UNASSISTED
CONSENSUS
BUILDING
When dealing with angry or,
concerned public groups-seek
common principles-despite
seemingly stark differences
Unfortunately, the typical institutional
reaction is to ‘steamroller’ the opposition or,
to underestimate its potential.
If someone recognizes and acknowledges
a principle that is important to you, the
result generally is you feel that there is
something in common and the perceived
threat level goes down.
Appealing to the shared principles also
sometimes allows you to reframe the
debate.
THE CONCEPT OF
FACILITATED DIALOGUE
Unassisted consensus building3 phases
• 1. THE PRE-NEGOTIATION PHASE
• 2. THE NEGOTIATION PHASE √
• 3. THE IMPLEMENTATION PHASE √
Pre-negotiation-getting started
• It is hard to start a negotiation with
several parties.
• Someone has to make the first move
Pre-negotiation-getting started
Why won’t people take the first step?
• There is often fear of taking the initiative
as it may be seen as a sign of weakness or
anxiety.
• If you think you hold all the key cards,
you will not be inclined to open this
possibility.
Pre-negotiation-getting started
• Often a total outsider is the best person to
try to convene a meeting.
THE CONVENOR-a help to
getting started
• Often you could use a convenor -an
experienced or respected professional
who can bring the disputants together in
a reasonably positive and productive
state of mind.
Getting Started-some steps
• One way to enhance the prospects of
getting started is to reduce the risks of
attending the first meeting.
– What might some perceive to be risks?
– Examples?
Getting Started-some steps
• Agree on confidentiality while a possible
meeting is being explored.
• Make it clear in the invitation to the first
meeting that no commitments are implied
by attendance.
Getting Started-some steps
• Stress that all parties have the right to
‘walk away’.
Much of the material on the next few
slides is adapted from an excellent paper
by Brad Spangler see;
• Spangler, Brad. "Convening Processes."
Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess
and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Research
Consortium, University of Colorado,
Boulder. Posted: October 2003
<http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/
convening_processes/>.
Among the issues frequently cited as
especially important in the design of
conflict resolution processes are:
Neutrality of the convenor: It is
important that whoever calls the
process into action is perceived by all
parties as impartial as to the results.
• Convening is the first stage in conflict
intervention. Its role, as the name implies, is to
bring disputants to a preliminary meeting
where they will discuss the issues in conflict .
• Its goal is to pave the way for an actual conflict
resolution process such as mediation,
negotiation, or consensus building.
• It is the convener's (organizer's) responsibility
to carry out tasks that ensure the chosen
resolution process proceeds smoothly, such as:
assess the conflict situation, identify key
stakeholders and participants, introduce
options for a resolution process, distinguish
resource needs and funding sources, and choose
an appropriate venue.
The convener of an initial meeting may or may
not be a stakeholder in the problem. The
convener's main role is to identify and bring all
legitimate stakeholders to the table. Since it is
up to the convener to persuade them to
participate in the resolution process, he/she
must be seen as credible, unbiased, and
trustworthy. This is particularly important in
seemingly intractable conflicts, where the
issues are contentious and the parties
distrustful of each other.
It also helps if the convener is knowledgeable
about the issue at hand. Thus, at the
community level, a local leader, an
organization or a steering committee made up
of different groups may all serve as conveners.
At higher government levels, government
agencies or officials may serve as conveners.
However, stakeholders are often distrustful of
government officials so agencies may hire a
neutral third party to convene stakeholders.
Four Steps of the Convening
Process
1. Conflict assessment.
2. Stakeholder identification
3. Locate and obtain the necessary
resources
4. Organize and plan the dispute
resolution process.
Chris Carlson, "Convening," in The
Consensus Building Handbook: A
Comprehensive Guide to Reaching
Agreement, eds. Lawrence Susskind, Sarah
McKearnan, and Jennifer Thomas-Larmer
(Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications,
1999), 176.
1. Conflict Assessment
The first major step is to assess the situation.
This requires carrying out a number of specific
tasks, the first of which is to determine
precisely what the convener seeks to
accomplish. What are his/her goals? Is it to
solicit information? To provide information?
