Sneak Peek at the First Results from the Negotiation Works Classes
What is the impact of Negotiation Works’ classes? Negotiation Works’ programs are designed to help the women in the classes (1) use their negotiation knowledge and skills to seek solutions to various situations in their everyday lives - such as those involving employment, education, housing, health care, and interpersonal relationships - and (2) build and maintain confidence in their ability to work through and resolve these disputes satisfactorily. To that end, in March 2019, we started asking the class participants to report each week whether they had used negotiation in the previous week and, if so, in what context and with what amount of success.
We have conducted an analysis of the responses the women have provided. Of those questioned, 71.3 % reported that they had used negotiation in the previous week; preliminary analysis of this data shows that 43.8 % of respondents report using negotiation to resolve family situations, 20.4 % use negotiation in work situations, 24.4 % use negotiation in their efforts to find and retain housing, and 11.4 % use negotiation in other types of situations. Below are a few examples of the negotiations the women experienced:
Working with siblings to create a plan to address their ailing father’s health.
Determining how to divide mother’s furniture among family members.
Making arrangements to visit her daughter, who is currently cared for by grandparents.
Approaching a sister for a loan and making a plan for repayment.
Asking a supervisor to modify her schedule so she can leave early on some days to attend class, and offering to stay later on other days.
Explaining to a manager at work that she needs some time off to deal with several life issues.
Persuading a landlord to rent an apartment to her by assuring the landlord that she will pay rent consistently.
Explaining to a case manager that she needs to reschedule a meeting due to a doctor’s appointment, and showing the case manager a letter documenting the scheduled doctor’s visit.
Asking a doctor to explain whether she actually needed to have a recommended test done and having the doctor agree that the test was not necessary after all.
Being open minded when talking with her best friend.
Furthermore, 88.3 % of the respondents indicated that using negotiation strategies resulted either in an agreement (for example, "We both got what we wanted", “I was able to keep my apartment and my voucher” , “I moved to the first floor”, “The landlord took care of the problems”, “I rescheduled my appointment") or a better understanding between the parties (“[We] avoided a confrontation", “We are considerate of each other”, “We decided what was not clear in our communication and set terms and boundaries”) Only 8.8 % of the respondents reported that after using negotiation, their situation was still unresolved or had not resulted in an agreement (for example, “[Still an]ongoing situation", "Give it time", "Remains to be seen").
In short, these results demonstrate that the women are using negotiation thoughtfully and intentionally to resolve a variety of situations in their daily lives. Through their efforts, they are strengthening their connections with friends and family, serving as reliable and responsible employees and clients, and obtaining housing. Instead of having minor disagreements escalate into arguments or worse, they are working out these disputes and gaining confidence in their ability to do so. Negotiation is working well for them.
For a more detailed discussion about the initial findings of the impact of the Negotiation Works classes, join the data analytics team at a webinar at noon on May 8, 2020. Please email Melissa for more information.