Negotiation Works Programs Empower Community Members in Becoming Informed, Committed, and Confident Negotiators
How do our negotiation programs support community members in achieving successful OUTCOMES in work, housing, and family situations? Our data team’s analysis of recent participant surveys provides useful insight to this question.
In 2023, 189 individuals took part in the fourteen multi-week courses (with 94 separate class sessions) we delivered at Calvary Women’s Services, Together We Bake, the Georgetown Pivot Program, MORCA-Georgetown Paralegal Program, Byte Back, and the DC Jail. We evaluated the impact of these program as follow:
To assess what participants learned about the specific negotiation concepts we teach, we asked them before and after each class session to indicate their knowledge of each concept.
To help us understand the areas in which participants found negotiation and self-advocacy most useful, we asked them each week to share recent situations in which they used negotiation strategies.
To determine whether participants increased their comfort level in using negotiation to resolve disputes or advocate on their own behalf, we asked them, both pre- and post-course, to rate their confidence in these areas.
To assess whether participants’ new skills resulted in a change of their “go-to” negotiation approach, we asked them, both pre- and post-course, to indicate how they would deal with a landlord-tenant dispute and a family conflict.
Our data team examined these responses to measure our overall impact. Their findings are summarized here:
After Taking a Class with Negotiation Works, Participants Become…
Participants become INFORMED about foundational negotiation strategies: Consistent with data from past analyses, 2023 survey respondents demonstrated the greatest growth in understanding the negotiation concepts of interests (i.e., what’s truly important to you, rather than what you are demanding) and BATNA (i.e., your “plan B”, or what you will do if you cannot reach a negotiated agreement). Participants’ knowledge of these two negotiation concepts increased significantly from the beginning to the end of the course.
Participants become COMMITTED to using negotiation in their everyday lives. Participants reported putting their new negotiation skills to immediately use in conflict situations involving family members, employment, and housing. Of these disputes, they reported, they reached positive outcomes 68% of the time.
Participants become CONFIDENT in their negotiation approach. Participants reported significantly greater confidence from the beginning to the end of the course in using negotiation both to engage in self-advocacy to get what they need for themselves and also to deal productively with conflict in their lives. Additionally, after taking our course, participants demonstrated a shift in their approach to conflict. Specifically, compared to their pre-course levels, they were more likely to use collaborative approaches to resolve conflicts and less likely either to avoid addressing the issues or to use competitive approaches.
Class Participants Resolve Conflicts Productively in the Long-Term…
These benefits last even after our course ends. We reach out to participants six months or more after they complete the course and ask how they have used negotiation strategies over time to accomplish their financial, employment, family, health, and housing goals. The testimonials in the attached graphic demonstrate that participants not only remember specific negotiation concepts but also use these strategies intentionally and confidently. They listen to one another, focus on the other person’s point of view, and work through daily conflicts without anger or escalation.
These recent evaluation results confirm that we are achieving our mission: negotiation classes help individuals become intentional and constructive negotiators who can successfully manage daily conflicts in the workplace, at home, and with everyone with whom they interact and lead fulfilling, productive lives.
Many thanks to our dedicated, all-volunteer data analysis team: Eric Bloedorn, Brittany Cheadle, Yanqing Lei, Sofia Pignataro, Varun Sharma, Shubhangi Tak, and Alice Taveres. Thanks also to summer intern Julia Davis for her design of the graphics.