NIH-Negotiation and Conflict Res. for Scientists
Course Number: 8805

Description

A Workshop for Scientists, Researchers, and Research Managers

This is a highly interactive workshop in which participants will learn and practice techniques for dealing with challenging situations and people in the scientific workplace. This is not a generic workshop - it specifically addresses interactions which scientists deal with daily - interpreting data, negotiating budgets or project plans, receiving and giving scientific criticism and dealing with interpersonal conflicts in the lab or workplace. During the workshop participants will explore the impediments to successful management of these situations and will learn how our own personalities and behaviors influence our ability to perform successfully under stress. Participants will be provided with practical approaches to conflict resolution and negotiation to help you deal with such interactions productively.

Participants will be provided with a framework for identifying and interacting with a variety of types of people in the scientific workplace. You will be provided with concrete tools for dealing with anger, hostility and passive-aggressive behavior. The workshop will utilize NIH-specific case studies as well as make extensive use of participatory role-playing exercises to demonstrate the application of these tools. By the end of the session, you will (1) be better prepared to handle challenging situations in your own group and/or with your superiors and peers (2) have begun to build skills associated with effective leadership.

Key Topics

• Becoming a good negotiator forces you to "read" needs, interests and beliefs of others.
• Good negotiators learn to monitor and modulate their own behavior in tense and emotion laden situations.
• Negotiation teaches that listening can be more productive than talking.
• Effective negotiators (like effective leaders) identify and focus on underlying interests rather than on rigid positions.

Audience

The workshop is appropriate for scientists and technical professionals at all levels. It is designed to benefit those who are in managerial positions, those who want to improve their skills in order to assume positions of leadership, and those who simply want to learn how to deal with difficult people and situations.

Instructor

Carl M. Cohen, Ph.D.

Carl has more than 25 years of biomedical research and management expertise, including having been Chief Operating Officer of Biovest International focused on cancer immunotherapy and Vice President for Research and Development at Creative BioMolecules. Carl served as Chief of the Division of Cellular and Molecular Biology and Acting Chair of the Department of Biomedical Research at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center of Boston. During that same period he also held the positions of Professor of Medicine and Professor of Anatomy and Cellular Biology at Tufts University School of Medicine. Carl received his Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University.

Currently accepting enrollment