Ask clearly, agree confidently, and follow through
A practical, professional course for contributors and emerging leaders who need to ask clearly, discuss trade-offs honestly, and reach workable agreements at work — without manipulation, aggression, or guesswork.
"I built this course for people who want to advocate for themselves with integrity — clearly, honestly, and without leaving a trail of burned bridges behind them."— Shani Roberts
What you'll learn
What you'll be able to do
- Prepare a structured ask — including your priorities, alternatives, and realistic desired outcome — before any negotiation conversation.
- Negotiate deadlines, scope, workload, and resources professionally using trade-off language that protects relationships.
- Navigate conflicts between competing deadlines or quality expectations by proposing credible, evidence-backed options.
- Request time off, schedule flexibility, or temporary workload adjustments without oversharing or under-preparing.
- Build and present a clear, evidence-supported case for a raise, promotion, title change, or expanded responsibilities.
- Confirm agreements in writing using a structured template and know when — and how — to revisit them when conditions change.
How it works
A school that adapts to you
This isn't a set of static videos. Every lesson is generated live and tuned to where you actually are.
We learn your level
A quick placement check tailors your starting point so you're never bored or lost.
Lessons adapt as you go
Each lesson is written for your pace and your goal, adjusting as your skills grow.
Your AI coach keeps you moving
Checkpoints, feedback, and gentle nudges turn progress into a real result.
The curriculum
What's inside your school
5 modules · 16 lessons
Prepare for the Ask
Effective negotiation begins long before the conversation. This module builds the foundational preparation skills that every workplace negotiation requires: clarifying what you want and why, grounding your ask in facts and priorities, and developing credible alternatives before you ever enter the room. Learners complete a Negotiation Preparation Planner and practice translating vague wishes into clear, confident asks. Sequenced first because every subsequent module depends on these habits.
- 1.1Know What You Actually WantIncluded
- 1.2Gather Your Facts and Set Your PrioritiesIncluded
- 1.3Plan Your Alternatives and Anticipate PushbackIncluded
Negotiate Time, Scope, and Resources
This module equips learners to negotiate the practical, day-to-day constraints that shape how work gets done: deadlines, scope, staffing, quality expectations, and competing priorities. Learners practice proposing trade-offs that are credible and evidence-backed, maintaining professional relationships while advocating for realistic working conditions. Introduces the Time, Scope, and Resource Trade-Off Worksheet. Scenarios include overlapping deadlines, under-resourced projects, and conflicting stakeholder demands — in hybrid, remote, and in-person settings.
- 2.1The Trade-Off ConversationIncluded
- 2.2Asking for More Time, Reduced Scope, or Added SupportIncluded
- 2.3Negotiating Quality Expectations and Conflicting Stakeholder DemandsIncluded
Work-Life Negotiation: Creating Workable Agreements
Work-life balance is not a fixed destination — it is an ongoing negotiation of priorities, support, commitments, and trade-offs. This module helps learners frame, prepare for, and conduct professional conversations about time off, schedule flexibility, remote arrangements, temporary adjustments, caregiving needs, and capacity limits. Learners practice asking without oversharing and preparing without over-explaining. Introduces the Work-Life Negotiation Conversation Planner. Explicit attention is paid to inclusive framing — every kind of personal or professional circumstance is treated as legitimate without requiring justification.
- 3.1Framing Work-Life Requests ProfessionallyIncluded
- 3.2Negotiating Time Off, Schedule Flexibility, and Remote ArrangementsIncluded
- 3.3Capacity Conversations and Workload Trade-OffsIncluded
Career Conversations: Raise, Promotion, Title, and Growth
Career advancement conversations are high-stakes negotiations that require the same preparation discipline as any other workplace ask — plus an evidence-based case, an understanding of organizational context, and the ability to manage a 'not now' response constructively. This module guides learners through building and presenting a case for a raise, promotion, title change, development investment, or expanded responsibilities. Introduces the Career Conversation Evidence Builder. Learners also practice what to do when the answer is deferred and how to turn a 'not now' into a milestone-based agreement.
- 4.1Building Your Case with EvidenceIncluded
- 4.2Having the Raise, Promotion, and Title ConversationIncluded
- 4.3Growth, Development, and Expanded Responsibility ConversationsIncluded
Confirm Agreements and Follow Through
A negotiation is not complete until the agreement is clear, documented, and owned. This module addresses the often-overlooked final phase of negotiation: closing the conversation with shared understanding, confirming the agreement in writing, preventing the confusion that comes from undocumented verbal agreements, and knowing when and how to revisit an agreement when conditions change. Introduces the Agreement Confirmation Template. Ends with My Workable Agreement Plan, a capstone activity in which learners apply every module skill to one real upcoming negotiation.
- 5.1Closing the Conversation ClearlyIncluded
- 5.2Documenting Agreements in WritingIncluded
- 5.3Revisiting Agreements When Conditions ChangeIncluded
- 5.4My Workable Agreement PlanIncluded
Who it's for
Is this you?
Overloaded individual contributors
You're juggling competing priorities and need to push back on unrealistic demands without looking like you're not a team player.
Emerging team leads
You're stepping into a leadership role and need to negotiate scope, resources, and stakeholder expectations with credibility you're still building.
Remote & hybrid professionals
You need to negotiate flexible arrangements and make your case persuasively when you're not always in the room where decisions happen.
Career-growth seekers
You're ready to ask for a raise, a promotion, or expanded responsibilities — and want a structured, evidence-backed way to make that case.
Project leads without authority
You influence outcomes across teams but don't have formal power, so you need to negotiate alignment and trade-offs through persuasion, not position.
Professionals navigating work-life balance
You need to request time off, schedule changes, or workload adjustments and want to do it professionally — without oversharing or under-preparing.
Questions
Frequently asked
Your teacher
A note from your teacher
Shani Roberts
If you've ever spent twenty minutes rewriting a message asking for a deadline extension — or walked out of a performance review wishing you'd said half the things you'd rehearsed — you already know the problem this course is designed to solve.
Most of us were never taught how to negotiate at work. We were taught to deliver, to be reliable, to not make waves. So when we need more time, more resources, a better title, or a schedule that actually fits our lives, we either ask apologetically and accept whatever we're given, or we avoid the conversation entirely and quietly absorb the cost. Neither of those is a strategy. Both of them have a ceiling.
What I've built in this course is a practical, honest framework for having these conversations well — not by being pushy, but by being prepared. There's a real difference between an ask that lands and one that doesn't, and most of the time it comes down to preparation: knowing your priorities before you walk in, anticipating the pushback you're likely to face, and framing your request in terms that make it easy for the other person to say yes. Those aren't soft skills. They're learnable, repeatable skills that work whether you're a junior contributor or a team lead, whether you're in the office every day or working remotely across time zones.
The curriculum moves through five areas in sequence: preparing the ask, negotiating time and scope, work-life conversations, career conversations, and following through with documented agreements. Each piece builds on the last, and every module is grounded in scenarios that actually show up in professional life — conflicting deadlines, workload that keeps growing, flexibility requests you're not sure how to frame, a raise conversation you've been putting off for six months.
I designed this course for people who want to advocate for themselves with integrity — not to "win" at negotiation, but to arrive at agreements that are clear, fair, and durable. If that sounds like the professional you want to be, I think you'll find exactly what you're looking for here. Come in ready to do the work, and you'll leave with tools you can use immediately.
— Shani Roberts
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- 5 modules, 16 lessons
- AI-adaptive lessons tuned to your level
- Quizzes & checkpoints to lock in progress
- Your own AI learning coach
- Learn on any device, at your pace
- Full access for as long as you're subscribed