To de-escalate a situation, consult on an issue,
or seek advice? Or is it to suggest and initiate a
specific conflict resolution process such as
mediation or consensus building?
Use Moore here
1. Conflict Assessment, cont’d
Assessment also requires that, the convener identifies
and clearly defines the issues, taking into consideration
the differing views of various stakeholders. S/he then
frames the issues in such a way that all parties
understand them and are open to working with the
convener. If issues are not clarified well, time is wasted
due to confusion and frustration. The convener should
also carefully examine the context of the dispute. S/he
should know the limits of his authority and also who is
supposed to formalize and implement any agreement
that may be reached. The convener must know
whether the decision-making organization or agency
will support decisions reached through alternative
processes such as mediation or consensus building.
2. Stakeholder Identification
• Identifying all interested (key) stakeholders is
probably the most important aspect of the assessment
process. The convener's top concern in identifying
and inviting stakeholders to a meeting is to make sure
everyone who should be involved is. S/he must ask
questions such as: "Who is effected by the issues?"
"Who will implement agreements?" "Who could
possibly block an agreement?" "What is the past
history between stakeholders?" "What are the power
dynamics between them and how can they be
effectively managed to ensure a balanced process?"
2. Stakeholder Identification, cont’d
• Once key stakeholders and stakeholder groups are
identified, the convener must then work with them
to decide who will actually participate in the
meeting. They must decide on their representatives,
but it is up to the convener to make sure that these
individuals truly represent the members of their
group. The convener is responsible for ensuring that
key parties are sufficiently and legitimately
represented and have the resources and capacity to
participate .
PRE-NEGOTIATIONMATTERS OF REPRESENTATION
• The identification & selection of
appropriate representatives of ALL
stakeholders.
• Productive negotiation cannot begin until
you figure out which groups SHOULD be
represented .
See Susskind and Field
PRE-NEGOTIATIONMATTERS OF REPRESENTATION
• THE representatives must be EMPOWERED
to speak. (What does this mean operationally?)
• Often a good strategy is to have each group
caucus in order to choose and empower a
representative.
PRENEGOTIATIONMATTERS OF REPRESENTATION
• The parties must agree that it is necessary to
involve all legitimate stakeholder interests.
• Clarify what REPRESENTATIVE means in
THAT context.
PRE-NEGOTIATIONMATTERS OF REPRESENTATION
• If in doubt, always go with a larger group
than you would like if there is a
possibility of leaving some potentially
important group out.
PRE-NEGOTIATIONREPRESENTATION
• If you leave out an important group, even
unintentionally, the credibility of ad hoc
consensus building may be irretrievably
damaged.
Susskind and Cruikshank (1987) suggest that
each major type of stakeholder should ask several
additional questions before negotiating.
• The public official needs to ask
– Can I participate in a consensusbuilding process without violating my
terms of office?
– This may not always be
straightforward, given the rules and
regulations of public servants and may
require the identification of an outside
convener and, later, a mediator.
• The citizen group needs to ask
– Do we have the resources to participate
effectively?
– Can we present a united front?
– Will it help our organization to participate?
• The private-sector representative needs to ask
– Is there someone with relevant negotiating
experience to represent the organization?
– Do we intend to continue doing business in the
same locale?
3. Obtain Resources
• The third major step sometimes is to locate the
necessary resources to carry out the convening. In
other words, the convener is charged with
developing a funding strategy. The convener's first
move may be to research philanthropic or
governmental agencies in order to find sources of
funding. If the convener is a government official or
agency there may already be funds available to
carry out a decision making process.
4. Process Design
The final step of the convening process is to
organize and plan the dispute resolution process.
Ground rules must be established and agreed
upon, and agenda set, and a strategic plan
developed. A key to this part of the convener's job
is to make sure that the agreements reached will be
linked or incorporated into official decision-making
structures. For example, many consensus-building
processes take place outside of such formal
decision-making structures. Therefore, the
convener must make sure that formal decision
making mechanisms are linked to the more informal
process.
