Conflict resolution 2

” The reality today is that we are all interdependent and have to co-exist on this small planet. Therefore, the only sensible and intelligent way of resolving differences and clashes of interests, whether between individuals or nations, is through dialogue.” Dalai Lama

To have the preconditions set for a dialogue we need to prepare safe environments and equip with efficient instruments.

Today we will reflect over Mediation as a safe setting where the dialogue can have place.

Why do we need a safe place? In the moment a conflict arises, it means that the trusts between the two parts was broken or doesn’t exist anymore. When the trust is not there, the dialogue doesn’t happen anymore. Lack of trust triggers the deepest fears each person has, resulting:

• closing the communication or ignore the other person. (freeze)
• blaming the other person. (fight)
• leaving the situation without any conclusions or reaching any kind of resolution. (flight)

To avoid the above situations and to create dialogue, involving a third person in creating the dialogue, is one of the most efficient ways to build up the resolution strategy. A third person that has no emotional involvement in the conflict or any interest in keeping sides.

In the last decades this become a profession, used most of the time by the lawyer’s companies before the trials.

Let’s first define the process of mediation and what it implies.

Mediation

Mediation is a structured, interactive process where an impartial third party neutral assists disputing parties in resolving conflict through the use of specialized communication and negotiation techniques. All participants in mediation are encouraged to actively participate in the process. Mediation is a “party-centered” process in that it is focused primarily upon the needs, rights, and interests of the parties. The mediator uses a wide variety of techniques to guide the process in a constructive direction and to help the parties find their optimal solution. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediation)

Types of Meditation:

According to the objective of the mediation process we can distinguish between the following tree types:

• Transformative

The aim of the transformative mediation is to see the other one’s perspective by inspiring empathy for the other part, seeing the needs that the other part has and empower both parties.

• Facilitative

As the name is indicating the facilitative mediation has as aim to facilitate both parts thinking process to understand the different options they have and choose the most efficient and beneficial solutions and the mediator plays a moderator role.

• Evaluative

In the evaluative mediation the mediator plays the role of an evaluator, underlining the advantages and disadvantages the of the options that the parties can chose, comparing with what a higher court could judge the option, focusing on the most balanced choise in solving the conflict.

Let’s watch some examples:

If you are not convinced until now, why we should use mediation let’s see the most important benefits of this process.

The benefits of mediation include:

• Cost

While a mediator may charge a fee comparable to that of an attorney, the mediation process generally takes much less time than moving a case through standard legal channels. While a case in the hands of a lawyer or a court may take months or years to resolve, mediation usually achieves a resolution in a matter of hours. Taking less time means expending less money on hourly fees and costs.

• Confidentiality

While court hearings are public, mediation remains strictly confidential. No one but the parties to the dispute and the mediator or mediators know what happened. Confidentiality in mediation has such importance that in most cases the legal system cannot force a mediator to testify in court as to the content or progress of mediation. Many mediators destroy their notes taken during a mediation once that mediation has finished. The only exceptions to such strict confidentiality usually involve child abuse or actual or threatened criminal acts.

• Control

Mediation increases the control the parties have over the resolution. In a court case, the parties obtain a resolution, but control resides with the judge or jury. Often, a judge or jury cannot legally provide solutions that emerge in mediation. Thus, mediation is more likely to produce a result that is mutually agreeable for the parties.

• Compliance

Because the result is attained by the parties working together and is mutually agreeable, compliance with the mediated agreement is usually high. This further reduces costs, because the parties do not have to employ an attorney to force compliance with the agreement. The mediated agreement is, however, fully enforceable in a court of law.

• Mutuality

Parties to a mediation are typically ready to work mutually toward a resolution. In most circumstances the mere fact that parties are willing to mediate means that they are ready to “move” their position. The parties thus are more amenable to understanding the other party’s side and work on underlying issues to the dispute. This has the added benefit of often preserving the relationship the parties had before the dispute.

• Support

Mediators are trained in working with difficult situations. The mediator acts as a neutral facilitator and guides the parties through the process. The mediator helps the parties think “outside of the box” for possible solutions to the dispute, broadening the range of possible solutions.

A key skill in mediation and conflict resolution, is the negotiation skill. From the ancient times the most powerful and reach people where the families of the merchant. The merchant had to practice the art of negotiations to sell their products and buy their goods at a reasonable and affordable price without having the help of the marketing and advertising as we have now.

In the previous session we were talking about the importance of the relationships. We are interconnected and exists interdepended one with each other. At the same time, we are very different, and this is really good we are different, but this difference results in conflicts. So, conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional and depends on our negotiation skills.

Almost everything is negotiable, but when we reach the point of values or principles that are the deal breaking point, the conflict arises.

Let’s see what negotiation is and how it can help us in expanding our thinking over deal breaking points.

