to operational capability
A key mindset shift is recognising negotiation as a technical discipline that can be operationalised with structure, tools and training – rather than something HR hopes people will just be good at.
“Too often, organisations just rely on people's individual abilities… Some people are great negotiators, great communicators, great influencers. Other people, not so much,” she said, noting that ad‑hoc capability leaves HR exposed in high‑stakes situations.
Sheer’s work with clients focuses on embedding negotiation capability at scale, not just upskilling a handful of HR or commercial leaders. That includes standard templates for preparation, common language, and expectations that managers prepare before any significant conversation.
Her approach encourages HR leaders to move away from “winging it” in performance, pay or exit discussions and instead follow a repeatable planning process that can be coached and measured.
A checklist for every difficult conversation
At the heart of Sheer’s method is a standard checklist that HR can use to plan any negotiation – from a quick corridor confrontation to a multi‑round executive pay discussion.
She described it as “a one size fits all checklist” that prompts deep thinking but produces a bespoke plan for each situation.
Key elements include:
- Clarifying your true interests: Distinguishing “what I want” (for example, the lowest possible salary) from “what I actually need” (such as a critical project delivered on time by a fully committed hire).
- Mapping all stakeholders: Understanding who is affected, their power and what each party is trying to achieve, not just the person across the table.
- Identifying everything that’s negotiable: Expanding the discussion beyond salary to include development opportunities, role design, benefits, flexibility and other value‑adding options.
- Designing how to present options: Deciding whether to present one option or several simultaneously, and in what order, to maintain creativity and control.
Even when HR leaders only have a couple of minutes to prepare before an unexpected confrontation, having practised this style of planning gives them a stronger internal script and clearer instincts in the room.
Choosing the right approach: Power, rights or interests
Sheer encourages HR leaders to be deliberate about their underlying negotiation approach – warning that the default styles can quickly create conflict.
She outlined three broad approaches:
- Power: Coercing someone into compliance (“you will lose your job if you don’t change”).
- Rights: Arguing about who is correct by leaning on contracts, policies or KPIs (“according to the contract… you can’t be doing that”).
- Interests: Positioning the desired behaviour or outcome as aligned with the other party’s long‑term goals (“if what you want is to stay and succeed here, these behaviours will serve you”).
Many HR professionals believe they are operating from an interest‑based approach but under pressure revert to rights‑based arguments, because that is how most people have been socialised to negotiate, said Sheer.
While there are rare situations – such as political or extreme conduct cases – where a power‑based approach may be unavoidable, she argued HR will have far more sustainable outcomes by staying anchored in interests while having the evidence and policy backing ready in reserve.
Why negotiation is now a critical HR risk skill
Sheer believes negotiation skills have become “crucial now more than ever” for HR leaders, as employee expectations, mobility and legal complexity all rise.
With employees increasingly willing to move for better pay or purpose, and with younger generations seeking recognition, meaning and visible progress rather than simply “paying their dues”, HR is dealing with more high‑stakes, emotionally charged conversations than in the past.
She points to a generation chasing “purpose and meaning and status” alongside salary, and wanting recognition they can showcase publicly, including through social media and professional platforms.
Against that backdrop, HR must balance an evolving legal landscape, internal equity concerns and cultural expectations – all of which make unstructured, personality‑driven negotiation increasingly risky.
Building trust, meaning and belonging
Ultimately, the core negotiation task for HR today is to construct a narrative of trust and belonging that makes staying – and contributing – the most attractive option for employees.
“The employee should feel like this is my place of meaning. This is my place of belonging,” she said, stressing that every role and task needs to be framed as a genuine opportunity within that person’s broader career plan.
“There needs to be more than just salary to keep people within a role these days. And HR have the primary role of creating that meaning.”
The path forward for HR
Sheer urged HR professionals not to wait for the organisation to prioritise negotiation training – seek it out yourself to increase your influence and impact.
At an organisational level, she urged HR to champion structured negotiation capability as a shared language and process across the business, particularly at executive level, rather than a niche skill reserved for “deal‑makers”.
By reframing negotiation and cultural intelligence as core technical skills – complete with checklists, templates and training – HR leaders can gain greater control over difficult conversations, improve outcomes for both employees and employers, and strengthen their own position as trusted advisors to the business.
