Influencing well is not about being the loudest voice in the room. It is about communicating with clarity, understanding different perspectives and negotiating outcomes that are balanced, ethical and practical. This course gives participants the frameworks and techniques to build rapport, manage resistance and influence effectively in public sector settings.
Is this course right for you?
This course is designed for public sector professionals who need to influence, negotiate, collaborate or build consensus with colleagues, stakeholders or partners.
It may be right for you if you:
- Manage people or lead teams
- Work in policy, projects or service delivery
- Consult with stakeholders or external partners
- Collaborate across departments or agencies
- Negotiate contracts, resources, priorities or outcomes
- Want to strengthen your communication and negotiation impact in government settings
What you’ll explore
This course explores practical frameworks and techniques to support ethical persuasion, influence and negotiation in government contexts.
- Foundations of persuasion and influence
- Ethical communication and transparency in government contexts
- Negotiation principles and frameworks, including BATNA, stakeholder mapping and the Goldilocks Triangle
- Techniques to build rapport with colleagues and stakeholders
- Thinking styles, including understanding your own style and awareness of others
- Influencing skills and managing resistance
- Examples drawn from public sector scenarios
Benefits to You and Your Organisation
- Apply ethical persuasion strategies in government decision-making
- Build consensus across diverse stakeholders
- Use practical negotiation techniques for resource allocation, policy delivery and stakeholder consultation
- Manage resistance and difficult conversations with greater confidence
- Reflect and action plan for applying skills in your current role
- Improve your ability to influence outcomes while maintaining public trust and transparency
- Strengthen negotiation capacity for achieving balanced, sustainable agreements
- Improve collaboration across departments and with external partners
- Support tangible improvements in policy implementation and service delivery
- Build greater confidence and capability across staff, leading to more effective public administration
Should Attend
- Public sector managers and team leaders
- Policy officers and project managers
- Professionals engaged in stakeholder consultation, interdepartmental collaboration or contract negotiation
- Anyone seeking to strengthen their communication and negotiation impact in government settings
Group Bookings
**For groups of five or more, IPAA SA can tailor the training to suit your organisation. Group bookings may also be eligible for a preferential rate. Complete the form, and our team will be in touch to discuss options. **
Learn about our speakers
Sharon Ferrier
Professional Speaker & Corporate Educator
Persuasive Presentations
Sharon has a knack for making the complex simple. She believes that ‘passionate people persuade’ and that to make your message stick, you need to balance information with delivery style.
Sharon’s background is in sales and marketing and along the way has studied business administration, marketing, management, journalism as well as more eclectic skills including comedy, improvisation and the art of persuasion.
As an award winning speaker and salesperson Sharon uses her skills to help people become persuasive and influential speakers. She works with individuals and organisations from a diverse range of industries across Australia and overseas.
She coaches senior people ranging from CEO’s and entrepreneurs, to Professors and PhD’s helping them to be engaging and persuasive presenters and enabling them to win pitches, tenders, fellowships and grants.
Upcoming course availability
In person
June 2026
Friday, 26 June 2026
Format
Face-to-face
Duration
1 full day
9:00am-4:30pm (8:45am registration)
Inclusions
Workbook, resources, morning tea, lunch and refreshments
Location
12 Pirie Street, Adelaide, SA 5000
(please visit registration links for further information)
View map
Costs
Personal Member $575
State Govt Employee Member $615
Corporate Member $625
Non-Member $725
