What methods are most useful in bringing parties to the table and facilitating a discussion and compromise?
Well, collaboration is a little different from compromise. Collaboration is really giving people the opportunity to thoroughly present their issues, and then finding a way to negotiate. Compromise is considered more like this: “Well I’ll just give up something, and try and get this over with.” Collaboration is: “I’ll work through — I’ll state all of my issues and I’ll work through this challenge of negotiating with someone who I disagreed with in the past and we’ll find a way then. I am satisfied with the result as well as the other person.” Do you follow a strict process? There’s no time limit. The average session takes two to three hours. This process is entirely voluntary and entirely free. We use community volunteers, we use existing public facilities. The parties simply sit down with someone who’s been trained in effective techniques, which include listening and communication skills. That’s the foundation of the process. Then they go through phases of information presentation abo
