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Introduction:
Even a seasoned conflict resolution professional can become impatient with the work. Elise Boulding talks about the need to resist the temptation to move faster than the parties are willing to go.
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This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).
Resist the Temptation to Move Faster
Elise Boulding
Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Dartmouth College and Former Secretary
General of the International Peace Research Association
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Q: What have you found to be the most common obstacles to the success of your
work?
A: Getting overloaded. And getting impatient with people, when I can see what
can be done and people just don't see it. I have to struggle with my own
impatience and try to put myself into their frame of mind and realize where they
are. We have to start where they are, not where I am. I try to deal with it by a
very conscious stepping outside of my feelings and trying to be more aware.
...
Q: Were there any techniques that you found useful for dealing with these
obstacles? How can you put yourself in a position where you can be more patient?
A: I really had to kind of try to center in myself and not be so cerebral, and
be more centered in my own spirit, because the impatience was a cerebral impatience — I could see what we could be doing.
I just had to know that the spirit of action has to grow in other people too.
They have to have their own time. I don't have any magic answer for impatience
because it still happens at 82; you'd think I'd know better by now. One thing I
have discovered is that being patient takes energy. Impatience arises when I
don't exert enough energy on patience.
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