EM Kata #13: Negotiation Mastery - Handling Tough Conversations

How often does a simple conversation with a product manager, peer, or your manager turn into a tense discussion that takes a lot of time — and leads nowhere in the end?

In this EM Kata, you’ll practise transforming such conversations into productive ones. Each participant will try a simple framework for navigating tough negotiations, get feedback from others, and observe how different leaders handle similar situations.

Real conversations — without real consequences.

❗❗❗ Register here ➡️ https://lu.ma/hgcxiysc ⬅️ ❗❗❗

❓ What is an EM Kata?
EM Kata is a playground where Engineering Managers* can practice their skills and receive immediate feedback.

* - 👨‍🔬 / 👩‍🔬EM Kata is also beneficial for

• Senior Leaders: Head of Engineering, Engineering Directors, VPs, CTOs - to practice and enhance mentoring and coaching skills.
• Tech/Team Leads: To acquire essential skills for a successful transition to an EM role.
• Senior Software Engineers: To gain insight into EM responsibilities and explore if a leadership career path interests them.
• Agile Coaches: To better understand the challenges faced by EMs and the skills they require, enabling better support for them at work.

Each small group works on identifying the root causes of the challenges by analysing them from different perspectives, determining the most efficient strategy to solve them, developing a detailed plan, and necessary team constellation changes & architecture.

🕑 Event Schedule
18:00 – Doors open for snacks, drinks, and networking
18:30 – Introduction
18:50 – EM Kata: working and forecasting in small groups
20:00 – Senior Leadership round: challenging assumptions, shaping the future
From 21:00 to 21:30 — Networking and discussions.

📍 Venue
Contentful
Max-Urich-Straße 3, 13355 Berlin, Germany

📣 Spread the Word
Love our meetups? Help us grow the community!
Share your experience on LinkedIn—whether it’s what you’ve learned, key takeaways, or why you enjoy EM Kata. By spreading the word, you’ll help more engineering managers and aspiring tech leaders find a safe environment to practice and enhance their skills.

We believe it’s much more fun to have fun with friends, so come join us and bring your friends along!

Tag us #EMKata #Meetup by #SEML about #TechLeadership.

🤝 Sponsored by Contentful
A big shout-out to Contentful for sponsoring our event and supporting our mission to foster a tight-knit community of engineering leaders.

👍 Code of Conduct
We adhere to the Berlin Code of Conduct to ensure a welcoming and respectful environment for all participants.