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[National Park Service Rivers, Trails & Conservation Assistance Program] There is hope for planners and resource managers who are trying to balance the competing interests of polarized groups. Drawing from many disciplines including community planning, mediation, facilitation, conflict resolution, social identity theory, neuroscience, and principles of non-violent communication, Joy Lujan is helping polarized communities move beyond their fears and find collaborative solutions to managing shared resources. In river management planning processes, people everywhere have the same basic needs that must be met to move beyond fear, demands, and animosity to achieve successful outcomes. Designing planning processes that meet these core needs will help people work together more effectively and result in more implementable, broadly supported plans that address people’s most pressing interests while balancing resource stewardship. When people perceive themselves as being in competition over how to use or manage a river resource much of the behavior people exhibit comes from fear that they are going to lose something they value or that something is going to be done to them. Without carefully designed processes, people become more and more entrenched in their positions. The most effective processes make it possible to for extremely polarized, deeply entrenched interests to engage in planning processes that moves them to a place of higher thinking and shared solutions. As important as well designed processes, knowing how to effectively manage difficult internal, interpersonal, and group dynamics can be the key to whether a collaborative process is successful. This session will examine some common pitfalls at an individual level, at an interpersonal level and at the group level so that participants can better understand and effectively navigate difficult situations in collaboration.
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Moving Beyond Fear to Collaboration in Planning for Shared Uses of Resources
River Management Society
...there’s one main thing that makes collaboration so
difficult...
People!
The Bad News
People behave terribly….
…..but predictably and for predictable reasons.
The Good NewsPeople, even angry people, are TOTALLY capable of being reasonable!
It is within our capability to create circumstances in which they can behave reasonably.
“Civilitating” Colorado Land Use
Joy Lujan, TEDx Mile High Women, 2012
CHALLENGES TO SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATION
ObstaclesVisible Obstacles:
• Organizational – mandates, authority, hierarchy
• Legal – laws, policies, regulations
• Institutional – bureaucracy, sops, technology
• Political – power, ideology, turf
• Practical – funding, budgeting, staffing, resources
• Logistical – location, distance, timing
ObstaclesInvisible Obstacles:• Cognitive – how we view problems and paradoxes• Communication – how we approach the problems• Procedural – how we deal with conflicts• Psychological – how we deal with change• Institutional – how we organize ourselves• Perceptual – how we view ourselves and others
• Open, Effective Communication
• Good Processes
• Effective Teams
• Clear Understanding of Roles
• Shared Vision and Purpose
• Well-Understood Interests
Elements of Successful Collaboration
• Shared Agreements• Facilitative Behaviors• SMART Goals• Solid Action Agendas• Supportive Leadership• Trust within group
Core Assumptions of Collaboration and Facilitative Behavior
• I have some information, others have other information
• Each of us may see things that others do not;
• Differences are opportunities for learning;
• People act with integrity, given their situation
Adapted from Argyis and Schon, 1974, and Action Design, 1997 as shown in Roger Schwarz, The Skilled Facilitator, 2002
Collaborative Planning and Decision Making Processes
Collaborative Planning and Decision Making Process
Who are the players?
Levels of Stakeholder Involvement
© National Policy Consensus Center
Perceptions and Assumptions
The Power of Personal Perception
How reliable is our ability to perceive and make sense of the world?
The question is not what you look at, but what do you see.
-Henry David Thoreau
Who is the tallest?
What do you see?
Does it look different now?
“The Ladder of Inference Creates Bad Judgment”
Ed Muzio
The Reality About Assumptions
• Making assumptions is normal
• Most assumptions are implicit
• The longer our assumptions are in effect, the more likely we are to convert our assumptions into truths (beliefs)
Dealing with Emotion
Emotion and Reason
Emotional Intensity
Ability to Reason
The Emotional Brain
The Even Worse News
Sometimes people can be REALLY difficult….
…..and sometimes those people are us!
Let’s call her “Nancy”
Getting Past the Emotional PeakHelping Yourself
• Taking a breath
• Taking a walk
• Count to 10
• Others?
Helping Others•Acknowledgement•Validation•Vent with care•Redirecting•Apology
COMMUNICATION SKILLS FOR COLLABORATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING & CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
Communication Objectives■ Be better able to surface dissent, raise concerns, and respond
with respect
■ Increase ability to have difficult and meaningful conversations
before situations escalate
■ Improve communication and conflict management skills for
more effective organizational performance
Communication
Two Parts to Effective Communication
Listening to Understand
Speaking to Be Understood
“If we were supposed to talk more than we listen, we would have two mouths and one ear.”
-Mark Twain
Dilbert by Scott Adams, December 24, 2010
Listening Isn’t the Fun Part
Attitudes of Effective Listening
• It takes energy to listen
• We have to care about what the person is trying to tell us
• We do not already know what the person wants us to know
• We need to convince the person that we heard them
Listening to Understand
■ Open-ended questions
■ Listen actively by paraphrasing facts and feelings to validate the speaker
Speaking to Be Understood
■ Reframe your language■ Yes/And – No Buts!■ “I” Statements■ Feedback Sandwich
Don’t Reject, Reframe
GOAL: using language to validate what is said with the focus on capturing the underlying interests or needs and moves from:
Negative PositivePast Future, Options
Other SpeakerPositions InterestsBlaming Contribution
Complaint Request
“I” Statements
■ I feel (state feeling)■ When (describe behavior in specific)■ Because (describe impact on your needs)■ Make a positive behavior request
(describe what you need)
INTEREST-BASED COLLABORATION
“The best decisions result not from a superficial consensus, but from surfacing different points of view and searching for creative solutions.”
