Innovative Approaches:
Decision Science, Improvisational Theatre, Facilitation & Mediation Design

Every conflict has its own design needs.  For this reason, it is important for mediators to have lots of bits and pieces of possibilities, so that when those needs make themselves known, the mediator has the wherewithal to put something together that will match that need.  Curiosity, improvisation, and humility are also useful.  (The humility comes into play to remind me that this is more a matter of listening to or unearthing the wisdom the parties have about their own needs, rather than doing something heroic or brilliant that comes directly from me.) In this section, I describe a few of the bits and pieces that have been particularly useful in eliciting creative solutions out of seemingly intractable conflicts.

Decision Science
People are not good at keeping lots of ideas in their head at the same time. That makes it very difficult to compare different alternatives if there are a lot of criteria at stake.   Decision science tools help people to make decisions that do a better job of accomplishing what they themselves want.  Even very basic decision science techniques done on a flipchart can be empowering, and can provide a constructive way to organize a discussion.

Multi-Criteria Decision Support is an example of a straight-forward decision science method.  It supports ranking of alternatives when there is

• lots of data
• incomplete or uncertain information
• a tangle of values and
• large numbers of players. 

MCDS can be linked with GIS and the web. One important benefit of MCDS is the utter transparency of the decision (it is the ‘anti-black box.’) But the most powerful aspect of multi-criteria decision tools is the opportunity for dialog. It provides a clear means of identifying core disputes, shifting from positions to interests, and examining intended and unintended consequences. 

But most mediation techniques do that.  MCDS is unique in its ability to  give feedback.  People can try out different scenarios and see it reflected on a map.  They can gut-check the connection between their interests and their preferred alternatives.  The ability to ‘play-around’ with the scenarios, the data, the probabilities, and even the weighting of the values, and to see and discuss the results, is a powerful dispute resolution tool.  For more information on MCDA, check out Philip Murphy's exciting work on his Info Harvest website. 

Philip and I and a few others gave a workshop on MCDA at EPA's community involvement workshop in Milwaukee in 2006, designed an MCDS-based survey for Clackamas County related to wastewater treatment (try it!), and developed an MCDS-based comment-gathering prototype for BLM.

Improvisational Theatre
Until recently I had never been to an Improv performance, and I myself am no actor.  But Keith Johnstone’s book Impro has influenced me as a mediator more than any other book.  Partly he has helped me to be more creative in my designs.  As well, the improvisation skills are helpful when one is facilitating 30 or more people who may have an agenda, but do not have a script. And I use variations on improv exercises frequently in my mediations.  The study of improv also led to my research on humor and its relationship to conflict and conflict resolution.

Mediation & Facilitation Design
The following are some design principles I have found useful--design for particular meetings, not for mediations overall):

• Every module should serve multiple purposes (the ‘getting to know you’ section should also start to lay out information for the meeting; or the information sharing section should also use a structure that increases communication skills, etc.)

• Always design with the next two meetings in mind.

• Everything that can be done before the face-to-face meeting, should be.

• In every two hour period, try to have something for introverts (since most facilitators are extroverts, they do not need to be reminded to design sections for extroverts—that comes all too naturally.)

• Mix up the learning styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic.)

• It is inhumane to make people sit for more than 90 minutes  (breaks, of course, but there are lots of ways to get people moving and keep the work moving.)

• Find ways to change the configurations of people—work in pairs, in 4’s, in plenary, etc.  Each configuration has strengths and weaknesses, so choose wisely.

• Think carefully about whether people should be exposed or not (should they debrief publicly? When doing ranking exercises should the rankings be tabulated privately or should the process be very open?)

• Don’t let them serve turkey at lunch (triptophane); if I could I would serve nothing but fruit, veggies, and yogurt with lots and lots of water!

• Find ways to get people to breathe and otherwise relieve physical tension without saying “now everyone take a deep breath” (this is why laughter can be so important, because laughter requires a deep breath.) I like Bernie DeKoven's DEEP Fun website.

• Offer manipulatives.

• Look for ways to not be the focal point. 

• Check out thiagi.com. It is a wonderful website for innovative design ideas.