Becoming a good negotiator
Becoming a good negotiator
The founder of Ki ThoughtBridge, Ms Imra Tyler-Wood
by Puleng Maphisa
On the 16 October 2018, the Department of International Relations hosted the founder of Ki ThoughtBridge, Ms Imra Tyler-Wood to the Vaal University of Technology (VUT). Ms Tyler-Woods was invited through United States of America Consulate which has a very warm relation with the International Relations & Advancement Department. Through this relationship the Vaal University of Technology has been able to participate in both students and stuff exchanges that have seen 10 VUT students and one staff member visiting the United States of America through the US funded programmes (International Visitor Leadership Programme, Study of the US Institute and the Community Colleges Exchange Programme).
Ms Tyler-Wood was welcomed by the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of VUT, Professor Gordon Zide, who said that although VUT is relatively small compared to other South African university, it has built a number of partnerships both continentally and internationally. He said that Ms Tyler-Wood should further engage the university in forging partnerships that will benefit the university.
Ki ThoughtBridge is a consulting and training company that specialises in an integrated approach to adaptive leadership development, negotiation skills, the resolution of conflict, and the management of change that results in the transformation of individuals, organisations and communities.
Ms Tyler-Wood’s company consults nationally and internationally with corporate, government and the public sector. Her purpose was to give training workshop on issues of conflict resolutions and negotiations. Present to this workshop were the university’s unions, both Nehawu and Nteu, human resource department and students. The workshop was a success with all the participants highly appreciating her model of negotiations. Her model of negotiations is based on the book, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, a book written by Roger Fisher, William Ury & Bruce Patton of the Harvard Negotiation Project. This model of negotiations offers a unique approach to conflict resolution as the authors explain how to separate problems from personal agendas, how to “increase the size of the pie” rather than making the slices smaller. Ms Tyler-Woods, also an alumni of Harvard University, shared that she was part of the team from Harvard University that prepared the African National Congress negotiators in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The Vaal University will further engage the US Consulate on matters of common interest and development of the university, to this end the office of the Vice Chancellor is planning a meeting between Professor Gordon Zide and USA Ambassador to South Africa.