Program Management Guide: The Salary Negotiation Accelerator

1. Program Introduction & Benefits

The Salary Negotiation Accelerator is a 3-month, practice-intensive career management program designed for professionals. Its core essence is to drive measurable salary and compensation uplift by combining a structured behavior-change framework (ADKAR) with proven negotiation pedagogy (interest-based negotiation, BATNA, anchoring) in a 70-20-10 learning model. The program moves participants from knowledge to action, ensuring they not only learn techniques but execute real negotiations.

Strategic Benefits for Professionals:

1. Tangible Financial Return: Achieve a targeted 15-20% average increase in compensation (salary, bonus, equity, benefits) through structured negotiation of job offers and internal raises.
2. Enhanced Career Agency: Build a repeatable, data-driven personal negotiation playbook and a long-term compensation strategy, shifting from passive acceptance to proactive career management.
3. Increased Confidence & Reduced Anxiety: Mitigate the fear of negotiation through extensive, safe simulations and script-based practice, transforming a high-stress event into a manageable professional conversation.
4. Strengthened Professional Positioning: Learn to articulate a quantified value narrative and negotiate in a way that preserves and even enhances relationships with employers, recruiters, and managers.
5. Expanded Career Options: Develop the skill to generate and leverage multiple opportunities (BATNA), leading to more offers and better terms, thereby increasing career mobility and resilience.

2. Program Expansion Strategy

Evaluation: The primary program is a skill-building and behavior-change initiative, not a pure Mentorship or Coaching program. However, the goal of driving real negotiation attempts and a 15-20% offer uplift is highly dependent on individual context, mindset barriers, and real-time strategy. A supplemental Expert Coaching layer would significantly improve outcomes by providing personalized guidance.

Coaching Layer Addition:

• Why it Adds Value: While peer feedback in the 20% social learning component is valuable, expert coaches can provide nuanced, strategic advice tailored to each participant's specific industry, role, and negotiation scenario. They can help reframe limiting beliefs (addressing ADKAR's Desire & Awareness), troubleshoot live negotiation challenges in real-time, and hold participants accountable to their GROW-based action plans. This direct support is critical for overcoming the "application gap" and ensuring participants execute their first real negotiation attempt successfully.
• Implementation Note: Integrate 1:1 or small-group coaching sessions at key inflection points: after personal baseline completion (Week 3), before the first real attempt (Week 6-7), and after a negotiation debrief (Week 8-9). Coaches would use the GROW model to guide conversations, review scripts, and reinforce the program's frameworks.

3. Implementation Roadmap

Launch Phase Checklist

1. Define & Assemble:
   • Finalize program curriculum mapping modules to weekly milestones.
   • Hire or assign expert negotiation coaches/facilitators.
   • Select and configure primary technology platforms (LMS, Internal Social Network).
2. Participant Onboarding:
   • Recruit cohort with clear prerequisites (professionals actively job-seeking or planning comp discussions).
   • Conduct pre-program assessment: current compensation, negotiation confidence, and personal goal (GROW Goal).
   • Kick-off session: Communicate program structure, 70-20-10 model, and success KPIs.
3. Content & Community Activation:
   • Load all core content (videos, worksheets, scripts) into the LMS.
   • Create private cohort groups within the Internal Social Network.
   • Schedule all live sessions (instructional webinars, role-play labs, guest speaker Q&As).

Tracking & Operations

• Weekly Cadence: Operate on a weekly cycle: release formal instruction (10%) via LMS on Monday; facilitate social learning (20%) via a mid-week live role-play lab or discussion forum prompt; assign a practical application task (70%) due by Friday.
• Progress Dashboard: Use the LMS to track completion of mandatory milestones: "Know Your Worth" worksheet, script submission, negotiation attempt log, and final playbook.
• Coaching Coordination: Schedule and track coaching sessions, ensuring alignment between coach notes and participant progress in the LMS.
• Cohort Engagement: Facilitators actively moderate the Internal Social Network group, celebrating wins, prompting discussions, and sharing relevant resources.