• Chris Carlson, "Convening," in The
Consensus Building Handbook: A
Comprehensive Guide to Reaching
Agreement, eds. Lawrence Susskind, Sarah
McKearnan, and Jennifer Thomas-Larmer
(Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications,
1999),
THE CONVENOR-a help to
getting started
• 1. The convenor; meets with all parties
soliciting their views and helps them assess
THEIR interests and BATNAs.
• 2. He/she tries to persuade all the
important players to come to a first
meeting- always stressing the right to walk
away without prejudice..
THE CONVENOR-a help to
getting started
• 3. At the first meeting, the convenor helps the
group begin the transition to negotiations:
• A KEY ISSUE IS HOW YOU DEFINE THE
PROBLEM (S). AT THIS STAGE STICK TO
RELATIVELY HIGH LEVEL GENERAL
DEFINITIONS-DON’T TRY TO GET
SPECIFIC TOO EARLY
• Examples of how this might be done???
The Convenor-transition steps
• a) reviews procedural options such as;
facilitation, mediation, arbitration,
stalemate, confrontation
The Convenor-transition steps
•
b) review sources of help such as; mediation
services, ADR services, lawyers etc.,
• c) the group then selects the most appropriate
intermediary- IF THEY FEEL AN
INTERMEDIARY IS NEEDED.
NOTE-THE CONVENOR MUST MAKE THIS
STEP EXPLICIT
• The convenor need NOT be the mediator.
PRE-NEGOTIATION
DRAFTING PROTOCOLS AND AGENDA
SETTING
DRAFTING PROTOCOLS AND
AGENDA SETTING
• It is IMPERATIVE that the parties agree
on WHAT they will discuss and HOW
they will operate.
– THE ISSUE OF ‘WHAT’ GOES TO
THE QUESTION OF HOW DO WE
DEFINE AND FRAME THE
PROBLEMS
DRAFTING PROTOCOLS AND
AGENDA SETTING
• Agreement must be reached on the ground
rules i.e.; seating, location, length, information
sharing, role of the media, minute keeping and
the place of ‘votes’.
QUESTION-DO YOU DO ALL THIS
BEFORE OR AFTER DEFINING THE
PROBLEM AND FRAMING THE ISSUES??
DRAFTING PROTOCOLS AND
AGENDA SETTING
the place of notes
• Keeping minutes or ’notes’ is important
as it serves as a form of group or
‘institutional memory’.
• It is ‘high risk’ to ask a member of the
group to volunteer to do this on your
behalf-WHY??
DRAFTING PROTOCOLS AND
AGENDA SETTING
the place of notes
This is often beneficial in 2 ways;
• 1) When points are misunderstood by parties,
the misunderstanding can focus on the
‘convenor’ and his/her ‘misinterpretation’ and
• 2) They provide a record if new members join
the group.
Pre-negotiation:
agenda setting
• Once protocols are agreed to, YOU draft
an agenda with the group.
THIS IS VERY, VERY TOUGH!
DON”T EVER UNDERESTIMATE
THE CHALLENGE!!!
PRE-NEGOTIATION
-agenda setting
• Don’t make the issues too broad or too
narrow. This can result in superficiality
or, no room for tradeoffs.
• Use brainstorming techniques.
PRE-NEGOTIATION
-agenda setting
• Don’t make the agenda too huge.
– You need short term successes to keep
the group moving.
• In the process, employ the technique of
‘CLUSTERING’
PRE-NEGOTIATION
JOINT FACT FINDING
• Assess through non-evaluative discussion,
’What do we know about the agenda items’ ?
• Assess explicitly what we don’t know about
the issues, contexts and experiences relevant
to the topics at hand.
PRE-NEGOTIATIONjoint fact finding
• Get the stakeholders to describe what kinds of
data would cause them, in general terms, to
rethink their views.
– This is a subtle way of starting to get the
matter of standards on the table- what
criteria are people using (often
IMPLICITLY) when considering options or,
proposals.
• Agree on mechanisms to gather data jointly
wherever there is willingness.
PRE-NEGOTIATION-joint fact
finding
• JOINT FACT FINDING CREATES A
POSITIVE NEGOTIATION CLIMATE.
THEN MOVE TO PROBLEM
SOLVING INCLUDING AN
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN