Last week was spent with Jan Sunoo and Pat Dunn from the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service in the USA. It was an intense week and we looked at tools and techniques for third part interventions including an Interest Based Negotiation model.
Pat demonstrating some active negotiation skills
Many of the skills were similar to that of TIDES’s OCN courses in Conflict Management (active listening, summarising, paraphrasing and re-framing etc.) but the process itself differed in the fact that it focussed very much on negotiation and not on mediation as a form on conflict resolution (i.e. the ability of the third-party to offer potential alternative solutions was much greater). I was able to co-facilitate a full day role play with Jan which allowed to me an insight into the more subtle nuisances of the process itself. We also looked at other facilitation techniques such as Appreciative Inquiry and Open Space Technology.
Jan looking at Issues and Criteria in an Interest based Negotiation situation.
Practical Peace 