Our New 4-Part Video Series: A Negotiation Blueprint for Everyday Life
By Olivia Lei, Negotiation Works’ Program and Evaluation Coordinator
Given the limitations of COVID and other challenges, we know that many people who might benefit from our programs aren’t able to participate in either an in-person or a Zoom course. So, we decided to pilot a pre-recorded program that would replicate, as much as possible, the in-person class experience. Designing this series of negotiation training videos proved to be easier said than done. We considered how our in-person classes make space for participants to engage in real-time discussions, ask questions, and—perhaps most important—practice using the negotiation strategies in real-life scenarios and in real-time. Recognizing the relational nature of negotiation, we rolled up our sleeves and set out to figure out how to infuse these crucial interactive elements into our new, pre-recorded format.
First, we decided to create four separate videos for this series. These videos track the content of our 4-week classes and, as such, take participants through basic approaches and concepts of negotiation, including perspective-taking, identifying both parties’ interests, brainstorming potential solutions, coming up with alternatives to negotiated agreements, active listening, and communicating effectively. But beyond simply teaching viewers these concepts, we wanted to make sure that the viewers would actively engage with the information presented, practice the concepts we described, and begin to develop their own personal negotiation strategies. We decided to create a written workbook to complement the videos, complete with negotiation preparation worksheets, descriptions of negotiation strategies, role play scenarios, a negotiation journal, links to additional resources, and more. The scenarios we incorporated include child custody and visitation disputes, employment issues, landlord-tenant issues, and family disagreements—each is designed to elicit understanding of and reflection about how viewers might apply the strategies they learn to plausible real-life scenarios.
In addition to creating the written materials, we peppered throughout the lesson plans activities that focus participants on identifying negotiation concepts, analyzing disputes, and reflecting on how they can use specific negotiation concepts to address situations in their own lives. Throughout the video lessons, the instructors repeatedly ask the viewers to stop the video and engage in an activity in their workbook. Once the viewers resume the video, the instructors review the activity. For example, the instructors engage in a role play demonstrating what we call “bad listening”; they turn away from each other, talk only about themselves, and ask judgmental questions. Participants watch this unfold, and then are asked to write down how viewing this negative interaction made them feel. This leads into the instructor’s discussion about the importance of using active listening techniques so that your negotiation counterpart feels heard, rather than ignored or disrespected. The goals of this and the other interactive activities are to maximize viewers’ engagement with the materials and to offer them real-time opportunities to synthesize and apply the negotiation strategies presented.
Our central aim with this video series is to build on our existing programs and expand our reach to impact an even greater number of individuals, especially those who might not otherwise have access to our in-person courses. All of Negotiation Works’ materials are self-guided and can be downloaded onto a tablet, they don’t require internet access for viewing. This pre-recorded format gives us a unique opportunity to grow our programming and afford greater accessibility to valuable negotiation skills across various communities and geographical locations. Currently, for example, we are looking to bring this video program to various correctional institutions and fellow nonprofits throughout the U.S., aiming to implement engaging tablet-based educational programming for a wide group of individuals in marginalized communities.
We are thrilled to be developing this video series and we look forward to sharing further updates about this project soon. Special thanks to our volunteer instructors Patricia Alejandro, Sarah Hall, Kathryn Menefee, Derek O’Leary, Charlene Proctor, and Khiran Sidhu and to our volunteer digital content consultant Sarah Batcheller for their invaluable contributions to this project.