Negotiations techniques

Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more people or parties to reach the desired outcome regarding one or more issues of conflict. It is an interaction between entities who aspire to agree on matters of mutual interest. The agreement can be beneficial for all or some of the parties involved. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negotiation)

There are many examples out there and a lot has been written about negotiation, but today we will focus our attention over the model of Harvard Principles of Negotiation.

Let’s watch the video and reach the main conclusions!

The main conclusions are the following types of negotiation strategies and principles:

According to this model we can distinguished 4 basic principles:

Regarding the negotiation strategies we have five types based on its aims:

• Win – win
• Win – lose.
• Compromise
• Lose – win.
• Lose – lose.

And finally, but probably the most important part, the fundamental and the main requirement in conflict resolution is efficient communication. Without an efficient communication dialogue is not possible.

Effective communication

The process of communication implies the existence of a sender, and a receiver. The channel of communication is the link between the two parties and the message is sent over this link. The sender encodes the message according to his knowledges and reality and the receiver is decoding the message according to hers/his knowledges and reality. Having in mind the unicity of each person we can realize, there could be different knowledge over the same subjects and different perception over same reality. If the channel is also obturated by “noise”, which it can de literally noise or disrespect, suspicion, anger, fear the encoded message when it is decoded can represent totally other thing in the receiver mind. Therefor conflict starts. 

To make sure that the message reached the other person understanding, the sender should ask for the feedback of the receiver. That is the point when you can understand if your message was delivered under the right form, or it was deformed by the other person decodes. Also, that is the moment when you can send again the message using the information that reflects the knowledge and the reality of the receiver and encode your message according to her/ his codes, meaning adapt what you are saying to the understanding of the person in front you. And this is a cycle that can repeat until you make sure you have same or at least similar understanding over the subject.

Efficient communication for teams

As we showed before, the feedback is important in the communication process. Is the prove that the message was understood or not. To make sure you are removing all the blockages of the communication process, to be an active listen, let see what blockages can exist out there:

1. Social distance
2. Emotional
3. Language

Ways to eliminate communication barriers:

1. Understand your multigenerational workforce

There are 5 working generations right now:

• Traditionalists – born in 1945 and before
• Baby Boomers – born between 1946 and 1964
• Generation X – born between 1965 and 1976
• Millennials – born between 1977 and 1995
• Generation Z – born in 1996 and after

Since these generations have different communication preferences, neglecting to adjust to them forms an inevitable communication barrier. We need to better understand these differences and adapt to them in order to make communication more efficient.

For example, millennials and gen Z employees are used to having personalized news feeds on social media. They like to build online communities, share insights, and look for recommendations on their favorite social channels. This is the communication experience they also expect from their employers.

2. Make communication more agile

Earlier, we saw that highly hierarchical organizations can struggle with communication more than those within which information flows freely. In today’s ever-changing world, it is extremely important to implement more agile means and ways of communication.

Information should always flow both ways, upward communication should continuously be encouraged, and employers should be able to quickly reach their target audiences.

3. Create and share engaging and personalized content

People want to consume authentic, engaging, and fun content. The days when we would just send mass emails to the entire workplace are dead.

Moreover, 26% of employees view email as a serious productivity killer.

In their personal lives, people consume media in increasingly smaller bites. Long-form content is still here, but social media has shown us that organizations need to share messaging in people’s preferred formats, including video, infographics, webinars, podcasts, and memes.

Additionally, content irrelevancy also creates barriers to communication. Yet, many organizations don’t have ways to better segment their internal audiences based on various criteria such as age, location, job function, language, interest, and preferences.

Hence, irrelevant content can be the biggest cause of disengagement and poor workplace experience.

4. Switch to mobile-first communication

Since communication is highly digital today, we need to better understand people’s preferred communication devices in both their personal and professional lives.

Millennials, who are the largest generation in the US labor force, are projected to represent 75% of the global workforce by 2025. Them and generation Z both grew up in the technological age, they are always connected and can’t spend a few hours away from their smartphones. Moreover, they check their phones 150 times a day!

Therefore, switching to mobile-first communication can go a long way to eliminating some of the most significant communication barriers.

5. Use the power of data and technology

We need to better understand how to leverage digital means of communication. Yet, many organizations don’t have access to the new and modern communication technology that enables them to do so.

Since the communication ecosystem has become highly complex, employees expect their organizations’ communication tech stack to work in the cloud and be highly integrated. For example, instead of having multiple communication channels such as email, intranet, Slack, Yammer, Microsoft Teams, document sharing tools, and others, we need to look for ways to consolidate them all into a single communications platform.

Additionally, having access to communication data and insights are a powerful way to find, assess, manage, and reduce many communication barriers. (Source: https://haiilo.com/blog/communication-barriers/)