Meet with aggrieved parties jointly and separately; and Elicit ideas from both sides. The effective mediator/facilitator focuses on the future without forgetting the past.
Effective Communication
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Without communication there is no negotiation. Negotiation is a process of communicating back and forth for the purpose of reaching a joint decision. There are three typical problems with achieving effective communication. First, parties to a dispute may not be talking to each other, and are unwilling to do so. Second, even if they are talking to each other, they may not be hearing what each is trying to communicate to the other, possibly because they have already made up their minds about each other and each other’s intentions. Third, even where there is relative harmony between parties, a dispute may arise and be difficult to resolve because there is a general misunderstanding, for example about one party’s motives for an action. A useful example comes from international politics: the arms race. State A purchases weapons purely for defensive purposes. Its neighbour, State B, views these weapons as an aggressive act toward them, and so also purchases weapons to counter the new weapons of its neighbour. State A misinterprets this act, and so buys yet more weapons. If there are no open lines of communication between the two states, the arms race may continue until they are both heavily armed and involved in a public shouting match about their ‘real’ intentions. It is therefore imperative to get parties to a conflict talking, if not directly then through a mediator. There are specific traits and techniques associated with effective communication. An effective communicator is an active listener. She/he is not simply ‘waiting to talk’, but engaged with what the other party is saying. In some cultures this is difficult to demonstrate – for example where eye contact is regarded as aggressive and/or impolite; or where speaking frankly and/or contradicting the other party to the dispute is regarded as rude behaviour. Nevertheless, an effective communicator speaks clearly and precisely. S/he also demonstrates understanding and strives for clarity of perception. An effective communicator constantly reframes his/her and the other party’s positions in an effort to maximize the options for arriving at win-win outcomes. She/he also uses open-ended questions that provide space for elaboration and digression. But will use direct questions such as ‘Why is this important to you?’ when trying to uncover the interests and needs that underlie a stated position. Importantly, the effective communicator separates the person from the problem. Among other things, the mediator/facilitator is looking to uncover interests among the parties that may in fact be compatible. Interests, once revealed, can be mixed (the parties share some interests, but differ fundamentally elsewhere), mutually exclusive, or compatible. It is the latter sort of interest that we wish to reveal and upon which to build. For instance, where actors may be caught up in a ‘dam/no dam’ positional argument, the underlying shared interest may in fact be having a predictable water supply for food production.
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Conflict Resolution and Negotiation Skills for Integrated Water Resources Management