- William Ury, The Third Side
Positions & Interests
Interests our hopes, fears, wants, needs...
Positions our stand or demand
safetysecurity recognition
respect
Belonging
Dignity
Fairness
Self esteem
Positions and Interests
Positions• Solutions to problems
• Specific & definite• Basis for argument• Require justification
• End discussion
Interests• Why a particular solution is
preferred• Reasons underlying positions• Require explanation not
justification• Start discussion
Unpacking InterestsKey questions:
•Why is that important to you?
•What would happen if you don’t get it?
•If you got that, would your needs be completely met?
UNPACKING INTERESTS
EXERCISE
GROUP DYNAMICS IN COLLABORATION
“Great things…are never done by one person, they’re done by a team of people….None of us is as smart as all of us.“
Steve Jobs
Internal Dynamics
Internal Dynamics – 2 People
Interpersonal Dynamics
Group Dynamics
Group Process / Dynamics• Forming, coming together, true issues or concerns are often
suppressed, while participants feel each other out
• Storming, the politeness barrier drops and participants often try to enforce their issues or control onto the group, tempers may flare
• Norming, participants begin to understand each other, get used to each other, trust and relationships begin to form
• Performing, the group gels and begins to work toward a common goal on a highly efficient and cooperative basis.
Bruce Tuckman, “Developmental Sequence in Small Groups” (Psychological Bulletin 63, vi, 1965, revised 1977)
Group Process / Dynamics
• Fifth Stage – – Transforming, the group has achieved a level of
common understanding and trust that they begin to look at the problem in new ways and develop solutions that could not have been possible in any other setting
Creating “Other”
CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATIONS
VERBAL COMMUNICATION STYLES
Adapted from W. B. Gudykunst and Young Yun Kim, Readings on Communicating With Strangers, An Approach to Intercultural Communication, (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1992)
From W.B. Gudykunst and S. Ting-Toomey, Chapter 8, pp. 223 – 235
Verbal Communication Styles
• Direct vs. Indirect
• Elaborate vs. Succinct
• Personal vs. Contextual
• Concrete vs. Intuitive
TIME: MONOCHRONIC AND POLYCHRONIC
From E.T. Hall, Chapter 6, pp. 187 – 191
Time Differences• Monochronic
– Events scheduled as separate items – one thing at a time
– Structured approach to time, emphasizes promptness
– Focus on agenda, task
– Completion of task most important
Time Differences• Polychronic
– Several things at once
– Flexible approach to time
– No strict agenda
– Relationship focus
Inter-Cultural Interactions• Make an effort to learn about the cultural and
social expectations of the people you will be dealing with
• Expect different expectations
• Do not assume that what you are saying is being understood
• Different is just different. Not necessarily right or wrong.
Inter-Cultural Interactions• Listen carefully
• Be patient, be humble, be willing to learn
• Apply interest-based negotiation principles
• Dare to do things differently
Source: J. Jung-Min Sunoo, Some Guidelines for Mediators of Intercultural Disputes, Negotiation Journal, 1990
Developing an Action Agenda
SOMEBODY SHOULD
7 Elements of the Action Agenda•Goals and Tasks
•Task Lead
•Support Team Members
•Estimated Time and Costs
•Resources needed (existing and not)
•Critical date due
•Measures of success/evaluation
GOAL AND TASKS TASK LEAD SUPPORT TEAM
MEMBERS
ESTIMATED TIME and
ESTIMATED COST
RESOURCE
NEEDS/ POTENTIAL
FUNDING
CRITICAL
DATE DUE
MEASURES OF SUCCESS (evaluation of
outcomes)
Goal 1:
Task A
Task B
Goal 2:
Task A
Task B
ACTION AGENDA
The Gremlins in the Matrix
Encouraging Leadership
When the same people are always the leaders, others can’t develop their skills and competencies to:
•spread the workload out•build capacity•grow toward sustainability
When People Over-VolunteerIt may be time to:
• evaluate if the schedule and deadline is realistic or needs to be curbed back
• point out over-volunteering that could lead to burnout or missed deadlines
• reshuffle expectations about who does what
Accountability
• Doing what you say you are going to do
• Holding others to their agreements
• Using the Action Agenda to track progress
• Drags the group down
• Prevents things from getting done
• Others develop frustrations and/or resentments
• Others, who are doers, may leave the group
Why Address Broken Agreements?
NECESSARY BUT DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS
Review
Collaboration is Difficult because….
….PEOPLE!● Them● Us● Us and Them
• Effective Communication
• Good Processes
• Effective Teams
• Clear Understanding of Roles
• Shared Vision and Purpose
• Well-Understood Interests
Elements of Successful Collaboration
• Shared Agreements• Facilitative Behaviors• SMART Goals• Solid Action Agendas• Supportive Leadership• Trust within group
joy_lujan@nps.gov303-969-2853
Moving Beyond Fear to Collaboration in Planning
for Shared Uses of Resources
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