CONCILIATION

Working with one side in a conflict

Conciliation helps you avoid escalation of a tense situation and helps you think through issues and options so that doors are kept open for the future. MNI will assist you in paying attention to the effect of actions and words on the ‘other’. Rather than becoming involved in a formal process of mediation, perhaps what you need is help in thinking about how to handle a situation in a conciliatory way.

For example, in a small village there are two community groups that have had a disagreement over the use of the local community centre. It is too soon to ask John’s and Mary’s groups to work together. However, John keeps an eye to the future and knows that they will have to work together at some time. He wants help in writing a press statement about his work that doesn’t seem to be ‘getting at’ Mary’s group. MNI will assist him in achieving his goal of promoting his own work, whilst being sensitive to the other group.