Resource

Introduction to the ONEAL Curriculum

Approximate time to complete: Less than 1 hour

Learning Objectives:

After completing this lesson you will be able to:

  • Articulate why learning negotiation skills more formally is important for libraries and personal growth.
  • Use journaling as a reflective practice within the curriculum and in future negotiations in order to improve feelings of self-efficacy resulting in better negotiation outcomes.
  • Understand how to get involved in ONEAL, if you wish!

Table of Contents

WATCH, READ, or LISTEN

REVIEW

Project Justification for the ONEAL Project

DO: Start a Negotiation Journal

Why Start a Negotiation Journal?

Journaling provides a reflective practice that allows you to keep a record of your planning, the vendor’s reactions, and your results. It allows you to create an institutional record which you can refer to in the future as you plan subsequent negotiations, but also reflect upon your own practice so that you can understand what worked well and didn’t.  Ultimately, it’s a practice that will improve your feelings of self-efficacy which results in better negotiation outcomes. Reflective journaling practice when used within pedagogy increases feelings of agency, “activating self-awareness that can lead to change in one’s identity, with self, others, power, and leadership.”[1]

Using within the curriculum

We suggest that you start a negotiation journal. It can be physical or electronic. Use it to capture your thoughts and feelings as you work through the curriculum.

Journaling about case studies

After you complete a negotiation case study in the curriculum you should write about the experience in your journal. Each case study has a teaching note that you may want to review on your own or with your negotiation partner prior to journaling. The teaching note may help you reflect on some of the suggested questions which you will find under Suggested Structure for Journaling about a Specific Negotiation. 

For future negotiations

The structure outlined below can be used and altered to meet your needs for your future negotiations. When journaling, you may discover that you did not capture all the information you wanted to when taking notes mid-negotiation. That is okay! You will get better at capturing key points the more you practice negotiating and note taking during negotiations. Another strategy is to ask someone else on your work team who is a good notetaker to sit in on the negotiation meeting and record what happens. If you are negotiating over email you can refer to your email communication chain. 

You are also learning techniques throughout the curriculum that you can use in planning, such as if-then scenario planning (in the Negotiation Planning Part 1 lesson). You may want to use your journal for practicing these techniques prior to certain negotiations, then come back to reflect on the results afterwards.

[1] Guajardo, Maria (2023) “Engaged Pedagogy and Journaling: A Pathway to Self-Transformation,” Feminist Pedagogy: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 8. Available at: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/feministpedagogy/vol3/iss1/8

Suggested Structure for Journaling About a Specific Negotiation 

Questions to answer in your journal entry: 

Can be answered before the negotiation:

  • What is your opening offer or counteroffer?
  • What is your BATNA? Is your BATNA strong or weak? Explain why.
  • What concessions are you willing to offer? How will you decide when to offer a concession?
  • Are there specific negotiation strategies that you want to use during this negotiation? Explain how you plan to use the strategy.

Answer after the negotiation:

  • How well did the strategies you planned to use go during the negotiation? Record how you implemented the strategy, the vendor’s reaction, and the results.
  • Which concessions did you make? How did the other party react to potential concessions offered by you?
  • What concessions did the other party make and when? How did you react to offered concessions?
  • Did you come to an agreement? If so, what was the agreement? If not, what were the sticking points?
  • What went well? 
  • What would you do differently? 
  • Did anything happen that surprised you? 
  • How did you feel about the experience overall?

Resources

Foundations Workbook

Each lesson in the foundations module integrates hands-on activities that allow you to put learning into practice. We have consolidated all of these activities into a workbook that you can download, edit and save in both a PDF and .docx format. These activities are also available as individual documents within each lesson. (docx download) (PDF download)

Glossary

Quick reference to terms introduced within the curriculum.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Institution of Museum and Library Services for funding this project.

We’d like to thank our founding board of directors for your thoughtful feedback and support as we developed the curriculum: Brandon Butler, Galadriel Chilton, Gregory Eow, Maya Hobschied, Christine Morris, Nick Shockey, and Helene Williams.

We are also grateful for Brandi Roldan who served as our project assistant from October 2022 through June 2023. She was invaluable for helping us coordinate events and interviews that allowed us to gain so much insight from the community which we integrated into our planned curriculum.

Lastly, we cannot express how important the community has been for this project, from participating in online forums, sharing experiences in interviews, and pilot testing the curriculum. We thank you for embracing this work. We could not create something that serves our community without that community.

Introduction to the ONEAL Curriculum

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