Beyond Intractability: A Free Knowledge Base on More Constructive Approaches to Destructive Conflict
Introduction:
Sallyann Roth, co-founder of the Public Conversations Project,
suggests that facilitators should be aware of the gap between their
intentions and the actual effects. This will help them to become reconnected to the
dialogue or training process so that they can try again.
This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).
The Gap Between Intentions and Effects
Sallyann Roth
Family Therapist, Trainer, and Co-Founder of the Public Conversations Project,
in Watertown, Massachusetts
Everything we do, whether
we are asking a question, or designing a conversational structure, we are always
planning. We want it to have certain effects. But the effects that we have and
the intentions that we have are never going to be exactly aligned. So another
piece that we try to get to in the training is to create a sense of mindfulness
about the gap between intentions and effects.
...
A responsible facilitator
is always mindful of the gap and always trying to reduce it and doesn't feel
awful when there is a gap. It's not that you've done something wrong mostly,
it's that you need to step back and get reconnected to try again. It becomes a
learning experience, as opposed to a failure experience.
Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. -- Thomas Edison
Other Resources from Beyond Intractability Development and Conflict Theory "Development should be understood as a process, not a product. Societies are always changing. Some improve, while others fail. Development theory aims at explaining both processes."
Nobel Peace Prize Winners
Rene Cassin Former President of the European Court for Human Rights, and 1968 Nobel Peace Laureate
The Beyond Intractability Knowledge Base Project Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess, Co-Directors and Editors c/o Conflict Information Consortium(Formerly Conflict Research Consortium), University of Colorado Campus Box 580, Boulder, CO 80309 Phone: (303) 492-1635; Fax: (303) 492-2154; Contact
