Tony Abbott needs to let his ministers do more talking and better understand his opponents' perspectives if he is truly to reset his leadership, negotiation experts say.
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While Mr Abbott held on to his job on Monday, his authority suffered a blow after he banned himself from making further "captain's calls" and pledged not to "buy fights" with the Senate "that we can't win".
Professional negotiators agree that the Prime Minister is now in an unenviable position when it comes to negotiating with hostile Coalition backbenchers or the Senate crossbench, but techniques are available to improve his stocks as he begins the task of proving he and his government have "changed".
Simon Kelland, managing partner of negotiation consulting and training firm Scotwork, said Mr Abbott needed to learn the art of deferring authority.
"One of the mistakes that politicians make generally in handling negotiations is they want to be seen as the person leading the outcome," Mr Kelland said.
"The danger when you put yourself in that position is if you can't get an outcome, you inevitably lose face when you back down."
Mr Kelland said Mr Abbott should make "much better use" of his ministers in negotiating in their own areas. He can then reserve his authority to redirect things from the background, should the need arise.
Mr Kelland added that Mr Abbott needed to work from "first principles" when forming his policy goals in 2015.
"You've got to be very confident that what you're trying to negotiate is realistic," he said.
He said Mr Abbott should also take into account the "other parties' interests, their constraints, their needs, their motives".
"Not so you can argue with them ... but so can use that as a bargaining area."
ENS International negotiation consultant John Barber said it took time to rebuild people's trust after it had been broken.
"You have to demonstrate over and over and over again that you can be seen as a reliable person," he said.
"Your counterparts then start thinking they can predict what you're going to do."
Mr Barber stressed that listening was critical when it came to negotiations.
"Many people in their professional lives don't listen very well. If they hear something they don't like, they straightaway develop a counter-argument," he said.
"Stop thinking about yourself, but what you need to do to assuage [the other side's] level of anxiety or fear."
University of Queensland associate professor of strategy Yunxia Zhu, who has studied negotiation at Harvard University, agreed that the "I'm right, the other party is wrong" approach does not work in the long run.
"People get very emotional," she said, suggesting that Mr Abbott would have more success if he focused on common interests with MPs and the community instead.
