I became much more self-aware after this programme. I have always wanted to bring value, and now I can do it in a more mindful manner.
For the greater part of his banking career, which began in 2008, Ivan Mirgorodskiy has been involved in Asset and Liability Management (ALM). Ivan explains that in simple terms, ALM’s function is to play a bridging role between the different business lines within a bank. This helps the bank to keep track of the activities of all the different divisions, and ensures that their activities are complementary rather than competitive.
In September 2022, Ivan moved into Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) Division as a Group Financial Steering Lead, where he now represents the interests of CIB in liaising with the ALM and Risk teams of the banking group. His experience on both sides of the bridge has given him a unique perspective. He explains:
“In a business division, such as where I am now, our goals and KPIs are very much focused on servicing the clients – knowing their needs and what products we can offer them.
In ALM, however, the focus is a lot more on the long-term stability and growth of the bank. This involves expert knowledge of banking regulations in the areas such as liquidity and interest rate risk management. The colleagues at ALM are more analyst minded and pursue a longer-term strategy.”
Because of the different goals and objectives of the business divisions and ALM, Ivan shares, communication can oftentimes be challenging.
“Moving into this new division really got me thinking more about how I could do better in negotiations, which subsequently led me to enrol in INSEAD’s negotiation programmes.”
Expanding Views and Bringing Value to the Negotiation Table
Having been in the banking industry for over a decade and most of it within one particular area, Ivan recognised that the danger of developing tunnel vision was something very real.
It was, therefore, part of his requirements when searching for a negotiation training programme to have one that was more international in outlook, and which would expose him to a broad range of views.
“With its various campuses around the world, I felt that INSEAD was already quite international in focus. I knew that they wouldn’t just focus on a particular market but would incorporate more diverse views into their curriculum.
In the programme, participants came from industries like digital services, automotive, pharmaceutical and government agencies. I found this diverse mix of people to be very useful especially during group discussions, as I was able to see how differently people from various industries and markets look at things.
Studying together, we were able to see how each other’s backgrounds and personal preferences impacted the way we made our arguments.”
For Ivan, a key learning point that he took away from his Online Certificate in Negotiation, which covered the three programmes of Negotiation Fundamentals, Strategic Negotiations and Advanced Negotiations, was the idea of value creation in a competitive setting.
Over the course of the programme, Ivan realised that the idea of bringing value to the negotiation table was something that he had always tried to do, even if he couldn’t quite put it into a framework.
“The programme gave me the structure and the tools to make this process more organised and explicit. It also helped me become more self-aware while in the process.
When we negotiate in a professional context, we put our ideas on the table. Our objective should be to let the ideas fight, not the people! If I can find value on the table to give to the other party in a way that doesn’t cost me much, and if they can do the same for me, we can then increase the size of the pie before we start cutting it. That is value creation.”
Institute of the Future
One major draw for Ivan to INSEAD’s Online Certificate in Negotiation programme was that it was something he could quite easily do with little disruption to his work.
“The workload was approximately five hours a week, which is manageable without taking vacation days.”
And, while the programme’s online nature made it practically possible for Ivan to remain in Vienna for work, he didn’t feel that his learning opportunities were limited in any way. Moreover, he believes that the online mode of teaching is something that is strongly aligned with the future of education. He explains:
“There are three key functions of universities.
The first is to distribute knowledge. With online formats, it makes it possible for a handful of people with exceptional teaching skills to reach out to hundreds and thousands of people via online and pre-recorded lectures and seminars. I believe that the in the future, only the best of the best teachers will occupy the majority of the teaching space.
The second function of universities is that they traditionally provided spaces for clever minds to come together and collaborate. With the advances in our online connectivity, this is becoming less and less of an issue.
Finally, institutes provide a form of recognisable certification. Again, with technology and digital certificates, it is now possible to get that same level of certification without having to be physically present in classrooms.”
The Quality Speaks for Itself
As part of his company’s sponsored training programme, Ivan was initially only signed up for the Negotiation Fundamentals and Strategic Negotiations programmes, which focus on the Value Negotiation (VN) system for effective one-on-one negotiations.
Because he enjoyed the two programmes so much, he subsequently requested to do the Advanced Negotiations programme which covered advanced scenarios, including negotiating virtually, with multiple parties and cross-culturally. Additionally, by completing this Advanced Negotiations programme, he would qualify for INSEAD’s Online Certificate in Negotiation.
“The advanced programme provided a lot of practical and helpful training for complex business situations, which take into account specific issues like gender and cultural differences, and even in situations where you may be a small player negotiating with a more powerful party such as government regulators.”
As to what made the experience so enjoyable for Ivan, he shares that it was due in large part to the quality of the professors and staff at INSEAD.
“I found that everyone, from the professors to the support staff, were very helpful and on point. I especially enjoyed the references that the professors shared from their research as well as from their actual industry experiences.
They were also able to break down the content into digestible chunks, making the complex topics easy to understand.”
Perhaps, most telling of his positive experience at INSEAD, however, is the fact that shortly after completing his negotiation certificate programme, Ivan went on to sign up for another of INSEAD’s Online Certificate programmes – Lead the Future.
“In terms of the online format, I already had a positive experience with the negotiations programmes.
I also anticipated from my previous experience that the quality of teaching and course content at INSEAD would be very high. So that made me eager to embark on Lead the Future, because I knew the kind of cohesive learning experience that could be expected.”
What Ivan has to say about INSEAD’s Online Certificate in Negotiation
Featured Programme
Strategic Negotiations
Advanced Negotiations
