Dialogue Facilitation And Its Role In Conflict Resolution

By William Green


This might seem like a very intuitive thing to say, but most of the misunderstandings the whole world over, from the macro to the micro, are all down to peoples unwillingness to listen and understand. However natural and matter of course it may seem, listening with an objective mind is something thats quite hard to actuate. See about dialogue facilitation.

There are many facets to dialogue. In fact, it is among the most general terms of all the general nouns out there. It may involve communication, it may involve exchange, discussion, discourse, small talk. It may be heartfelt, or else cursory, it can be serious or light.

To this end, it is also essential to highlight the differences between the 3Ds, discussion, debate, and dialogue. To start off, a discussion is really more on the presentation of ideas. Debating, on the other hand, entails a win or lose mentality. Theres a lot of stressful disagreements, with the parties involved defending their own respective opinions to the death. Especially in formal settings, the validity of feelings is questioned, looked down upon, and thereafter discounted. People listen with the objective of having something to counter afterward, and it involves the disregarding of relationships.

Lets juxtapose both with dialogue. Now, this one is more about broadening perspectives, and not limiting and delineating them. Of course, you may express some outstanding ambiguities, but it is with the intent of understanding others, rather than establishing your own superiority. The parties find common grounds of agreement and list with a view to understand and make a consensus. Its all about inviting inquiry and most especially, building relationships.

Although dialogue as a noun is pretty much elastic and general term, we have all used its implements sometime or other. That is because, with everything that involves conflict resolution and management, communication is a quintessential part of it. We have seen methods like mediation and negotiation used, and the thing is, they are actually an integral part of the communication equation.

Good facilitation skills are another nub for discussion. In constructive communication, one aims to comprehend the views and perspectives about the other party. They openly listen and dissect how their experiences shape their convictions. They will also need to keep an open mind, accepting the beliefs of others as valid and real.

Even when they think that they have gleaned the basics of the issue, people will have to be even more open to furthering it and expanding it. All in all, both parties, although coming from different terminuses of a tangent, they should be parallel and going towards a common point of understanding.

This does not involve the curbing of ones sentiments and feelings. People are still given free rein to express their sadness, anger, and resentments. This is also effective and expressive in conveying the sincerity and intensity of feelings, experiences, and beliefs. It is the reception of these that should be accurately managed and controlled.

The constructive results of dialogue are quite easy to actuate with a little bit of tweaking. If only the remarks were substantive, with fewer people, with ample open spaces, more coffee brakes, the particularities go on and on. However, all these will be successfully toggled and juggled by a good facilitator, so you had better hand it to them.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment