Conflict Management: Focusing on Interests and not Positions

           In The Skilled Facilitator (2004) Roger Schwartz suggests focusing on interests and not positions as a ground-rule every group should utilize. Interests are what matter most to people in regard to a given situation. Positions are one solution to the situation. 

           For example, in a meeting, a conversation might get stuck with one person saying they need to expand the group and others saying they shouldn’t do so. These positions lead to win/lose outcomes. What might really matter most to the people who are arguing against expansion might be group effectiveness. Conversely, the interests of those who want to expand the group might be to have a broader perspective. In this case, the two positions are mutually exclusive while the interests may not be. It is possible to get a win/win outcome by discussing how to gain access to a broader perspective without losing group effectiveness. 

           While it is counter-intuitive, most of us don’t begin conversations by saying what is most important to us. We begin with one solution (ours) to a problem. One way to get the group to focus on interests is to ask them what the criteria are for acceptable solutions to the problem. Another way is to explore the reasoning behind the positional statements. 

           Focusing on interests and not positions allows groups to come up with win/win outcomes. 

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