The Negotiation Ambassadors Program: Building Community During the Pandemic and Beyond
By Olivia Lei, Negotiation Works Intern and Class of 2022, Georgetown University
Negotiation Works is continuously seeking new ways to help our participants stay connected, even throughout the global pandemic. Since last April, our Negotiation Ambassadors Program has brought together former participants from our various negotiation courses to get to know one another while giving back to the community and further sharpening their negotiation skills. Energetic, insightful, and fun, our Ambassadors are always eager to help us improve and expand our programming, meeting once every four to six weeks over Zoom.
A typical meeting starts with negotiation stories, in which Ambassadors share how they’ve incorporated the strategies they learned in class to advocate for themselves in the real world. Our Ambassadors have become forces to reckon with, becoming more confident and successful in using negotiation, while also serving as consultants to Negotiation Works on the content of classes and the format of the program. In the past year, the Ambassadors have assisted in developing new role plays, brainstorming creative activities to incorporate into our programming, and determining new sites and partners.
On top of providing their valuable insight during meetings, our Ambassadors also spread the word about the value of our classes by making videos and aiding us in other forms of outreach. Perhaps even more important, when the Ambassadors use effective problem-solving strategies to work through personal issues and conflicts, they serve as models for their peers, teaching the rest of the community by example. Transitioning to virtual programming has been an adjustment for everyone, but the Ambassadors Program has helped us maintain a sense of community, all while ensuring that we continue to provide the most impactful courses possible.