Success Measurement

• Quantitative KPIs:
  • Primary: Average % offer/compensation uplift per negotiating participant (Target: 15-20%).
  • Secondary: % of participants completing ≥2 real negotiation attempts; % achieving >10% uplift.
  • Operational: Completion rates for core milestones and program modules.
• Qualitative KPIs:
  • Pre- and post-program surveys measuring self-reported negotiation confidence (5-point scale).
  • Facilitator assessment of role-play performance using a standardized rubric (preparation, clarity, strategy).
  • End-of-program participant testimonials and detailed case studies of top outcomes.
• Feedback Mechanisms:
  • Weekly pulse surveys after live sessions (Net Promoter Score for session relevance).
  • Mid-point focus group to identify blockers.
  • Final retrospective to gather insights for program iteration.

4. Approved Tools List

1. LMS (Learning Management System): Primary Tool. This is non-negotiable for delivering the 10% formal instruction (video lessons, reading materials), housing the resource library, tracking mandatory milestone completion (worksheets, scripts), and assessing knowledge via quizzes.
2. Internal Social Network: Critical for the 20% Social Learning. Used to host asynchronous peer feedback on scripts, facilitate cohort discussion forums, organize peer role-play partners, share wins, and host live Q&A sessions with guests (recruiters, HR). Fosters the community essential for behavior change.
3. Coaching Software: Essential for the supplemental Coaching Layer. Required to schedule 1:1 sessions between participants and expert coaches, securely share sensitive documents (offers, compensation details), track GROW goal progress, and maintain coaching notes aligned with the program framework.

Justification: The 70-20-10 model dictates the toolset. The LMS manages formal content, the Social Network enables peer interaction, and Coaching Software enables the high-touch expert guidance needed to translate learning into real-world results. Tools like Mentorship Software or ERG platforms are less relevant for this structured, time-bound, expert-led skill accelerator.

5. Resource & Content Library

General Program Content

• Video Library:
  • The True Cost of Not Negotiating (Lifetime Earnings Impact)
  • How to Research Your Market Value: A Step-by-Step Guide
  • Deconstructing Total Compensation: Beyond Base Salary
  • The 7-Step Negotiation Conversation Flow
  • Anchoring 101: How to Set the Frame
  • Building Your BATNA: A Practical Workshop
  • Scripting for Success: Email and Live Conversation Templates
  • Handling Pushback: "I Don't Have the Budget" and Other Objections
• Worksheets & Templates:
  • "Know Your Worth" Research Tracker
  • Quantified Achievement Inventory
  • Target/Ask/Walk-Away Calculator (Total Comp)
  • Personal Value Narrative Builder
  • Negotiation Prep Sheet (BATNA, Interests, Concessions)
  • Negotiation Attempt Debrief & Reflection Form
• Guides & Playbooks:
  • The Salary Benchmarking Source Guide
  • Script Library for Common Scenarios (New Offer, Raise, Promotion, Benefits)
  • Personal Salary Negotiation Playbook (Final Output Template)

Supplemental Mentoring/Coaching Content Table

To support peer learning and expert coaching within the program's social framework.

Skill Area	Content Topic	Format	Purpose
Active Listening	Hearing the Offer: Identifying Constraints vs. Interests	Micro-video & Guide	Enables participants to better understand employer positions during role-plays and real talks.
Giving Feedback	The SBI Model for Role-Play Feedback	Cheat Sheet	Provides a structured, constructive way for peers to give feedback in practice labs.
Strategic Questioning	Power Questions to Uncover Budget & Flexibility	Article & Script Snippets	Equips participants to gather crucial information collaboratively.
Emotional Regulation	Managing Nerves Before and During The Conversation	Audio Guide (Breathing Techniques)	Supports mindset and self-efficacy for high-stakes discussions.
Advocacy & Sponsorship	How to Identify and Engage Internal Advocates	Guide	Supports Module 4 content on long-term career positioning.